So Very Dark

….and the sarcasm echos across the internets.

I am, as you may have surmised, back from the land destined to drop into the sea.  I actually got back on Monday night, but due to a delayed flight, I didn’t even get into the airport until about 11pm, which meant I didn’t get home until sometime after 12:30, and after changing into pjs and eating much-needed dinner, I didn’t find my bed until an hour that I prefer not to disclose.

I intended to chronicle the trials and tribulations of my journey yesterday, but despite my plans to the contrary, yesterday was a much-needed trip recovery day…it was a trip that required post-return recuperation.

(**Edit…and upon contemplation, to be broken up into bite-sized pieces.  Enjoy part one and live on the edge of your seats with anticipation until I write the next installment.)

My flight into SFO was largely uneventful, despite traffic and other hazards putting me at the Pittsburgh airport’s front doors at 8am when my flight was due to leave at 8:30–the confirmation code checked me in just dandy, security barely glanced at me, and I got to my gate just as they were boarding.  The one small hiccup came when the packed flight and my somewhat tardy arrival led to a lack of overhead storage space for my carry-on…so I had to juggle out the items I thought I would need (ipod, sketchbook, pencils, sharpener, kneaded eraser) on the 5 hour flight before handing my bag off to a flight attendant and scooting over a conservative older couple to my window seat.  We didn’t crash, I listened to my tunes and got homework done, United served surprisingly decent coffee, we landed right on time and even though I was waiting on the wrong level, I eventually figured out where mom was waiting in regards to where I was waiting and was able to locate her car…despite her somewhat less than helpful auditory guidance system:  “Can’t you hear me honking?” strangely, doesn’t work all that well when at least 12  other cars are doing the same thing.

The rest of the day was a blur of post-flight exhaustion and random activity.  We got back to Santa Rosa and, despite a double-strength mug of tea, my 3 hours of sleep the night before eventually induced me to succumb to a nap.  (Doesn’t that sound gentle and sweet and not at all like I fell unconscious only slightly less abruptly than if someone had clocked me in the back of the head with a brick?)

A couple hours later, my mom nudged me into wakefulness so I could begin to participate in the stupid number of plans I had packed into a very small number of days.  I wiped most of the drool off my face and made myself half-way presentable. (That was all anyone was going to get without a shower…did you know that airplanes make you really dirty? Though, upon contemplation, having the air that a whole plane full of other passengers are sharing recycled and dumped on you repeatedly over the course of a cross-country flight can’t really be expected to make you clean…)  Mom and I then drove down familiar roads to Petaluma to meet her friend Lynn –you know, the guy I designed this logo for–so he could (yay!) take us to dinner.  Overall, it was a good dinner–went to a Hunan place down the road from his house that had absolutely amazing food, and Lynn proved to be a pretty cool guy.

My next stop of the evening was finally getting to see The World’s Biggest Comedy Duo (some of my besties that have had an improv troupe going for a couple years now) in action.  Thursday is their regular night at the little Irish pub behind the junior college, and for once I was in town on the right day to take advantage of knowing the girl on the door.  Of course, I had forgotten that my friends are jerks:  as I was pausing outside and steeling myself to enter a pub full of people, I heard my name being chanted in increasingly amplified volumes until one of the vile villains exited the stronghold of evil and dragged me inside and tossed me negligently upon the dias before what must have been thousands of judging eyes.

Oh…all right…it wasn’t quite THAT bad…but that doesn’t change the fact that they dragged me, weak and vulnerable, onto the stage and made me participate in a sketch.  Did I mention that my friends are jerks?

After my glorious debut that doubtless wowed the audience for days thereafter, I was given my freedom and joined Heather over near the door, where I spent the evening chatting with her and a nice young man named Sean (different Sean) who I thought was just a hipster poser for wearing sunglasses indoors until I learned that he is actually blind (that did explain the dog).  I think I may have turned a bit red at my oversight, but due to the dim light and his lack of vision, he probably didn’t notice.

And Heather introduced me to mashed potatoes and curry.  Strangely tasty.

After the show, a good portion of the group — Heather and I included — drove over to the Round Robin.  Frickin’ whoopee.  Seriously, people ; I know that a certain someone can’t go to the Belvedere anymore…but I don’t really go to bars…and if I were to go to a bar, it would NOT be the Round Robin.  The Bel is nice, and pretty and well taken care of and spacious with pretty polished wood and a patio with Christmas lights, and music you can hear yourself speak over and they have coffee and Bailey’s…and bathrooms you can USE.  The Round Robin is a creepy dark hole.  And not the good kind.

Luckily, our tenure at the aptly nicknamed ‘Dirty Bird’ was cut short when Adam proposed as an alternate diversion for the evening, going to his place and watching the newly acquired Rifftrax version of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  I gave Heather puppy-dog eyes until she agreed to take me away from that horrible place, so we went to Adam’s house and I got to see REAL puppy-dog eyes when I met Adam and Carrie’s tiny Chihuahua/Jack Russel Terrier mix.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get far into the movie before exhaustion began to claim both of us girls, and as Shawnie had promised to kidnap me at some stupid early hour the next day, I begged off further social interaction for the evening and returned to my mom’s house.

Next:  The Wedding!  (is there any way I can make that appear in a more ominous font?  Something with dripping blood, perhaps?)