You hold the nail, I'll swing the hammer

After being a hermit for a few weeks, I was able to get out and be around people. Handshakes, slow dances, and in one weekend riding four different airplanes are great for sharpening those courtesy skills I love so much.

Went to my friends' wedding, got to dance to some sweet jams on the effing Queen Mary in Long Beach. Slow dances are nice, even if they're just to be polite. I'm not sure if this is just our crowd or if something has changed: When the bride geared up for the bouquet-throw, the single ladies begrudgingly lined up to "catch" it, heads bowed, heels dragging. I stood in the front of the group and thought "You can suck a bag o' dicks, Bouquet." None of us wanted to catch the thing. The bride threw it and I watched it soar over my head and land straight into the crossed arms of one of our happiest-to-be-single friends. Defiant in her stance, the flowers still managed to land and remain nestled betwixt her bosom and crossed arms. Epic. She's not a superstitious girl, but was she salty (not to mention wicked trayshed) for the rest of the afternoon!

Also, I remembered how much I love guys in vintage suits. Tweeds, suspenders, what-have-you. Anyway.

This week, I went to a show because it's been a while and I got to meet up with a past co-worker who helps manage a couple of the bands.

If I have friends who have friends in bands, sometimes I will be introduced to them. Although they shake my hand firmly, make eye contact and genuinely ask about my day, I still know I'll probably never see them again, and that's a bummer if they turn out to love the same planet that I do or enjoy Thai food as rabidly. But the conversation is nice and it's comforting to see them as real people.

Now about those flights:

I had a crying baby pre-take-off on three out of the four flights, but they always passed out after take-off, which is still quite a mystery to me.

There was a woman next to me who was afraid of other people's germs and had two small plastic containers with clear fluid in them, fluid I will assume to be alcohol. When anyone would sneeze she would cover her face with a handkerchief, no matter how far away they were to her seat. You can bet she probably wanted to throw up her vitamin water, cranberry juice and "clear fluid" beverage when she heard the baby behind her coughing to its heart's content.

There was a woman on the flight directly home who had been laid off from the automotive industry, so she decided to go back to school for health management systems and technology. Her brother had a stroke recently, so she's been in Cleveland for quite a while, hanging out with him. This would be her 5-day getaway back to Florida, where she spent many years. And if I remember correctly, her sister is going through a horrible divorce. Yes, she told me all of that.

I met a guy who had a degree in economics, but decided to go back for more debt and a graphic design degree. He had a tome for After Effects and sat highlighting passages he may need for his training session the next day in San Diego. He wants to work in film. I told him that the TV show "Psych" is shot in Canada instead of the scripted Santa Barbara. His eyes bulged through his Coke-bottle glasses. He said he was reading over my shoulder and wanted the deets on the book. He didn't say "deets."

P.S. If that effing killer whale had an S in his given name, his name would be an anagram for "I must kill."