On this day in 1962, President Kennedy dedicated the Washington Dulles International Airport. This gives me the opportunity to talk about the day that I was stuck there. I was 17 years old and I had been accepted into one of these summer touring bands. Kids were flying in from all over the nation to be shuttled to some music conservatory in the middle of Virginia. (I can’t seem to find it.) Anyway, they were understaffed and I spent a good eight hours there.
But the weird thing about it was that the vast majority of the kids were from the south. I don’t know why. But even though I had traveled quite a bit in the south, I did not get on well with the southerners. Or maybe it is more correct to say that they had a problem with me. There were basically three people I got on with. There was a girl from Arizona who had a sense of adventure and who was the only one who backed me up when I pushed for us to go see, No Sex Please, We’re British. There was an older woman — a teacher — from Philadelphia who I learned much about the world from. And there was this crazy guy from Alaska who I used to sneak out with late at night and have great times in some of the best cities in Europe.
I’d never thought about it before, but maybe there really is something wrong with southerners. At least among that group, they were no fun. And this is during a period of my life when I was a pretentious young intellectual. But at least I wasn’t wedded to the rules and afraid of a little adventure. But anyway: Dulles.
I cannot believe at all you were a pretentious young intellectual. Not you.
Did you travel around Europe with this group? Because it sounds odd that you snuck out at night with an Alaskan to visit European capitals if you were in Virginia. Or maybe you had a Star Trek transporter.
We rehearsed in Virginia for a week. Then we went to Europe. Sorry about the confusion.
Dang, I was really hoping you were such an intellectual you invented transporter technology in the eighties. That would have been so cool.
I assume you have read my writings on transporter technology, and thus know that if I had invented it, I would never use it.
Not yet but I will eventually. I am on page 18 of your Reading and Writing category and page 8 on Fun? Maybe? Fun?
Good God! Soon you will know more about me than the NSA!
Oh yes. And some of it definitely has made me raise my eyebrows at how…open…you are.
Funny you should mention that, given I am right now writing an article that discusses how I’ve perhaps been a bit too open about my sex life — or lack thereof.
One article is not that open. I was thinking more about how you tell us literally everything else-I even know what kind tooth paste you use. (Cheap but when you have money, Tom’s.)
I think you misread that, or I miswrote that. I know my father uses Tom’s. And my first wife insisted upon it. I’m actually most fond of Colgate. I don’t know why. But even when I have money, I tend toward what’s cheap. I love a good deal!
I, being bored and at the car dealership where I am using a different email address to avoid spam with my main one, went and looked it what you actually said: “I used it all the time when I was younger. Now I get whatever is cheap.”
So it was me making an assumption I should not have. For that I apologize although I doubt you were offended. Or maybe you were, I don’t know.
Yeah, that was my wife. I’m very pliant about most things. I noticed the new email address because you had to be re-approved.
It is always nice to receive approval.