Hurry up and Wait

I'm on the way to Minneapolis. I'm waiting. In the airport. At O'Hare. I got up at 5am in order to catch a 7:50am flight out of Atlanta. It is still dark at 5am. I turned on the coffee pot, clicked on the bathroom light, got in the shower, began to wash my hair, and --fitz! -- the electricity went off. Don't try to imagine what it was like, dripping wet, to search for flashlights, candles, matches, and a towel, not in that order. I had laid out my clothes the night before so I could easily pack this morning... now I would pack by candlelight and hope not to leave anything behind that I just can't see. When the lights came on an hour later, the first thing I said to Jim was, "Turn on the coffee!"

Jim laughed. "You're an addict!" I am. There are worse addictions.

Speaking of seeing, I worked in a long-overdue eye exam this week while I was home, and ordered new contacts (you'll remember I lost a contact in the bowels of Allyn Johnston's Honda while I was on tour in California) and a new pair of glasses. They're red. Next week I'll be back in the seeing-well business.

Right now I'm in the airport-waiting business. Came home from the fabulous SIBA to the news that my college-age daughter's old laptop -- which we have been bandaiding together for years -- is finally most sincerely dead. She has three papers due, midterms looming, and the campus library hours have been cut back severely (long story). Boyfriend Richard showed up from Florida (not my boyfriend; Hannah's). Poison pen letters arrived -- more on this one day, too... they took the wind out of my sails, and I was exhausted anyway, so this gave me a chance to take to my bed with even more reason, which I did.
Books continued to arrive, which got me out of bed, where I joined in the search for a new laptop. Hannah wants an iMac. We have to win the lottery first. And, since she's paying for her laptop, she grabbed my offer to buy myself a new laptop and give Hannah my old one, which works Very Well, although the new one has twice as much storage space and speed, and now that I'm BLOGGING.... But what I didn't understand was that new computers now have..... VISTA. Windows Vista. Ohmygolly Uncle Jim-Bob, WHAT were they thinking?

Nothing works with VISTA, particularly not my ancient, beloved email program, Eudora. I've made some progress in getting it all straightened out ("Thank you, Richard; let's all go to dinner."), but I have a feeling I've got a long way to go. If any of you have suggestions for dealing with VISTA, please let me know! (No fair saying "take the laptop back.") Used to be, Vista was a program much like the Peace Corps, only in this country. When I was a teenager, I wanted to join Vista before I found myself in a surprisingly different line of work. I loved the idea of that Vista. This VISTA... pah.

So. It has been an expensive week. But hey. I was home. Home between gigs. Four days on the road coming up, then one day home, then three days out again.

Oh, and one last thing, while it's all about memememe: The Listening Library audio book of ALL-STARS is here, and you must must must go hear just a snippet of Kate Jackson's wonderful, heartfelt reading of this book. Kate Jackson. Yes, that Kate Jackson, formerly of Charlie's Angels, formerly of Birmingham, Alabama, where she was born... her southern drawl and slightly salty/scritchy/silly/sensitive voice is perfect for ALL-STARS. You can have a listen here. And you can read the PW starred audio review here. Way to go, Miss Kate. Thank you so much for such a fabulous rendition of ALL-STARS.

My waiting time is over -- United is calling my flight to Minneapolis. Midwest Booksellers, here I come, complete with my old glasses, my new laptop with VISTA (booooo!) and my hair washed by candlelight. Look out.