It’s been over a month since I’ve posted anything here. I guess that’s not too bad. And it was a v. busy month. I should go back and check how many posts begin that way. Anyway, this is coming to you from Huntington, West Virginia. I’ll back up a little.
The day I left for the airport in Abu Dhabi was chaos and none of it of my making, really. Work was chaos for reasons I can’t divulge, you understand. George was supposed to pick me up at about 7 for a dinner party at Asli’s villa and then he’d take me on to the airport after, about 9 or so. The flight wasn’t until midnight, but I wanted to shop and use the open bar in the lounge, the usual. He didn’t arrive until almost 8 and was lost in my neighborhood. I talked him to my place on the mobile while I waited for him downstairs. Then, I was supposed to help navigate us to Asli’s villa and I was trying to do that and speak to my boss to make him aware of a problem George had discovered regarding work, of course. We drove around lost in Um Al Nar for about 30 minutes until we found the villa. Patricia and James were there, along with John and (my god I can’t think of her name, it begins with a B or an M and she’s Turkish) she was there, too. I met Asli’s daughter and her husband. Some other people from the embassy were there, but I forget their names. Had a little white wine and some dinner and got George to take me to the airport. John rode along to assist George. Got to the airport about 30 minutes late, which isn’t bad for George.
The airport was easy thanks to Golden Class Service and I dumped my stuff in the lounge and went shopping. No problems. Scoped out the bookstore, nothing to buy. Headed to the liquor store and found out that because of new regulations regarding liquids on flights, I couldn’t buy my usual two bottles of Jameson’s for the trip. I was shocked, shocked and thrown off my usual routine. I got a couple of carton of cigarettes and then moved on to the cologne shop. I bought a small bottle of Prada that fell under the new regulations for liquids and walked back to the lounge to consume some, Jameson’s. The Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt wasn’t bad except for the stopover in Kuwait City. The five hours in Frankfurt airport were pretty miserable, but at least there are smoking areas. The USAir flight to Charlotte was comfortable and I did manage a bit of sleep and also to snag one bottle of duty-free Chivas, which I had to stow in my checked luggage after I went through customs. I was only in the Charlotte airport for maybe an hour before they called my flight and I was off to Knoxville. Arrived Knoxville about 7 pm or so and seemed like I waited forever on my bags. I was so out of it. About 27 hours in airplanes and airports and very little sleep. Found a taxi and got to the Hilton. The taxi driver was very nice and very knowledgeable about things to do in Knoxville as well as in the Pigeon Forge area. I washed up in my room and stumbled down to the bar, The Pink Martini, and had a large vodka one followed by a hamburger with a pint of beer. Not long after that I was asleep.
Jet lag seems to get worse as I get older. I woke up about 5 or so and had a really hard time getting back to sleep. Next thing I knew it was 1 o’clock. The sky was blue and I thought the best way to wake up was at the pool. Out I went and had a dip. The water was pretty cold. I was hungry and found that there wasn’t room service at the pool. I went to the front desk and they said I could order it from my room and have it sent to the pool. That wasn’t exactly correct. I got room service on the phone and he told me that you couldn’t have glass at the pool. I got to the bottom line. I’m hungry and I want to eat at the pool, what can I have? The kid was bright. I can make you a club sandwich in a to-go box. I said great and went back to the pool. Not long after that, I ate. Then a mother came with two screaming children. Their screams hit my head on reverb and I stayed about another thirty minutes before I went up to shower.
After I got dressed, I went down to the Starbucks in the lobby for a coffee and then went on the computer. Checked mail and started reading some news. I tried to go to Salon and the net nanny told me it was blocked. I was stunned. They block Salon.com at the Hilton in Knoxville. Later I tried to go to The Huffington Post and it was also blocked by the net nanny. They block The Huffington Post at the Hilton in Knoxville. Finally, I twigged to something and googled the fascist Drudge Report, clicked on the link and went right there. Well, being jet-lagged and a little hung over I went up to the desk and argued with some clueless little southern Christian bimbo who assured me NO, the hotel was not just blocking liberal news sites but that the computer guy who did that was off today. I told that was exactly what was going on and said I’m not in this country much but that nothing surprises me here anymore. I vented a bit. I finished on the computer and then went out into the garden to have a cigarette and to finish off my coffee.
I wanted to get out and walk and see a little of the city. I asked the same bimbo at the desk and she directed me to the Old Market Square area, a few blocks away. I got my music player on and cranked it up loud and went walking. I found it easily and shopped in several places. I found a Jesus action figure with glow in the dark hands. I also bought a countdown calendar to Bush’s last day in office and a copper bracelet. I wanted some water so I went into this bar and ended up having to buy this expensive water in a bottle and I started to leave and she handed me a glass. I went out to sit on the patio and have a smoke. I looked at the glass as I was about to pour the expensive water into it and there was lipstick still on the rim. I just drank from the bottle. I still had the music cranked up and there were two other tables taken on an eight-table patio. I lit my cigarette and was enjoying the water and the cigarette and the music when this waitress bimbo with multiple piercings on her face told me “this is a non-smoking patio”. I laughed at her, of course, and questioned her seriousness. She said she was serious. I said, “I’ll go then,” and left the water and the dirty glass on the table and started walking again.
One street over I found an art cooperative, The Art Market Gallery. I still had the music cranked up when I entered and felt a tap on my shoulder after a minute or so and the woman told me that it was an art cooperative and they have details on all the artists and if I needed any help, just to ask. I thanked her and put the music back on. There were some brilliant pieces there. I spent about a hundred, but I could have spent a lot more. There’s always the baggage weight allowance on the fight home to consider. I bought a nice piece of pottery, a lovely turned wooden bowl, and a really cool hand-painted glass soap dish. After I left there I headed back to the hotel and dropped off my purchases and then walked over to the Sundome (I think that’s what it’s called) that is a remnant of when Knoxville hosted the World’s Fair about 20 years ago. You ride the elevator to the top and you get this great view of the park and parts of the city and the river. The mountains are really beautiful in the distance. I walked the park a bit more and had intentions to eat out somewhere but when I got back to the hotel I just decided to go back down to the same bar, where you can smoke, and order the BBQ sandwich. It was very good. After dinner it was upstairs to pack, watch a little TV and try to sleep early because my mother, sister and niece were picking me up early the next day to go on to Pigeon Forge for the Baker Family Reunion 2007.
I’m on vacation so I’m going to cut this up into several parts. Next part will be on the Baker Family Reunion 2007 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. There is also a political rant coming on. Thus, the title of this post. I saw a Bill Maher comedy special on HBO at the Hilton. He said that he loves America; it’s Americans that he hates. I agree. The country is filled with sell-outs. From the minute you board any American carrier to come here you can see them. I’ll save my feelings on that for a later post.
This is a good piece on the next terror attack and what could happen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/after-the-next-911_b_58264.html
I found this website and thought my friends back in the UAE would like it. You take a pic of someone parked like an asshole and post it on the website. Check it out.
http://www.youparklikeanasshole.com/
War, Chaos and Bush’s Faith by Gary Kamiyahttp://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/07/31/faith_war/
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