August
23, 2006
Last Friday I was at the
Charlotte airport waiting for my connecting flight. It's a
nice airport, but after spending two hours wandering around, I was
bored, so I went to an empty gate area to pass the last hour
sitting and reading a book. About two minutes after I sat
down, a police officer came over to me and asked "Is that your bag
over there?"
About 15 feet away was a black
backpack that he was pointing to. The owner of the bag
apparently wasn't around, and I could see where this was going.
"Uhh, no. Sorry."
The cop seemed more agitated now,
"How long have you been sitting here? Did you see anyone put
it there?" I told him that I just sat down no more than two
minutes ago, and no, I didn't notice if anyone put it there.
This didn't sit too well with him, so he keyed his shoulder radio
and started to report a suspicious bag.
In my mind, I was picturing
watching CNN and seeing a generic aerial view of thousands of
people out front of an airport terminal with the announcer saying,
"This afternoon, commuters at the Charlotte International Airport
encountered long delays and cancelled flights as the airport was
shut down due to a suspicious unattended bag." Shit.
Just then, a 10-year old girl
yelled, "Mommy, I found my backpack!" as she ran over to the bag.
*Phew*. The police officers that were now gathered
around/arriving on the scene then interrogated the family and
searched all their bags.
Apart from that, and despite all
the "increased security measures," they've supposedly put into
place, it took no time at all to go through security. Maybe
it was because of the restrictions on carry-on luggage.
Whatever it is, I hope it's still as quick and easy when I go to
Toronto in
October.
What I'm listening to right now:
Dear Leader -
A Billion Served (live)
August
20, 2006
This weekend I did something
amazing. I read a book. Quite an unbelievable feat, I
know. Reading is one of those things that I get all kinds of
excited about, but never make the time for, so then the book sits
all lonely and dusty and then tries to make me feel guilty for not
having read it. That's when it gets hidden behind (or under)
other books in the bookcase.
I love books, I really do.
I get a wonderfully positive feeling whenever I'm in a bookstore;
one that fills me with the confidence that anything is possible
because everything I've ever wanted to know is right around me in
the stacks. The problem is that I usually buy too many, and
then start reading them all at once (not at the same time, that'd
be silly) and then finish none of them.
A couple of months ago I finally
finished
this book. Not bad since I bought it over three and a
half years ago. While looking for something, I came across
this one, which I had bought to read on our trip to Europe
last spring. I only read it on the plane (when I wasn't
sleeping or watching a movie), and apparently, have never opened
it since - or finished it for that matter. Heck, I got
this one as soon as it came out, in 2004, and was about 2/3
through it before I loaned it to someone a few months ago.
The thing is, I really do like
the books that I pick, it's just that I never made the time.
That all changed when I re-read
this little gem
this weekend. I've had On Writing in hardcover since it came
out six years ago, but I only read it that once; and didn't get
much out of it since I wasn't into writing at the time. Now
I want to frame that mofo since it's filled with wonderful tips
and suggestions. Today, I decided to put some of the things
he talks about into practice and wow, it sure helped a lot.
I even got motivated enough to start writing a story that I
thought I'd never get around to for another couple of years.
I know, it's kind of silly to start writing on another novel,
especially when I'm only like 5% done with my current book, but
it's what I was inspired to do, so I can't be all complainy about
it. Maybe I'll have my books race each other to see which
gets finished first. Probably neither. The short story
I've also recently begun writing should be done before the other
two (well, it better).
I would chat more, but I'm off to
read before going to bed.
What I'm listening to right now:
The
Magnetic Fields - Reno Dakota
August
19, 2006
Yesterday I had to fly up to Ohio
for a work thing. This morning, while driving back, I
stopped at a rest area/tourist information building for Kentucky.
Each of the four times I've driven through Kentucky, I happened to
have stopped at the same rest stop. Each time, I've stopped
to look at the big Jim Beam barrel in the lobby's display case
which is always trying to entice visitors to the nearby distillery
(whisktillery?). Each time I've thought, "Hmm, maybe I
should stop there sometime. It's only the next exit from
here." But, of course, my response has always been, "Nah.
Next time," even though I know that finding myself driving through
Kentucky is something that I very very rarely do. So today
when I found myself at the same rest stop, staring at the same Jim
Beam display, I vowed to actually go this time. I got off at
the next exit and, boom, there it was.
 The
setting was pretty much just as I had pictured it: dozens of
large, windowless, barrel-houses nestled in the humidly hazy Blue
Ridge hills, while a factory chimney softly billows fragrant smoke
into the sky. Everything was right on, except for the
fragrant-ness of the air. It was more of a mild stench.
I parked and walked up the hill
to the "Outfitter" building that all the signs pointed to.
Thirty seconds after entering, I realized they didn't offer any
tours, that this gift shop was pretty much it. I was a
little disappointed after being so impressed with how interesting
and informative Jack Daniel's tour was last fall when I went for
their
annual invitational BBQ cook-off. Nevertheless, the
grounds at Jim Beam looked like a photo-op waiting to happen, so I
went for a walk.
The first building I came to,
looked like it was Jim Beam's house or something, so I went in.
That's where I saw this...
The world's smallest, functional
still (it's even registered with the ATF!). A woman who
worked there scared the crap out of me by appearing behind me and
booming, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAMPLE SOME BOURBON WHISKEY?" I
politely declined, which caused her to give me a long, suspicious
glance as in, lemme get this straight, you came to a
distillery, and you don't want to sample the product? That's
like going to the Hershey factory and not having any chocolate.
I turned to look at some old certificate or something on the wall,
and *poof*, the loud woman vanished. Weird.
I went outside and took some
pictures of the buildings, and walked around for a bit taking
pictures. It was great that Kari (well, her Post-It
self-portrait, at least) was able to come with me.
A few minutes later, I heard a
loud crackling sizzle streak through the air above, followed by
 a
thunderous clap of, uh...thunder. A heavy raindrop hit me
squarely on top of the head. I was a little more annoyed
when another fat one happily landed on my camera. Once it
discovered that it landed on something expensive that doesn't like
water, the raindrop called for reinforcements, and then it started
pouring like hell. I ran to the nearest shelter, a nearby
overhang.
Lightly panting, I turned to look
and see where I was. The metal overhang I was under was
attached to a huge, nine-story, metal, barrel house...filled with
20,000 of barrels of 160 proof (flammable!) bourbon. The
bright flash of lightning and the ground-shaking rumble helped to
accentuate the point that I chose a poor location to ride out the
thunderstorm. Luckily, it stopped as quickly as it started
and I was able to creep away a few minutes later.
The rain had cleared the grounds
of any tourists that were walking around, so it helped me get some
better pictures (It's annoying to have to photoshop people out of
pictures). It also helped turn the already muggy day into a
steam bath. I got the pictures I wanted and then hit the
road again.
Go here to see more pictures.
When I stopped for gas near
Nashville, I saw this friendly chap glaring at me from the gas
pump...
I think it would be more
effective if the cop was pointing and laughing, like
"HA
HA! I just took your license!"
Since everyone loves them some
Baxter, here's a cute picture...
What I'm listening to right now:
REM -
Finest Worksong
August
14, 2006
I haven't had a lot of time to
post lately, but that doesn't mean stuff isn't going on. On
a very cool note, Kari found a theater job, but it has two huge
drawbacks...first, it's only a short contract position for two
months, and second, it's far away from here. )=
It's cool that she was able to
finally get away from her coffee job here and get back into the
career she loves, but at the same time it was very hard for her
(both of us, actually) to be ok with her leaving for two months
(plus, she took my car [since it would travel a lot better than
hers]!).
So this morning, in the early
morning darkness, I waved as she drove off, and then realized
almost immediately how alone I felt. At least she'll be back
before the end of October.
Did I mention that her car only
has a tape deck? Wicked crappy.
What I'm listening to right now:
Eagle-Eyed Cherry - Save Tonight
August
10, 2006
Every day for the past year I've
driven by a dilapidated, half-fallen down barn, set back about 30
feet from the road, and overgrown with trees. Every day on
the way to work, I saw how cool it looks with the early morning
sun streaming through, silhouetting the rough, strewn boards of
the collapsed back half and it would always strike me how
beautiful it looked, and how I should take a picture of it.
Every day on the way home, I saw as the early evening setting sun
splashed the interior of the barn with a soothing soft light, and
my first thought was how I should take a picture.
A few weeks ago, I noticed the
land surrounding the barn was being cleared out. Eventually,
they removed all the trees, so the barn lost its "I'm being
assaulted by nature"-look and now looked naked and so alone in the
middle of a barren field. I also meant to take a picture of
this as well.
Yesterday morning I did my
morning ritual of straining my neck to stare at the silhouetted
barn for as long as I could while driving by. Yesterday
afternoon, the barn was just a heap of rubble.
True, it always looked like you
could give it a hard look and the whole thing would come crashing
down, but then again, I think that was the wonderful appeal of it.
Something so fragile looking, yet it still stood up against dozens
of tornadic storms every year.
Too bad I never stopped to take a
picture.
What I'm listening to right now:
Jupiter Sunrise -
Cherry Wine
© 2006 Eric Nixon. All rights reserved.
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