Airport Security: still sucking.

I just spent $0.54 on a single Ziplock bag. It’s $0.54, so it’s not a super big deal, but I think a box of like 30 Ziplocks costs maybe $2.50 so I have this sneaking suspicion that I just overpaid.

Having just moved here I kind of forgot that I wouldn’t be flying out of LAX this morning, which is very forgiving in terms of their liquid policy, in that they really don’t give a shit what liquids and how many/much you bring on. But this, is Oakland, and they have a myriad of signs posted warning you to bag it up. I have since cut back the number of lip glosses I carry in my bag, so it’s not the 12 or 13 that I think I was carrying last summer when this policy first came into being. Instead I have 5 glosses, 1 lipstick, and 2 chapsticks, in addition to a tube of hand cream.

SWest flies out of terminal 2 which is a trek from terminal 1. I went to term 2 and asked if they had any baggies. Nope – but they directed me back to terminal 1. I rolled up at the little security table expecting a free cheap-o plastic bag and was then directed to a store where I could buy one single, lonely little plastic bag for, yes, $0.54. So, I did.

Anyway, so I left our new house in only slight disarray, having taken about 20 boxes out to the trash dump area last night. An ungodly expensive trip to BB&B and many hours of arranging later, I kind of fit all my crap into my bedroom. I have piles of shoeboxes tucked into the closet, 2 8-hook bars on each door in my room holding about 20+ handbags, and an exposed metal rack holding clothes (like they use on like, movie sets, or at a fashion shoot, in other words, not typically in someone’s home I suspect) against one wall. It looks fairly uncluttered save for the clothes rack, but upon closer but still casual inspection it becomes quite obvious that mine is a room where the contents are in actuality far too great for the space holding them.

Oh let me tell you this one thing though. Our neighborhood is great. We have incredible access to any sort of smoking paraphernalia at any time of day (it’s the Haight, dude) that makes is almost ludicrous that none of us smoke, we have limitless restaurants, mad places selling clothes one wears when following Phish…and tucked in, many places selling stylish, overpriced great clothes and handbags that are a better fit with my own personal tastes. Such the perfect blend.

And one particular storefront that sells every sundry under the sun. The food and drinks are stacked on shelves and in coolers as expected. But the other more obscure items: power strips, wrenches, laundry bags, etc., are hanging on peg boars that soar 20 feet up the walls. The other night we were determined to watch our new tv and required an extension cord, so we walked to this particular shop. We scanned the peg board for one but my neck really doesn’t crane that effectively. We asked for help. They said they’d help…but never came. We went back and I asked again for help. “So did you find one?,” the guy asked. “Umm, I don’t know exactly. I think maybe, but it’s like 28 feet in the air…” -- “Oh, you can’t reach that high? Ha ha!” He then went back and started scrounging. He disappeared behind stacks of toilet paper packages and refrigerators. He emerged carrying 4 extension cords that he had apparently ripped out of his own sockets.

“These work for me, so should be fine for you!” He then tossed them into a bag and gave us, for free, like 60 feet of extension cord. How awesome is that? Totally makes it ok that I spent $0.54 on a single Ziplock.

That is just how nice people in SF are. I guess I’ll just fit right on it. Alright then, time to board…home to IN…for TWO weeks…I go.