Days 3/4: Os' New Girlfriend/Strip Search

After the night's activities to usher in my new old age, it was about 4AM again before I got to bed. I had hoped to see Lindsey, who was coming up from Houston, for lunch, but she had to bail on me. With the afternoon free, I went back to doing the relaxation thing. Dinner was going to be happening soon enough. We had booked reservations at the Magic Time Machine for late afternoon. Of course, most of us were late...

The Magic Time Machine is a funky, theme-based family restaurant. Food is served by professional actors and improv comedians, dressed in a variety of characters--the Big Bad Wolf, the Tooth Fairy, Snow White, and everyone's favorite, Cap'n Jack Sparrow. Each room is themed differently. We were taken to the school bus. Or, as Stealth noted, the short bus. Waldo (as in, "Where's Waldo?) was our waiter. Totally irreverent (as most of them are), but very consistent in keeping our adult beverage requirements taken care of in a timely manner. He brought his buddy Joe Dirt by to meet us, too!

Most of us ordered the same meal--the "Roman Orgy". Primarily, nothing more than meat. And lots of it! And drinks consumed, and presents presented--sense a theme here?

We had new people join us this night. Avery's Mom came with her husband and the two kids. Immediately, I grabbed Avery (my new girlfriend), Tara grabbed her little bro, and the maternal hormones filled the bus!


Eventually, it was time to go. We were fully gorged on the "Orgy" and drinks. But it wasn't the loud (well, sometimes), obnoxious evening like the prior two. This was much more laid back, which was a nice way to be ending the weekend.

Even though I had to get up at an ungodly hour to attempt to get home, I still hadn't seen the city of Dallas! So Stealth and I headed down, just to see the skyline and say that I'd made it there. We ended up in the West End--the older part of downtown and home to the artsier side of Dallas. Even on a Sunday night, there were people milling around and restaurants open. A little music heard from the rooftops, nice evening temps, and a definite calm, compared to the hectic activities of the weekend. We left the area and inadvertently found ourselves driving past the grassy knoll! That was sort of weird, but cool. No spotlights, or "X marks the spot" or anything like that. But it definitely had a deja vu sort of feeling!

The next morning was filled with all sorts of anxiety. With the numerous changes to
my prior flights, I wasn't at all sure that I had a ticket for home! I was quite pleased to find out that all was well. To a degree... I got as far as the TSA guys, and as I was walking through, the nice gentleman (and he really was--sense of humor at 5:00AM is a rare commodity, especially in their job!) informed me that I was tagged for the "big" search. The one they reserve for the really suspicious ones. No, not the strip search--that would have been the icing on the cake. But the one where they check every article in my carry-on stuff to sniff out bomb-making residues. I did get patted down by a large black man. I suppose it was better there than out on the streets. The reason for the VIP treatment was, of course, because I had so many changes to my ticket. Apparently terrorists change their tickets to cover their tracks...

From that point on, the trip home was fairly bland. I have to admit that the plane from DFW to Denver was quite nice--lots of leg room, seats that accomodate those of us who are a bit on the large side, and an incredibly smooth flight. The rest of the trip was on schedule and hassle-free.

The bad part now--it's symphony week. I'm going to be pretty busy, but I'll try to catch up with all that I've missed.