BEA or bust - Part 1

BEA or bust -
The trip to Book Expo 2008

Day -1 - Nashville to Dallas
Brace yourselves frogs, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Though we are just getting into the car, already - for me - the trip is nineteen hours old. After being dropped at the airport two hours early (an absolute UNnecessity in Nashville) my flight was bumped, bumped again, and finally cancelled. All due to weather.

According to the airline, there was a bad storm in Dallas, although all reports from the ground stated “sure, there was a little rain”. To add insult to injury, the next flight to Dallas (two hours later) wasn’t even delayed. And the screen behind the desk at the terminal was posting the Dallas weather as 74o and partly cloudy. This flight was, of course, sold out.

A smiling attendant told me it was a good thing I lived in the area as I “could go home and just come back and try again the next morning.” She recommended hotels for stranded travelers, offered us seats in the airport to sleep on, never apologized and offered no comps. All with a smile that would make the manufacturers of Thorazine quite proud.

I called my travel agent/manager/Eli and was soon booked on a flight on Southwest. I bid my newfound and bitter airport friends goodbye (must be they didn’t have a travel agent/manager/Eli). After re-doing all the check-in and TSA stuff, the kindly folks at Southwest told me the weather in Dallas was sunny that evening.

An hour after I was originally to have landed, I was on board my new flight. After landing . . . somewhere, I immediately popped myself onto the next connection to Dallas. Of course, I realized only as I landed that there was no way on earth that my luggage had also made the flight. Not my brightest move. Eli pointed this out several times over midnight pancakes at IHOP while we waited for my suitcase to land.

At this point I decided the next time someone tells me how smart I am, I will gently but firmly insist that I am a savant. This way, when I do remarkably stupid things (which I am bound to do - probably sooner rather than later) I will not only get acceptance but maybe even sympathy.

I have to say that this label has sat well with me in the weeks since. I was labeled the class brainiac by first grade - don’t get me wrong, I earned it. I was socially awkward and couldn’t keep my mouth shut (situations that still plague me to this day (“grow out of it” my ass!)). But when you get that “brainiac” label, people expect things. Teachers expect you to do well. Other students expect you to do the work. And I think people really enjoy when you do something stupid - which I do all the time.

So being a ‘savant’ is fantastic. If something doesn’t work out, well, it wasn’t the area I’m smart in. If I’m stupid, poor me. If anyone doubts me, all I have to do is throw in a few mumbled phrases about ‘Wapner at three’ or ‘only driving on Mondays’. Most people still get the reference. So here’s to savantism! Join me! Why have expectations and silly talks about your ‘potential’ when you can be celebrated for buttoning your shirt in the morning?

I’m all in, how about you?