Recap

Here’s a quick recap on some things I wanted to blog about recently but didn’t get a chance:

On my flight out of New York, two guys in business suits were sitting in the seats right in front of me. One of them was wearing enormous headphones. A flight attendant came by and asked the guy to remove the headphones during takeoff. The guy took off his headphones, waited until the flight attendant had passed, then put them back on again. When the flight attendant came by again, she asked him again to remove them. He claimed that his audio player was turned off. She said he’d still have to remove the headphones. He said sharply, “What’s the reason for that?” The flight attendant said, “I’m sorry, it’s just policy.” The guy grumbled, “That doesn’t make any sense at all.” The flight attendant explained, “I think it’s because headphones like that block sound, and if there was an emergency during takeoff, they want you to be able to hear instructions.” I thought that actually sounded like a pretty good reason, and I expected the guy to concede. Instead, the guy next to him got in the action with a loud and angry, “Oh, so I suppose that means deaf people aren’t allowed to ride this airline?” Huh? The flight attendant was visibly shocked and said, “Oh, sir. Please.” That same guy said, “I’ve never heard that rule before on any other airline that I’ve flown on. Never.” The two guys harangued the flight attendant for another minute or so before finally relenting and settling down to commiserate over how badly they’d been treated. Seriously, some people.

Around L.A., you see an incredible number of car wrecks, but driving to Pasadena last week I passed the worst one I’ve seen yet. I literally came up a hill and said to myself, “Wow, if I didn’t know better I’d say that was an entire car engine just lying by itself in the middle of the road.” Well, that’s exactly what it was. A short time later I passed the car, or what was left of it, its front looking like the roots of a tree that’s just been yanked out of the ground.

In the bookstore recently I spotted what may be the best cover I’ve ever seen, the cover to young Israeli author Etgar Keret’s short story collection The Nimrod Flip-Out. The cover caught my eye, I read the first story, loved it, and bought the collection. I’ve been carrying it around with me, and I’ve noticed that everyone who sees the cover takes an immediate interest in the book. I hope someday I get a cover like that. The book does not actually feature a guy in a bunny suit going on a rampage with a shotgun (unfortunately), but that cover still does a pretty good job of capturing the screwball tone of the stories. The stories are very short, each about three or four pages, which is great because it makes me feel very productive. (“Wow, I read three short stories in just the last ten minutes!”)