New! Here!

I'm not sure how much I have to say about this, but the way I've been going on today, I'll come up with something.

I already talked about the delayed outbound flight, so there isn't much to say about that. The flight itself was about par, and the meal was a cucumber, tomato and lettuce sandwich with Italian dressing, an apple and some chips. Oddly, while the sandwich was vegan, it was served with Doritos that weren't. I don't understand how they designate these damn meals. If you order the VLML, you're just as likely to get a duplicate of the VGML. (I'll be experimenting with the Asian vegetarian on my return trip from San Jose, so more on this later.)

The air conditioning at Dulles is broken. This was the C/D Terminal building.

St. Louis was the same as it ever was. We saw Boys and Girls, which was a lot better than I expected. I'm not saying it was notable, but the plot held up and none of the actors were annoying. I seem to mesh better with T's parents than I used to. We stayed there and it was the best experience I've had staying in that house. I think I met T's mom when she was going through a bad patch, because she's a lot more fun now.

We did go to Dressel's Pub[1], but we did not manage to hook up with any of T's St. Louis friends. In the past, two of them have consistently blown us off for various things, so we didn't even bother to call this time. They always have to work on weekends or have something better (apparently) to do. The third one we accidentally blew off. We both like her a lot, but the weekend just got away from us.

On the downside, I did get the worst leg waxing ever. Not only did she do a totally half-ass job, it took 90 minutes for a half-leg wax. I would swear she'd never done it before. She used a toilet paper size roll of muslin strips, for one thing. The best leg waxers seem use about 1/4 that amount. She refused to believe me when I said that everyone uses them again. She wouldn't even TRY it, so I couldn't convince her that it would work. When I asked how long she thought this would take (this was about 15 minutes in), she replied "maybe forever". This proved to be true. She got wax EVERYWHERE in that room, and I'm sure whoever had to clean that up was pissed. She got wax on the table, all over the outside of the heater, on the floor, on the table, on my feet, fucking EVERYWHERE. She didn't do my knees, and she kept trying to get the missed hair with her fingers, which was painful and ineffective. She continued to do it, even after I told her that it hurt (now waxing hurts, but it hurts in a very specific and short term way. This was beyond that.

I should have gotten up and left, but I really wanted my legs waxed and I certainly didn't want them half done. I should have bitched about the price. I should have talked to the management, but I'm an idiot, and I felt sorry for her and even tipped her $4.00, for which I should be shot. I also think she overcharged me.

Of course we visited Steak and Shake. It's inevitable. For the first time in five years, I felt myself slipping down the slippery slope of ovo-lacto vegetarianism. I truly wanted a cheeseburger. I have not wanted meat for five years. All of a sudden, I want it (well, just beef. I already eat fish (only swimming sort) once in a while, I still don't like the idea of eating birds. I can see myself eating ham, however.) I'm waiting for it to really call out to me somewhere I can get something that I really like(d) at a quality establishment. It was very hard indeed to not order a Steakburger, but if I had done that, I might have taken T down with me, because I don't know if even he could watch me eat that Steakburger, and he never even thinks of eating fish and I'm really weak willed. [1]Dressel's is one of two Welsh pubs in the Central West End of St. Louis. Why there are two there and none anywhere else in the U.S., I don't know, but they have exceptional Vegetarian selections like Veggie pot pie things that I love and are a total ass pain to make. Mine *are* better, but that's because I put exactly what I want in there. Next time I make one, I'll post the recipie here.