a loaf of bread, some olive oil

a loaf of bread, some olive oil, originally uploaded by maisnon.

Yesterday? The out and back to LA? Comedy of errors. It was one of those "what could go wrong ... did" days.

(1) Knew my flight was ridiculously early, therefore. Could NOT sleep - up on the hour, every hour

(2) Arrived at the airport 40 minutes before my flight. No luggage, no worries, right? Wrong. They've changed the cut-off to 45 minutes. Crap. Put on the next flight which would get me there 1 hour late for my meeting.

(3) That flight sat on the tarmac for another 45 minutes. Now, 2 hours late for meeting.

(4) But the small matter of the line at the Hertz counter in Burbank airport. Spend 30 minutes in line. Do not pass "GO" do not collect $200.

(5) Arrive at client's.....old address! They moved about 3 blocks away. Consider just chucking the whole thing in, as I am now 2.5 hours late. (In fairness, the partner stayed in LA the night before and has been attending the meeting the whole time.)

(6) Leaving the client's CORRECT address, come really, really close to an accident in the parking garage. I had to lay on the horn to prevent a pick-up truck from backing into me. So close, in fact, that the parking attendant volubly comments on the closeness as I leave the garage.

(7) The partner told me to follow him on the highway, rather than use the directions I had printed out. (Anything to avoid the 5!!) This would have been fine, had he not swerved to make his exit. Which, due to the timing, did not become my exit. Watch him make "OMIGOD! SORRY!" faces as he drives away.

(8) Take the scenic tour, including Hertz NeverLost GPS technology telling me to "PLEASE PROCEED TO HIGHLIGHTED ROUTE!" Um, aren't you supposed to TELL me HOW to get there?

(9) Called United and was told there was no chance of getting on an earlier flight.

Around (4), I decided to just see the humor in the whole thing. No amount of being annoyed/angry/frustrated was going to change the tenor of the day.

So, I decided to treat myself to a relaxing meal (since I had a few hours to kill.) I called ILTSAE and asked her about her old 'hood, which is sorta near the airport. She recommended Roberto's for its great bread. (Let's keep in mind that ILTSAE was at an important "I could get a job here!!!" conference in CO and I kept calling her re: directions. That's the kind of rockstar friend I am!)

She was not kidding. The bread (and the olive oil) were awesome and just so comforting and relaxing. The teenager who seated me (the owner's son, I think) came and chatted with me about my shawl. He told me that he's Persian, and he had a teacher who was Indian last year. And how much he liked her, and how similar the cultures are. Etc., etc. He was so sweet.

The caponata was amazing, and my new friend brought me chai, and 'namasate'd as he left. I was thick into a Carl Hiassen novel that I had purchased due to my lengthy delay that morning. (Hiassen's novels all take place in Florida. Between my exhaustion, lack of sleep, and voracious reading - I spent the whole day feeling like I was in Miami, rather than LA.)

Feeling much, much better, I dropped off the rental car, took the shuttle to my terminal. Where I found that (10) My 8 pm flight to SF had been delayed to 9:30. BUT (BUT), I somehow managed to get on the 7:20 pm flight (which left close to 8, but who's counting?)

When I finally made it home, I crawled into bed and slept for 12 hours.