Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
California Trip In Jeopardy?
Tuesday
June 4, 2002
"If you think you might come to California
I think you should..."
-Counting Crows "A Long December"
Could the big trip to California be called off in the last few days? Things are still set for now... but Scott Massey is still feeling sick. He meets again with his doctor on Wednesday, when he'll hopefully be given a clean bill of health. I hate that he's hurting from the standpoint of being a concerned friend, but along with that is concern about our planned Cali adventure.
The tickets through Delta are non-refundable. The vacation time is locked -- and there's not a way to reschedule it in 2002 with our respective schedules. So, it's California or bust.
But the question becomes -- if Scott can't go, will I go out there on my own? 10 days on my own in Cali... I have friends in San Diego so that'd be alright. But there are other factors to consider -- like that the rental car is in Scott's name. Even if switching it to mine wouldn't be a problem, there's the fact that Scott is 25 and I'm 24. As I've written in the past, the blatant age descrimination against young adults strikes again. Never mind that I'm a successful news producer. Because I'm two months shy of my 25th birthday, I'm forced to pay higher rates. Where's Joseph Lieberman or John McCain to grandstand for me? Oh, wait, there's no campaign money to be solicited by doing that. Nevermind.
So there's the consideration of paying more for the rental car, not to mention not being able to split the cost for lodging. Or gasoline. Plus, there's the whole notion of the epic adventure, the two friends taking off for the great unknown journey in California. It wouldn't seem right to make this a trip on my own. Besides, I know no one in Los Angeles. And even if by some chance there are people whose paths I've crossed in years gone by who lives out there, I don't have a way to get ahold of them. And L.A. might be the city of angels, but that's a tall order even by those standards.
Hopefully Scott will be ok and feeling better today, but the planning side of me knows it's important to prepare for the unexpected.
Meanwhile, other trips demand planning. Need to lock up a hotel for St. Louis (Glenn tells me Heather may be coming down for Mike Miller's wedding after all, so I need to reserve my own spot). Ditto for N'awlins. Really need to secure all that before the Cali trip. And time is a'tickin', especially with the WTSP meeting tomorrow till 11 AM and then the massage therapy on Thursday.
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