I can barely hear right now. My inner ear doesn't take too kindly to variations in air pressure. I feel like I have a small ocean in my head. Other than that, I'm happy to be in Atlanta. My aunt's house is less than a block from the apartment I lived in back in 1990. As we were driving in, I barely recognized anything. The main road to Stone Mountain, Memorial Drive, has undergone a sort of reverse gentrification. When I was here, it was a road full of strip malls and fast food joints. Now the strip malls have been filled with 99 cent stores and places with names like "Phat Shoes" and "Curls While Ya Wait." The former McDonalds and Taco Bells are now Jamaican restaurants and buffalo wings stands. But the neighborhood where my aunt lives hasn't changed much. Her house is just a couple of hundred yards from the west gate of Stone Mountain. As we sat on her front porch last night, we could hear the pop of fireworks as the laser show concluded, then moments later the stream of cars exiting the park. I like this part of Atlanta. It's located near enough to everything, but far enough away to make it seem almost remote.
Tonight, I'll make my first trip ever to Turner Field to see the Braves take on the always hated Mets.
As a sidenote, wouldn't it make sense during these times of heightened security and long lines at the metal detectors for the airports to provide a place within the security perimeter for smokers to enjoy a little nicotine without having to go outside, light up, then return through security and add to the long lines? Just how hard is it to convert one room to a vacuum-sealed area that only the habitually inclined could enter to do the one thing that can easily calm the nerves? Of course the state of California is probably only a few votes away from making it illegal for someone to smoke in his or her own home, so the idea that they would permit a "smoker's" room in an airport is probably absurd. They could charge admission and make a buck or two to pay for the room and probably build another terminal. In Denver, a smoker has the option of going to a bar with a one drink minimum (water = $2.50). Anyway, after what I went through in San Francisco yesterday, I think I'll buy some nicotine gum for the trip back.
