2001-06-06 - 11:52 a.m.

That woman in a leather jacket pelting through O'Hare at 6:32 a.m. this morning? That was me, if you happened to be between gates H1 and K1. Twenty feet into the tunnel, I yanked my sandals off because they were too floppy to run in, but then yanked them back on once I reached the terminal because the word "tetanus" kept flashing through my head.

Mornings like this, I keep reminding myself that, for all of their faults, Fokker 100s are still considerably more comfortable than stagecoaches.

One of my splurges this trip was a millet-filled neck pillow. I'd call it an indulgence, but it solved a definite problem: Sunday night, I strained or overextended a muscle on the left side of my neck, and it hurt so much through all of Monday that I wasn't able to turn my head to my left. The pillow was a godsend when it came time to find a sleeping position that didn't exacerbate the pain, and it made napping in this morning's aisle seats slightly more manageable.

My other major splurge was treating myself to a pedicure. I examined my feet Sunday night and thought, "Gads, these look worse than the puppy's rawhide donuts," so I made an appointment at a local spa.

I liked the tea, I liked the attention, and I'm enjoying the novelty of displaying bright red toenails - but it's not about to become a regular habit. Reason #1: I can eat two sushi dinners for the price of one pedicure. Reason #2: I lingered in the waiting room for a full hour afterwards, and the polish on my big toes still smudged up when I soaked in the bath later that evening. Reason #3: The soles of my feet are exceedingly ticklish. I think I left clawmarks in the armchair during the massage and pumice portions of the session.

So much for my reputation as a sybarite. On the other hand, I'm about to serve myself bacon-and-basil sandwiches [1] and lemonade for lunch, and I've promised myself that I'll head to bed as soon as I return from work this afternoon. Just think - the luxury of postponing my obligations another day in order to drowse against my pillows with a novel [2] and the cat. I can hardly wait. . .

[1] The next time I go on a trip, I need to remind the BYM to water the plants - the basil looked droopy and the peace lily looks like it may be on the terminal side of wilted. On the other hand, our back yard has been colonized by mushrooms the size of large saucers, and the BYM demonstrated that he did indeed miss me (we locked the dog out of the study for a few minutes). . .

[2] Finished Jennifer Lash's On Pilgrimage - a very good book to read as a woman travelling alone, although I need to return to it with my French and English dictionaries to look up the various words I didn't recognize. Also read Dario Fo's The Pope and the Witch and The First Miracle of the Baby Jesus (the first one somewhat funny; didn't care for the second one; Abducting Diana is superior to both).