i've had this window open since i got into work and i've only typed the title of the post.

i got into work late today. slept until 8 cuz my phone was on "silent" mode and my phone doubles as an alarm clock. might be time to invest in a real alarm clock.

yesterday was an excellent day except in one regard, which is that i didn't see jen at all and thus had to sleep alone, two things i don't like doing.

but other than that, it was solid
1) payday. f'n sweet
2) hung out with nitin
3) played cards. in fact, i won $80 playing poker over at MIT. and made a few poker buddies. and got into more of a circuit for random weekly games, so hopefully i'll get more real life games in... and very little party poker for now.

what else is going on? well, i had thanksgiving break, which is worthy of its own post, or would be if this post had any legs to it on its own, but it doesn't, so thanksgiving is kind of like a pirate that has boarded this post and commandeered it.

if you haven't heard of my insane trip into cleveland, well hold on buck-o. actually don't. ow. stop it.

this all happened last wednesday. flew into philly with relatively little problem, slightly delayed in landing so i was worried i might miss my connection to cleveland. luckily, it was indefinitely delayed. sweet. got to the gate, met up with sis, who informed me of aforementioned delay. maybe 45 minutes to a hour later (and a slice of sbarros later, i might add. yum.) they finally started boarding our flight. 2/3rds of the way through and they stopped. my sister was on the flight at this point, but I, being in row 3, hadn't gotten on the plane yet. in fact, i was at the end of the line, with only 1 person behind me. the captain came out into the terminal, people were running around making calls, but no one informed the people waiting what the fuck was going on, which was kind of cold. then they started boarding again. and it looked like smooth sailing, i even got to give my ticket to the lady at the counter, only to hear "ok we're gonna stop right here. sorry, don't board the plane yet. we have a weight restriction and we need to see if we can take any more people on this flight".

yes, a weight restriction. i had a seat and everything. stupid fat america and fat bags.

i figured out when the plane started backing up that i was not going to get on this flight. the lady at the counter gave me a free round trip ticket to anywhere in the united states and booked me on a 6:05 flight on continental. it was 2:30 at this point. and yeah, i was supposed to leave philly at 1. so i'm annoyed. and the continental flight, which i didn't have a seat on but was booked on, didn't leave for 3.5 hours and wasn't going to get into cleveland until 8. i was gonna miss the cavs, dammit.

anyways, i decide to book it over to continental. this entails taking a bus and walking a lot, in case you were curious. i figured i should see if there was a seat on this flight that i was booked on but didn't have a seat on. i get over to continental. this gate, unlike the one i was at before, was so prototypical horrible holiday i can't even handle it. crying babies, tons of exhausted people sitting everywhere possible, including all over the floor. just nuts.

i talk to the guy there. first i find out that the flight in question is coming in from houston. and it hasn't left yet. and it wasn't planning on leaving until 4ish. and probably won't get into cleveland much earlier than 10. so i go ahead and ask if there is even a seat on this flight. and he tells me that its overbooked and i have no chance of getting on it.

great.

at this point i seriously think i'm going to be sleeping in philly.

anyways, us airways has to take care of this, so i book it back over to my original gate. i'm sweaty and tired by now. the lady, still the same one from before, sees me and says "what's the problem now?" i tell her, as politely as possible, even though my mom told me to be pushier and stuff, what exactly the problem is. she feels awful. so awful, in fact, that at 3pm she decides to boot someone off the 3:25 flight into cleveland, which is slightly delayed and just at the other end of the terminal.

i'm sitting in 8A.

i book it over to this other gate, F31 from F17. not as close as it sounds, trust me. stupid philly terminal F. anyways, i see phil berkman when i get to the gate. he's a kid who goes to upenn and went to hawken (HS) two years behind me. we have talked a few times, and he knows my sister. a real nice guy, one of the nicest ones out there - just seems genuine, unlike ... i dunno, andrew. anyways, he introduces me to his sister, who also knows my sister. at this point i feel like i'm with extended family. and then i find out that phil has seat 8D and his sister has seat 8F. neat.

i get on the plane. i notice that 2 people are already sitting in 8D and 8F. that's kinda wack. then phil gets on and tries to engage these people in conversation. no, they don't show him a ticket or really even address his obvious concerns. they were kind of giant dicks. i hope i don't turn out as bitchy as that chick was, that's for sure. oh, they were a couple, possibly married. just fyi.

anyways, for a while people get on the flight, then no one gets on for a while. it turns out phil's sister was being hassled by the people at the gate. somehow phil got through but his sis didn't. anyways, after a while his sister finally gets through and realizes she doesn't have a seat. she sorta floats, then finds a flight attendant and talks to them. about 5 minutes later, some huge black guy in a us airways uniform comes on the flight and asks for someone sitting up in 6C in a very deep voice. he does this 3 times with 3 different people. those people never get back on the flight. then the flight attendant tells phil's sister to sit anywhere. i swear to god, this happened.

anyways, whoever was sitting in 8C finally shows up and makes phil get up. phil and his sis move up to row 1, which isn't that bad a deal. the stupid bitchy couple remain in 8D and 8F. well, let me be clear, the woman was really bitchy and not helpful, and the guy was just following her lead. that's the impression i got from their behavior. either way, they weren't useful members of society at all. definitely the kind of person i should have yelled "WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY" to. why do people forget what 'society' means? god, stupid selfish motherfuckers.

anyways, i got into cleveland at 5:45, and i ended up missing the cavs game. or at least going to it. geoff and i went over to bw3 (for my first of 2 trips in 3 days) and watched the game. lebron dropped 43 on the pistons and made them cry, i'm sure of it. the pistons really suck. i wish people would stop calling them a good team. they have no depth and they aren't nearly as fired up as last year. that gimpy pacers team was blowing them out at home (home court in the nba is HUGE) before that brawl that stupid ben wallace started.

so that was my first day of thanksgiving. the other days were spent eating, playing football, and hanging out with people who i found to like much less than i thought i would. zing.

i'll get more into thanksgiving later. since i don't think any of those people read elscorcho i'll probably come out swinging, only to get yelled at or ignored when i go home. wait, my parents are moving to madison today. yeah, coming out swinging motherfuckers.