the day was long and very tiring, but i finally arrived home last night. i am still beyond tired. both of my flights were entirely full, which surprised me since it was a wednesday morning and after memorial day -- i assumed few people would be traveling, especially out of burbank.

anyway, on my first flight a little latino family boarded... along with a two foot tall ceramic virgin mary statue, her bottom half wrapped and taped in a ceremonial bathroom towel. they looked really hard for a place to put mary, under the seats, above the seats, in their laps with no success... the stewardess finally told the man, who didn't speak any english (and had a hitler mustache, of all things!), that he couldn't hold mary between his knees -- she had to be stowed away properly. all of us around them just watched in bewilderment as this virgin mary statue was turned and moved to try and fit in various locations... we wondered if it was a good thing to have her aboard or a bad one. it definitely was a strange thing to see on an airplane.

at the burbank airport, the security man was running those little pieces of fabric over the luggage and checking for any residue that was suspicious. a lady in front of me asked him about it. he looked in both directions and over his shoulder before he whispered "it checks for particles that might be left from making a... bomb." he barely spoke the last word, just mouthed it... "i'm not even supposed to be talking about that, with the heightened security and all..." at least they're checking.