Plane and Peanut:
I've been doing a little more travelling lately than I'd done for a while. Nothing like my
"travelling salesman period" of some years back, but an upswing nonetheless.
And, of course, given the tightening of airport security, it's a little more time-consuming
than it used to be. On my other trips since September 11th, 2001, I'd passed quietly
through all the security checkpoints without getting so much as a second glance, but
this time around, airport security wanted to pull me aside and feel me up both coming
and going.
What makes it worse
is that I'd already eaten several of the sinister snack items before
noticing this dire warning. |
What was a little odd is that they had to have two security officers to do the job. I'd been
pulled aside by a woman who, after checking out my lower body, explained that we'd have
to wait for a male security officer to arrive to finish the job. I said that I didn't care, but she
explained that it was the rules: above the waist, you could only be touched by an officer of
the same sex, but below the waist, anything goes.
Hmmm.
The real peril didn't start until after I'd gotten aboard the plane and we'd reached cruising
altitude. That's when the flight attendants started passing out packets of peanuts to the
passengers. I'm still waiting for the in-flight portions to get down to individually-wrapped
portions, but for now there's still several of these crunchy leguminous seeds nestled in
every packet.
What was different about these peanut packets was the warning label: "WARNING: the
contents of this packet was processed and packed in a facility that handles peanuts and
other nuts." Uh-oh; the peanuts I've been eating have been exposed to . . . other peanuts.
What makes it worse is that I'd already eaten several of the sinister snack items before
noticing this dire warning.
Fortunately for me, it doesn't make it a lot worse.
Now that I think about it, maybe it doesn't really make it worse at all. Nevermind.
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At least they didn't give me any sunflower seeds (peanut-exposed or otherwise),
because the next stop was the VSDA (Video Software Dealers' Association) 2002
trade show. There were quite a few actors from various video products on hand
for the event, including Kevin Sorbo, at least seven or eight bevies of adult video
stars, and one large plush hamster. Guess which one I got photographed next to.
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(Apparently, I was the only one at the show who had wanted to do an action
shot. It was my very first experience with paw-wrestling a hamster.)