It's Expected I'm Gone

JFK Airport, in New York, is not actually as bad as I always think it is. It's the airport I hear people complain about most. Too many terminals, too confusing, no one is helpful, Airtrain costs five bucks, whatever. I complain about all of those things too, but really the only thing that sucks about it is when you have to drive there. Otherwise, I'm going to give it three out of five stars. I walked out of Andy's door in North Brooklyn this morning, and I was walking into terminal 3 exactly one hour later. Not bad, considering you have no choice but to take either a bus or cab to Laguardia, and we all know how good the traffic always is on the BQE through Jackson Heights, right?

I spent the better part of a bitter cold January hanging out at JFK a few years back, and got to know it pretty well. I saw (but didn't purchase anything from) the creepy paperback novel vending machines in Terminal 4, which I guess didn't do that well, because I never see them anywhere else. I found out that for vegetarian food, there's a little indian food stand hidden right next to Sylvia's Soul Food in Terminal 1, and you can eat lunch for less than five bucks. Which is important, when you're at the airport for 12 hours a day. Of course, if you're a cheating vegan, the mac and cheese at Sylvia's will work just as well, if not better. I walked around the airport loop a lot, because the pre-AirTrain shuttle buses were not exactly always timely. But I do kind of miss those buses, and not having to pay to get on them, jumping on in that dirty, dirty Howard Beach parking lot and riding by the still "temporarily closed" TWA Terminal 5, the only attractive building ever built at any airport ever in history.

Today I got into the Terminal, and I was through security and sitting down with the Times without waiting at all. Not at the counter, not at the screening station, not even at the newsstand. Try doing that in Denver, or one of your other fancy new airports, with robotic trams and moving walkways and all that crap. Also, on a side note, I've never seen another airport that had flocks of birds living inside the terminal, co-existing peacefully with passengers and gate agents alike. Beautiful.

This was the first Minutemen song I ever heard. I think I was 13 years old. It may have changed my life.

Minutemen - It's Expected I'm Gone

Also:

The Detroit Experiment f. Invincible and Athletic Mic League - The Way We Make Music
Gospel Group - Thank You Lord

Notes:

• Say it ain't so, Big Ben. Does anyone really think Nazr Mohammed can replace him? I will try to reserve judgement until next year; Joe Dumars deserves the benefit of the doubt.
  
• Korean unions vow general strike when Korea and the US start talks on a free trade agreement.
  

Oh yeah, happy 4th? Sure.