Day One in Boston - Crime Scene and 1984

Today I embark on a fantastic voyage.  I arrived not too long ago at the Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts (where I will remain for the next four or so hours) and I have much to report of the journey; observations and such.  Firstly and foremost, I have to say that yesterday, the preparation for the departing flight was the most relaxed of any I've ever known.  I took my time, gathered my things, did some laundry, ran around the house naked for the most part and when we I did finally arrive at the Spokane Airport, it was so early that I was able to sneak onto an earlier flight for Seattle which gave me a longer layover at that airport but in the end it got me started sooner and I thought it was pretty neat that I ended up in the exact same seat on the earlier flight that I would have had on my later flight.  That seat was E14 by the way.  Lucky seat I suppose.  Also, a general observation: if you want TSA to talk to you, wear a yellow scarf with the words "CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS" written all over it.  I and the caution tape scarf received many, many comments and eye quirks during the travels but the best exchange occurred right there in Spokane.  A TSA agent eyed me a moment and approached.

"What kind of crime scene we talking about exactly?"  He asked with a raised eyebrow.

I said the first thing that I could think of that wouldn't get me a cavity search.  "A gentle one."  We chuckled and I explained that I'm meeting someone in Boston and wanted to give her a clear indication of who I was and what better way than to say 'here I am' than to wear a big old yellow crime tape scarf?  The subsequent flight was spent thinking of what might constitute a 'gentle' crime scene and my mind flooded with bizarre images of date rape gone wrong or the good old crime of passion wherein a lover strangles his/her conquest as pretty as you please and settles them down in the snow to die quietly and gently.

Moving right along, my second flight was filled with about 100 pages of Orwell's "1984" the first thing I really honed in on was how intricate and necessary the role of sex and violence is in all Dystopian novels whether they say the dirty words or not.  Interestingly enough, this novel takes the stance that it is through limiting of sexual contact and the eventual breeding the instinct out of people that will keep a nation quiet and controlled.  Similar in concept to that of "Equilibrium" where a man is accused of 'having relations with a woman' and all he did was hold her hand.  In other Dystopian novels however sex is encouraged to the point that it will lack all meaning such as it is in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World."  I suppose a case could be made that whether sex is limited or in abundance, the point of it is to keep bonds casual and social and decrease attachment between individuals.  Fascinating.

On this flight, I learned something else as well.  Take a chance and say something to the person next to you and it will make the flight better.  Not always (because sometimes you have the great misfortune of sitting next to a real sour son of a bitch who would rather be violated with a chainsaw than show a stranger an ounce of kindness) but most of the time, a polite little comment really pays off.  This young pretty black girl was in the middle seat and I was against the window feeling huge and obtrusive when she took out a little bottle of lotion and did up her hands.  It smelled awesome! And since that was a genuine and honest reaction, I went ahead and told her that I really liked the smell of her lotion.  She not only perked up and smiled at me, she pulled the bottle back out and let me use some as well.  It was from Victoria Secret and smelled like cake batter and coconuts.

Back to the subject of "1984," there was a line that made me pause and literally shake my head.  Not in the 'oh, what a shame' kind of way, but in that classic, cartoon double-take fashion.  "We are the dead."  Says Winston at one point as he lays next to his Julia after a bout of highly forbidden love-making.  She refutes this and tells him not to talk about death and what not, but I was stuck there on that line for a good few moments.  For those who know me, you'll know that I am die-hard David Bowie fan.  I own all of his studio albums and one of my absolute favorite has always been 'Diamond Dogs.'  Now, I've always known that this album was based directly off of Orwell's work - with song titles like '1984' and 'Big Brother' how could I not?  But never having actually read the book left me hearing the album with the ears of an outsider.  I adored it, but could only grasp the surface.  Now, however, I am replaying the album merrily in my mind, extracting images and themes that directly link to the text of the novel and I find it all the more compelling and exciting.