Hello dream fish.

The night before my flight I slept on Steve's couch (after watching the "Flava Flav" Comedy Central Roast with him and some of his co-workers). I slept really solid, but I had a really really vivid dream, so vivid in fact that I still remember it now- almost a week later.
This in of itself is pretty amazing simply because I only dream about once every couple months. Well yeah, so science has proven that we dream multiple times every night, but I RARELY remember anything at all about what I dream.

So I dreamt that I was driving through the desert with a man whom I don't recognize in real life. Driving on a sandy desert road we peaked over a hill, now heading downward, to stumble upon make-shift road signs constructed of old drift wood.
The writing on the signs was written with blood red paint, and there was a particularly larger sign which read "Maua," implying that that was the town we had arrived in.
It turned out the town was inhabited by punk rocker vampires...whom for the most part were pretty cool, but the leader was kind of an asshole. All the ladies were pretty sexy too...obviously.
Somehow a series of events had us driving away from them as fast as we could (once it was nighttime they weren't as friendly), which somehow lead us to multiple amusement park rides.
One of them was called "The Ring Of Fire" and was a circle shaped ride that you would do loops in....while it was set on fire.
Another ride that sticks out in memory was one very similar the "Back To The Future" ride at the Universal Studios theme parks. Except instead of "Back To The Future" it was Simpsons themed.

When I woke up there were a lot of words and phrases that stuck out in my mind, and as mentioned before it's pretty rare that I remember dreams. So I typed down all the words and events onto my phone, and saved it hoping to have a chance to look up the names and places on the internet, simply to see if I could figure out why my subconscious had chosen to dream of them.

Eerily enough it turns out that "Maua" is indeed a real place, a somewhat urbanized district in Brazil. Added to that, the "Ring of Fire" is also indeed a real amusement park ride, one I can honestly say I've never heard of before. Of course I attribute my dream more to the song by Johnny Cash.
Lastly, and definitely the craziest, I found an article saying that Universal Studios plans on replacing it's "Back to the Future" ride with a Simpson's themed one by 2008.

Creepy.

So putting all of that aside, today was the big day. August 14th. The day I leave for Japan.

I drove my rental car to the Enterprise near the airport, where they charged me a week for 4 days, and took a shuttle to the Northwest terminal. I stood in line for the self-check-in, typically about 3 hours faster than the other lines. After about 15 minutes I got up to the computer and swiped my credit card through it. It found my name and ticket to Narita airport, then I selected that I'd be checking 2 pieces of luggage, and then...the screen just reset back to the intro menu.
A women working with Northwest came over and asked if I had my passport with me, of course...I did. So she asked me to swipe that through the computer's reader instead of a credit card, and then we continued to go through the same procedures.
Then it bounced us back to the intro menu.

She gave me a funny look, and unconvincingly told me I had to wait in the long line to talk to a ticket agent.

Oooooo...kaaaaayyyyy....well, I figured since it was booked through a travel agent that maybe the e-ticket machine doesn't work for this scenario.
Of course in the back of my head I was thinking about how 2 days ago the news headlined a story about LAX's international computer being down for 9 hours, leaving people around the world and on tarmacs stranded for...well...9 hours.

I scuttled over to the long line, military style ruck-sack on my back, 50 lb. suitcase rolling behind me, and a standard size swiss army backpack swung over my right shoulder. I was definitely tugging around luggage that almost equaled my own weight.

I stood in line, and after a few moments the gentlemen in front of me asked, "Where are you heading to?"
A slight pause before I answered, it dawned on me where I was about to go. "Tokyo Japan, you?"
"Shanghai."
Way to one up me stranger. "Looks like we'll both be a little out of our element eh?"
"Yeah, well, I was scheduled to fly out yesterday but I showed up to the airport 50 minutes before my flight and it's mandatory that you should up an hour before your fight, so they wouldn't let me check my bags."
"Yeah, I had that happen to me last Christmas. They couldn't check people in fast enough so a ton of us ended up missing the flight. Wasn't too fun. And then they lost my luggage."
He raised an eye brow, "Looks like we both have some bad luck with airlines." Then we both nearly said the same thing, "Maybe we shouldn't be standing together, our bad luck might multiply!"
Our banter continued for the next 40 minutes as we slowly inched closer to the front of the line. The general topic of our conversation being about how much we hate airports and always seem to have bad luck with them.
When it was his turn to get called to the counter he tipped his hat at me and said, "Good luck! Hopefully we'll all make our flights today!"
I got called to a separate counter.

I handed the ticket agent my passport and she pulled up my information. "So you're going to Tokyo Mr. Heck?"
"That's correct."
"How many bags will you be checking?"
"Two."
'long pause'
".....Huh................"
Great. Here we go. "Anything I might be able to help you with?"
"Well, it's showing me your ticket, but it won't let me print it out. Hmmm. Let me try something else." 'click click click' "Nope. It doesn't seem to want to print it. Let me grab some help, hang on." So she grabbed the women next to her, and that women set to the computer and start typing frantically.
"Huh, I can't get it to print either." Then she called over a different guy working near them. "Don't worry Mr. Heck, we'll figure this out for you."
'unsure smile' "Heh. Ok."
The guy turns the women, "I just can't figure it out, it won't let me print it either. Let me go grab 'so-in-so'." After a few moments what appears to be a manager comes over and he himself types some more on the computer.
"This is strange, I've never seen this before. Mr. Heck we see your ticket, but it won't let us print it."
Thinking to myself, "Yeah, I know buddy, I've been standing here the whole time."
The gentlemen that was standing ahead of me in line yells out to me, "I got my ticket buddy! Looks like at least one of us is gonna make it! Good luck!"
"Haha. Have fun on your trip!" I yell back.
Nervously.

The manager-esque person turns to one of the women, "What date is today?"
"It's Monday the 14th." I chimed in.
"Yeah." The women says.
"No no, the other women says, I think it's the 13th."
"No, it's the 14th," says the other man.
"No, it's the 13th!" Shouts some woman a couple counters down.
"Yeah, it's the 13th." Says another.
The manager looks at me, "Your ticket won't print because your flight is tomorrow."
I stare long and hard at them.
I look at my watch. It is indeed Monday the 13th.
"Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow." I slowly walk away.

Now is probably a good time to emphasize- I tell all of you that when I work on those tv shows I lose all concept of time. This is a FINE example of how true it is.

I went and sat down on a bench outside, in the unloading area. I checked my cell phone. The batteries almost dead.
Dialing a couple numbers, "Hey dad, it's me. Just wanted to let you know my flights tomorrow...it's a long story I'll tell you later...yeah dad I'll be fine...yup no worries...alright I appreciate the offer...ok...alright, well I'll call you later my phone is about to die...alright love ya too."

Being homeless has it's perks. You don't have to worry about rent. You don't have to worry about being "home" to go to sleep. Well...you don't have much to worry about usually when you're in that situation.
One thing you do have to worry about is when you're homeless...car-less..and have nowhere to go.

I sat there for a minute trying to devise some sort of plan. Hell I'm a pretty self-sufficient guy, I've got to be able to think of something.

Bingo.

I stand in line for a shuttle.

30 minutes later my shuttle bus arrives at Enterprise. I walk in and stand in line, dawning roughly 130 lbs. of luggage.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, I get up to the counter. "How are you today sir!?" asks the over-excited power employee.
"Um. Not too good. BUT. I think you might be able to help me out."
"Of course sir!"
Ugh, I think to myself, You're such a tool. "Alright, well it turns out I had a flight scheduled today and now it's going to leave tomorrow. I returned a car a couple hours ago and I was hoping to get it back. But also, I had it for 4 days and was charged for a full week, so I was hoping you'd be able to give it back to me until tomorrow- considering I already paid a full week for it anyways."
"Alright sir, I'll see what I can do, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get that exact car back to you."
"Heh...that's ok. I just need something with 4 wheels that moves."

So he typed away for a few minutes as I stand there thinking to myself how amazed I'll be if this actually works.

"Alright, you're all set, we've got a car for you and that'll be $35 for a day. Would you like that charged to your card?"
"Um...no. See, I paid for a full week rental when I brought the car back, and had only used it for 4 days. So I was hoping that I could get a car until tomorrow, with no charge, and have that be considered part of the full week I paid for."
"I'm not sure I understand Mr. Heck."
"Ok. I paid almost $200 for a week rental. I had only used the car for 4 days. If a car is $35 a day, and I use it for 4 days it would come to a little over $120. So the extra I had to pay you for the week rental, I'd like that applied to a car for one more day."
"Oh, I see. Yeah, well that contract is already closed out, so we'd have to start you on a new contract entirely."
"I hate to be a pain in the ass, but can I speak with your manager."
"Sure Mr. Heck, hold on." He walks away to a giant office with reflective one-way glass.

A few minutes later he returns with the manager. She looks to me and says, "Alright, well first off I'd like you to know that typically we charge a $75 day rate since we're near the airport, so worst case scenario we'll still give you the car at your previously quoted $35."
I interrupt, "That's great, I'm not sure I'm wording this clearly but let me try again. I paid you guys for a week rental. I had the car for 4 days. Can you credit me a car for free for one more day? I still paid you a week's rate so you'll still be getting the car back 2 days early."
The guy that was trying to help me earlier cut in and started to say, "Yes but that contract," the manager cut him off,
"Worst case scenario we'll have to charge you $35 for a day rate Mr. Heck, but the contract you were on when you returned it may still be in the system pending. I'm going to see if it is, and if it is I can cancel it in the system and it will be like you never returned the car yet."
"Great. Let's give that a shot." as I continue to think, OR HEY! WE COULD KEEP TALKING ALL DAY AND LET IT GO THROUGH. HURRY UP AND STOP IT IDIOTS!

She types into the system, and low and behold is able to cancel the pending contract. Then she asks if the previous guy can handle the rest, he says yes, and she says, "Alright, I'm taking my lunch break, I'll be back."
Great. So now she's going to leave and this guys going to fuck it up.

The guy hand write out the contract, with a blank stare, asks a few people for some help, and finally walks me to my car.

Huzzah.

So I drove down to Long Beach and chilled out in the coffee shop that Brenna was working in, taking advantage of their free internets.
Once Brenna got out of work we went to her place, charged my phone, drank some brewskies (Olympia Beer. It's in the water.), did some catching up, and watched about 20 minutes of "Poultrygeist," the film we had worked on before we left Buffalo for Long Beach.
After that she had to jet to work, so I headed to the beach to find some guys I worked with on a previous show.

After that I parked near a...park and called my grandparents, aunt and uncle, and parents and told them all my sick sad story.
In fact in the middle of my first call, to my grandparents, the company I'm working for in Japan called me to remind me my flight was the next day, and asked if there was anything they could help me with as well as listed a few things I might not want to forget. I urged to the women on the phone that I was all set, and could take off today if I had too.

Little did she know...

By night time I had agreed to pick Don up at the airport, and then Steve met us at Don's apartment to play some Guitar Hero 80's Edition and watch some "Poultrygeist." It was...pretty...amazing. I was also happy to have a little extra time to spend on the phone during the day and hanging out with Don and Steve. I felt like there was a little extra closure before my trip.

After the gaming and movie I went back to sleep on Steve's couch...knowing EXACTLY what to do when I woke up.