driftwood

when everything proves tenuous you can try to find permanence or drift toward impermanence.

every october, alaska airlines has a pfd sale. for non-alaskans, pfd stands for permanent fund dividend and is the annual check every state resident receives from the oil profits. it's usually about $900 - enough for a roundtrip ticket to almost any route our dear airline monopoly flies. definitely enough for a one-way and a few cups of coffee. my friend is taking advantage of this. booked a flight to chicago in january for cheap. she wants to get out of juneau for awhile, maybe a long while if it works out, and i'm wondering if i should have done the same thing.

but today the pfd sale ended, so the prices are back to ridiculous. not that it would stop me if i were really determined - it wouldn't even stop me on a halfway impulsive day. a day where i'd wake up and say fuck this all. or even just a day where i'd stop suddenly in mid-conversation and think to myself, there are other places and people i'd like to meet. because i'm always seeking that elusive Somewhere Else. and that adage about thinking of the present as a gift, well, a lot of the times i'd like to return it.