So I'm stretched out in my comfy seat on the O'Hare-LaGuardia leg of the trip back from Tulsa, one row back from the door. People are still filtering into the 757. My bag's comfortably stowed in the overhead compartment and the book du jour is stashed in the seat pocket.
A nearly anorexic blonde (more accurately, a brunette with her hair streaked blond, a bit like J.Lo) plops down in the seat diagonally in front of me. She looks around for a place to stow her enormously oversized handbags, apparently confused by the lack of a seat in front of her.
She turns and espies the empty space under the seat in front of me ("please stow all your carry-ons under the seat in front of you or in an overhead compartment") and gets up and approaches, her weapons-grade engagement ring nearly blinding me.
"Are you going to use that space?"
"Well, I was going to put my feet there..."
Apparently dissatisfied by my lack of obsequience, she storms off down the aisle, looking for an overhead bin empty enough to suit her purpose.
About the only thing I have to add to my previous description of Tulsa (flat, green) is that it's not very populated. There just aren't that many people there. Oh, and it's very big, too, which makes it seem even less populated than it is.
It's also in the middle of something of a identity crisis. Traditionally, Tulsa's been an oil town, but that business has apparently been on a decades-long slide. So there's a very public debate going on about what exactly "Tulsa" should be. The fact that the Tulsa Philharmonic folded recently has only intensified the debate. The fact that American Airlines, the largest employer in the area, just laid off a whole mess of people, isn't helping any. And, of course, there's the elephant in the room that no-one talks about.
Tulsa Opera itself seems to be doing well; the performances that I saw while I was there were of extremely high quality and very entertaining. The Tulsa Performing Arts Center is an excellent place to see an opera -- the acoustics are good and the sight lines are clean. And, best of all, the tickets are relatively cheap.
It was, over all, an interesting visit.
I am now in Tulsa. It is very expensive to use this damned hotel internet connection, so I'll be quick.
It's green and flat here, and buildings greater than 2 stories are few and far between.
More later, though I wouldn't entirely count on a full update until I get back to the Big Bad City.
