Oh, Burrell, I feel you. Possibly it's Change of Season Madness. Winter is no longer coming, it's pulled up in the driveway and unpacking its luggage and asking if it gets the same room it had last year. Not quite settled in, just taking off its coat and putting its boots away.

I am gonna sit with you in grumpy lady corner. Getting stuff out of my house has actually helped a bit. Another paper bag to goodwill this week.

Getting stuff out of the house would definitely help. As would just getting out of the house myself. I just feel sucked dry. You know something is wrong when work feels more relaxing and less stressful than being at home.

I find work to be very soothing. I know what's going on here, I have clear tasks and procedures. I can answer the questions I'm asked with confidence, and if not I know where to get the answers.

The other day I was behind someone at the post office who put their own address in big letters in the To field and the recipients' address in small letters in the From field. They were clearly Not From Here, so there's that, but I've sent and received packages all over the world and I haven't found a place yet that addresses packages that way. I can't understand how people can be so clueless. You cannot have reached adulthood without ever having sent or received a package or letter. The clerk was patient and helpful, and I don't know that I could be, day after day, dealing with "the public".

Or at least some airports had Experienced Traveler lanes. Not sure if those exist anymore since I have pre-check now.

The Raleigh-Durham airport had those. I don't remember seeing them last month, though. I don't know what happened to them. But if someone told me that the clueless ignored the signs and just went into the fast-moving lines, only to clog them up by arguing for half an hour about taking their Big Gulps on through, thus rendering them moot, I would believe it. Because people.

One almost has to envy them their transcendent self-confidence that trumps instructions and established procedures. "Well, that doesn't apply to ME!"

Almost.

If they're behind you it can be amusing; if they're in front of you ... stabbity stabbity stabbity

There are, or were for a while. Or at least some airports had Experienced Traveler lanes. Not sure if those exist anymore since I have pre-check now. (And you STILL get some tools not sure why they can't bring their bottle of water through.)

My (least) favorite is the people who are all excited to get precheck and go through a metal detector instead of the scanner...but then are shocked when the cellphone in their pocket sets off the metal detector. Seriously?

For one flight, I was behind a woman who seemed completely oblivious to all the security requirements. Kept her shoes on, kept her coat on, had a laptop in her carryon ... held up the entire line while she took off the coat and shoes, pulled out the laptop and turned it on, and then had to arrange everything JUST SO with each item in its own box/tray. Meanwhile, the entire line is backing up ... and she's trying to juggle more of those box/tray things than she can handle (didn't think of stacking them and then laying them out for the scanner).