Another night, another Holiday Inn
I’m here at the Holiday Inn in ‘Boardman’ Ohio. Yup, them are scare-quotes. It turns out that ‘Boardman’ is a polite fiction used to separate the relatively polite part of Youngstown from the actual, blighted, Youngstown of downtown Youngstown reality.
Tonight I’m going through two emotionally wrenching experiences. By ‘wrenching’ I have to admit I’m referring to the small sort of wrench we used to use (in airplane-wrenching school) for the very small nuts and bolts associated with fuel-control systems — the ones around a quarter of an inch or less.
Emotionally wrenching experience one: My humble room happens to be next to the room that next weekend’s local golfing outing is using for their Thursday Night Poker Room. That sucks in about the way you might think. Being me, the smell of cigars is actually comforting. The yelling, not so comforting.
Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Hotel \Ho*tel”\, n. [F. h[^o]tel, OF. hostel. See Hostel.]
1. A house for entertaining strangers or travelers; an inn or
public house, of the better class.2. In France, the mansion or town residence of a person of
rank or wealth.
“[O]f the better class”
Emotionally wrenching experience two: I’m trying to watch the movie Little Children.
Um, wow. Way different than trying to ignore drunken golfers. Way harder as well, yet way more rewarding.
I’ve got almost 55 minutes of it left, yet I recommend it. Tough stuff.