March 12, 2017:

Hefty belly, earbuds, scragglebeard, cursing vehemently in Portuguese into empty air. Not so: he's cursing into his phone. Someone's getting an earful.

Small children fidget and squeal. Boarding announcements are loud and grating. Passengers changing planes run and yell. It's an uncontrolled chaos, not even Brownian, merely disorganized.

I'm buzzed on caffeine and insomnia. The world feels claustrophobic and I'm not yet stuffed into an airplane seat.