but, of course, we survived that and made it to O'hare. meanwhile, and this has nothing to do with O'hare, but meanwhile back at Madison, Ben died of a freak aneurysm in his sleep right next to Joan, and at the same time, Wook's apartment was catching on fire. no doubt it was somebodies marlboro online, but luckily that was never determined. so the whole building burned to the ground without hurting anybody. but Ben died, while we were doing spins on the freeway. the thought of those three things happening simultaneously in a blizzard have always struck me as being too much to be coincidental. i have no idea what the meaning of it all was, besides the awful loss of a friend, but it must have meant something beyond a series of events. anyways, when we got to the airport and settled down in the middle of the crowded terminal during the most travelled day of the year, i was rubbing my throbbing head and realized that my hangover wasn't going to let up. i figured smoking a lil' ganja might alleviate my headache and i had already devised a diabolical plan to do it. i had never been caught before and i was very cocky back then. it was also well before 9/11 turned airports into the circus shows they are now.