Okay… heartrate almost back to normal here. I’m still stunned by Dennis and Erika’s quick exit. Adios! I was so relieved that Jim made it with a bum stitched up knee and … that girl with him. I don’t mind her so much, because when she wasn’t shouting about cluetrees she was sort of sympathetically clucking “awwww, Dad, your knee…” You can hear her doing this, but she’s not shown actually looking concerned. Editors rule.

I also thought it was very satisfying (ahhh!) that all the sucky mean people got on the later-arriving flight (with the exception of Chip and Kim, I think). It doesn’t pay to screw up at the ticket counter and piss people off. Tough one, Dennis and Erika, that threw you off your stroke (especially Dennis) the whole rest of the leg. Heh. The remaining teams are going to have to smarten up for their first “solo” assault on the ticket counters next time.

I was so happy for the bowlers (I refuse to get sucked in by the whole moms thing, feh on that anyway) when they went across the zipline and down. “[Bop!] That’s why I’m wearin’ a helmet!” Hee hee! I thought several people had nice landings – whatisname the first guy down was very graceful, the bowlers came in like transatlantic albatrosses, one of the males before Jim had a very nice package, and Jim, of course, was all boo-yah! paratroopers and trying to keep his knee bandage above water. It would have been funny to see the Pizzadudes do a splashdown in the pool just to see the tidal wave (and maybe they’d have screamed like little girls, what a pity).

Finally, how happy a thing it is to see another team of twins blow by a clue and have to go back. Don’t they remember “Drew, this isn’t right…?” I was sorry to see the “power couple” also blow by, but that is traditional as well. I can only say “Team Who II” and “Team Who II Too” to that. I did just wonder how Chip’s shirt got so horribly messed up – maybe that was the meat-carrying task? Phew, I wonder if they’ll have time to rinse out clothes before the next departure, or they’re all going to be really really skanky and meaty in a day or two. And I was so happy – there were ruminants! Not quite an up-the-nostrils shot, but close enough.

Reading back over this… can you tell I was happy? So very happy. I love this show. I love Phil. I got all teary when the theme music started.

Language lesson for Leg 1:

English Spanish
Thanks Gracias (NOT “gratzias”)
Faster Mas rapido (NOT “pronto,” or “andale”
Stop! “!Alto!” (or “Este pared, por favor” if on a bus), NOT “Stop-o!!”

Prediction for next week’s quote of the week:
“Follow that dwarf!”

And yeah, I’ll have to re-watch TiVo later this week, just to try to figure out what the HELL went on at LAX. I was so caught up in Jim’s medical emergency that I had trouble tracking the screw-up at the ticket counter.

Schedule to check at work tomorrow:
130JANLAXMVD12PMIA#AA,