Seat Allocation Confirmations for Series 3-2002, Series 4-2002 and Series 5-2002 Issued: By or on March 22, 2002

ok, warehouse, you have til midnight. but could you please get the confirmations up a little earlier? by or on? why tease us? why not 'don't even think we will get this up any time before 5pm on the 22nd.'? hmph.

i went to tower yesterday in search of the indigo girls 'swamp ophelia'. i had a copy. dan had a copy. just like with the counting crows, they both seem to be missing. picked it up, along with a rack for my cds (i only have a rack for about a quarter of them, the rest are (neatly stacked) in piles. took it to the front register where i was greeted with a scowl. she looks at me, looks at the rack, which was, oh, 4 feet tall or so - 140 cds, looks at me. i set it down on the ground in front of the register so that i can rearrange the stuff i am carrying. i had been holding it with one hand, i could't lift it onto the counter.

'i can't scan it when it's sitting there.' she says to me. well, no shit. could you give me a second? she was young and one of those 'life sucks and i have to live it so i'll be mopey and listen to lots of weird music' kids. and i was obviously interferring with her life. how dare i try to buy something at the store. i lift the rack onto the counter, she scans it, scans the cd. takes my money, and gives me my change with the coins on top of the bills.

aside: this is a pet peeve (pet peeve. he. i remember when i was a kid, and i didn't know what a pet peeve was. and since i didn't have pets, i assumed that it was something to do with them. could never figure out why it meant it was something you didn't like. because you're supposed to like your pets, aren't you?) you are handed stack of bills with 87 cents on top - have 6 coins. when you try to put it in your wallet you have a mess. the coins go sliding off the bills. you try to catch them. invaribly one falls to the floor. the quarter, of course, not the penny. eyeing the quarter as it rolls along on the floor, you shove the other coins and bills into your wallet. end up crawling on your hands and knees looking for the damn quarter. all while the person at the register looks at you like you are totally discombobulated. hey, you're the one who caused this mess, ok? you can wait to help your next customer until i get myself out of the mess that could've been easily avoided if only you'd give me my change first, then the bills. then i can put my change in the change part of my wallet, the bills in the bill part, quickly. and everyone's happy. why, oh, why can't they do this?

where was i? oh. i felt like i was in a movie with the stereotypical record store cashier. on the way to the car i realized on of the little wooden balls (they were on the tips of the wire rack) was missing. damnit. now i have to deal with her again. walk back in. 'um, it's missing the little wood things here,' i said, pointing. 'can i just switch it?' with a glare and a 'damn, what is with you?' glare, she said 'i guess so.' took that as a yes. now i have to get my cds in the rack. possibly alphabetized. an exciting way to spend a saturday, eh? ha. maybe it'll rain, then at least i won't be wasting sun. anyways...

this indigo girls cd reminds me of a very happy, content time in my life. summer after my freshman year in college. knew where i was going. what i wanted. how my life was going to be. or so i thought. i wasn't old enough to worry about boring jobs, mortgage payments, or to have the realization that life is never what you think it's going to be. it makes me happy to listen to it. now i have no clue what i want, or where my life is going. but that's ok. in some ways it's more fun this way. for a long long time, in my pre dmb days, this was my favorite song. and it's still one i love. the hardest to learn really is the least complicated.

I sit two stories above the street
It's awful quiet here since love fell asleep
There's life down below me though
The kids are walking home from school

Some long ago when we were taught
That for whatever kind of puzzle you got
You just stick the right formula in
A solution for every fool

Well I remember the time when I came so close to you
Sent me skipping my class and running from school
And I bought you that ring cause I never was cool

What makes me think I can start clean slated
The hardest to learn was the least complicated

So I just sit up in the house and resist
And not be seen until I cease to exist
A kind of conscientious objection
A kind of dodging the draft

The boy and girl are holding hands on the street
And I don't want to but I think you just wait
It's more than just eye to eye
Learn the things I could never apply

But I remember the time when I came so close with you
I let everything go, it seemed the only truth
And I bought you that ring, it seemed the thing to do.

What makes me think I can start clean slated
The hardest to learn was the least complicated