I've been working too hard so I haven't been here.
Something exciting happened today, which is my bus got hit by a car on the way to work. I was in a subway that ran over somebody once, but I've never been in a bus accident.
It was not a great way to start the day as it was already over 80 outside, and there I was all happy and air conditioned and vegging out listening to something off of "Soft Sounds for Gentle People" when I hear some brakes screeching and see this car careening around a corner at about 50 mph into the oncoming lane (ours) heading right toward me.
I of course did what anyone else would do, which is sit there and stare in anticipation of What Was About to Happen.
The car plowed into the bus approximately at the seat behind me, ricocheted into the SUV next to us and then ran head-first into the bus behind us.
We were all stopped at a light, so it was about the best possible situation for us all to be in, I suppose.
I have always been curious about what would happen to a metro bus in a city traffic accident and let me tell you something, the bus kind of wobbled a little bit and that was it. No one got hurt. The most painful thing was having to walk to another stop and wait for another bus in the heat. And me downwind of the patchoulli-drenched Goth dude who wears the Marlboro fanny-pack. (He seems like a nice enough guy though.)
I think the only person who got hurt was the woman driving the crazy car, but she managed to make it out of the car and over to the sidewalk. Between my bus and the SUV, I guess we absorbed a lot of her velocity or whatever (yay high school physics is good for something) because if she had gone straight into that last bus, things probably would have turned out a little differently.
The whole thing had me feeling pretty good, actually, because we totally got plowed and the bus hardly budged. Suddenly the experience of riding a bus seemed a lot safer, and I only ended up about 15 minutes late to work. Bless you, mass transit.
And to think that ended up being the highlight of my day. Yes, the rest of the day sucked that much. Good times.
I think there was some kind of IFC movie trivia challenge around here somewhere tonight but I was too deflated to go. Also, eew, IFC movie trivia, like on that one show. You know the one, the one with those guys. You know. Eew. That would have been like way too few degrees of skeevation.
I think I need to get a job being the Thirsty Traveler.
But hey you know something?
YOU KNOW SOMETHING?!
There actually are real good times happening and not sarcastic good times!
Someone awesome is coming to Minneapolis and we are so excited!!!
Look who else awesome is coming to Minneapolis at the same time. Can you believe this?! THIS MEANS SOMETHING
I've done a zillion new things at Staraoke but I haven't listed them because I've been BUSY. I did "I Don't Want Your Love" by Duran Duran. Including the RAP. Stuff like that. "Baker Street." "Eminence Front." Hot business.
Someone read my mind and made an Oblique Strategies Widget. I wish it was a little more glossed up in that Dashboard way but hmm, it'll do.
Aren't Weezer too old for this crap? This is "Walk Like an Egyptian II." And how much makeup did they slap on that one guy, I mean seriously. Gross.
The Spurs and Tim Duncan and the NBA are boring, but The Year in Brad Miller is most certainly not. #4 even makes me cry a little.
I'm scattered, but I'll live.
There's a record store in town where I used to go in high school all the time to get all my jangly alternative rock records and whatnot. I remember going there one time and buying the soundtrack to The Magic Christian instead of Stump's A Fierce Pancake and many years later I would look back on that like it was a mistake! Because I really wanted that Stump record, oh man. I found it eventually on GEMM. Real cheap too!
ANYWAY.
When I moved back here, I ended up working on the other end of the block from the record store, so just like when I used to work across the street from Sephora, this was a Sexy Shopping Danger. I liked to go in there and spend money.
ANYWAY.
The building is being torn down (condos!!!) and the store is going out of business.
This makes me sad!
I mean it's not like I went there for the 15 years I was not living in Minneapolis or anything, and it's not even in the same building I used to go to, but I have memories. And now, the store has discounts.
I went in today and spent more money on records than I have in a zillion zillion years. I mean I don't even know if I've spent this much at one time ever. (I think I have.) But there were so many great things in there I waaaaaanted and figured oh hey, I don't have to spend top dollar on them or anything and I am helping to fund the store owner's retirement and yay.
What I didn't know was that Ze Records was BACK, and that it reissued a bunch of Cristina stuff last year. No idea! I even have Sleep It Off on a real actual record and have had it for a long time unlike all them HIPSTERS. But this other stuff, I don't think I've ever even seen it.
So that was exciting.
Then I go to the Ze site to get the art and discover that they will be reissuing the LIO CATALOG! and I got extra excited.
Maybe this will turn into Kenneth Anger/Fantoma II, but I have faith. They did a good job on these Cristina reissues, I have to say.
So there's sad music news and glad music news.
The store is also silent-auctioning off its memorabilia on the walls and stuff, so I put in a bid on a poster. Not even an old poster or anything, and in fact I already have a poster for this album, but I've admired it since I've been back and I figured it'd be nice to have a little something something from the store that doesn't go WAY back to ages ago, like I don't think I really deserve that.
They also had this awesome Reprise record label clock up behind the counter, but I think that's gone already. Oh well.
I need to take pictures of the building before it gets torn down because it has some cool original signage and paintage and, you know, that'll be toast soon enough.