Junk Shop Nirvana

Back on Friday 17 November, I was on another Amsterdam layover. I made a pilgrimage to a junkshop in the same neighborhood as the hotel. I'd heard great things about it. It was a place to go without worrying about spending excess cash and it was just something DIFFERENT to do. It was a five-minute walk to the two-story junk emporium. Of course, I was there for the music. I went digging through the used compact discs and came with a small treasure-pile. Mostly cd singles and a double-disc of Christmas music from the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra... I also bought this bizarre, absurdist-creepy figuring that will probably come to life and kill me in my sleep at some point...Almost bought my first pipe for one Euro. But it wasn't quite ME...(That'll make sense to the Frumpy Professor...) The whole bag o' swag cost under five euros...(About eight dollars) There was something very comforting about that junk shop. A nostagia-limbo of lost artifacts. Threre's a quiet Sunday afternoon atmosphere in such a place. All of these former possessions from other peoples' lives...Dusty old albums, kitsch bric-a-brac, books, absurdly-dated furniture sets from previous decades...No airs or graces in that safe little pocket of retro-reality... Underlying and emblifying this experience was my hearing a song I hadn't heard since I was in the single-digits. It missed my orbit all these years with all of the music-store-browsing I've done..."How Do You Do?", I believe it was called. (I'll have to check the Rhino 70's Pop-Culture Box Set...) Another gem was "PERSONALITY". A warm, cozy retro-bubble experience. I MUST be getting old... Today's dinette set is tomorrow's Salvation Army showroom centerpiece...GaP

To Love Is To Be Human

To be in love is to come face-to-face with your own humanity...warts and all. On paper, relationships sound like the biggest pain in the ass...sometimes a nightmare. Yes, there is sex and that much vaunted honeymood period, but once that rush fades, there'd better be some kind of love, some kind of caring left behind. And if there is then it's hard to walk away...impossible almost, when you hit a bump in the road. Just as a bee stings and leaves its guts trailing as it leaves the stinger behind, you find that the only thing worsethan dealing with the misunderstandings, miscommunications, melodrama, and general miscellaneous aggravation is to NOT be with the person you love...glitches and all... When I thought that Bill was going to send me away with a Dear John letter, I felt a vortex of emotions swirling through my guts...Relief, yearning, sadness, pity, and a cold dead nothing. I was hollowed out. I tried to focus on the positives of being single...I could make a pass at any man I wanted. I could be lust-driven again, scratch the carnal itch and try to fulfill every fantasy clanging around in my head... But I would be alone...Sex wouuld be intermittent. I would have no one to love, no one to BE with...To cuddle is just as important to me as the sex...I would miss the little things about caring for someone...The quirks, the eccentricities...his walk, his facial expressions, his warmth and his compassion. So yes, walking away would be easy when there is strain, turn your back on the whole thing. But then you see how hard it is when there is no anger in your heart toward this person nor resentment in your heart. Love is has no place in rationality...which is why it's so HUMAN... GaP

Rants, Theories, Etc...

Enjoying my one day off...the last few days have, like, SUCKED. I thought for sure that I was going to get dumped by my significant other...I had conflicting feelings...Relief, pity, sadness, yearning. They say that the course of true love never DID run smooth...Turned out to be a gigantic misunderstanding. The poor guy has SUCH a low self-esteem. Come to think of it, I must too...because when something goes on, we tend to blame ourselves rather than the other... Had a weird crowd coming back from AMSterdam yesterday afternoon. A light passenger load but everyone was bitchy...but then again, so was I...No patience for the usual learning curves that passengers undergo...I've decided that customer service is a special kind of Purgatory. The whole Customer-Is-King attitude seems to entitle people to treat their servers like shit...or cause them to show indignation when we point out their unreasonable behavior...To wit...the very large, prolific family yesterday. Their kids were hitting the call light every five minutes and when I suggested that they visit the back galley for their drinks, I got read the riot act by an indignant mother of, what? five children? SIX? Passengers are pissy because security confiscates their liquids at the gate...(Thank you, Al-Quadea) and somehow, we(the airline staff) get the blame... Anyway, this family falls into the category I like to call The Messiah Complex. The parents have pushed out a brood and the whole world and its inhabitants have to bend over backward to accomodate their needs...because their children are the Chosen Ones. In this day and age of diminishing resources, global warming, and the threat of overpopulation, do parents really NEED to have three, four children or MORE? I could live that(barely) if the parents didn't generate this indignant sense of entitlement. Reproducing doesn't require any great skill...Christ, cockroaches do it. We humans seem to think that the whole process is far more grandiose and MEANINGFUL just because we're the top of the food chain. Mother Nature is probably going to show us otherwise as this century progresses... I'm surprised the matriarch with the child-rearing hips didn't somehow produce another child before they reached the Immigration Hall. Tie the tubes, MOM! And on THAT misanthropic note...I'm gone. GaP

A Brand New Day?

I'm going to hand over the body of my blog to The Frumpy Professor...In HIS blog, >http://frumpyprofessor.blogspot.com/< he articulates perfectly why I really don't care much for our current Commander-In-Chief...Maybe with the Democrats holding power in at least ONE house(not sure about the Senate yet), maybe we can see some positive, intelligent change? -----------------------------------------

Wonderful Election Results I am extraordinairly pleased with the results of the election thus far. Please do not get me wrong... while I tend to lean towards a Democratic/Libertarian bent on most issues, I am not oppossed to Republicans, and find some of their ideas valuable and insightful. The reason why I am pleased today, though, is that the nation has effectively castrated the most foolish, unthinking president we have ever elected in my entire life. I dislike Bush not because he is Republican... on the contrary, there have been many Republican presidents who were very worthwhile.... T. Roosevelt, Lincoln, and Nixon did good jobs for our nation. The biggest problem I have with G.W. Bush is that he is what I call a "proud anti-intellectual". He likes to flaunt his lack of insight, his lack of understanding. He seems to relish his stumbling, mangled speech patterns. He is a "good old boy" of long standing who takes on the lifestyle of the unthinking, idle rich who sit back, hands clapsed behind their head (usually in some sort of muddied stupor), looking down at the masses and criticize them for their lot. They then hire others to make their decisions for them. He is also the sort who "thinks" anything involving thought and or analysis is beneath them. Bush is a bad president because he does not think. And, because he dislikes others who DO think. PipeTobacco 9:20 AM

Vote Early, Vote Often, Vote Like It Actually Matters...

Just voted about three hours ago. I was looking forward to doing so but deep in my heart, I really DO wonder if it really DOES make any difference. You'd think that one person, one vote would make sense...but instead we get the electoral college. Can anyone explain to me why that makes more sense? Here's hoping that we halt The United States' downward spiral in terms of world-perception. We are the biggest assholes on the international stage right now... As autumn goes on, I realize that I'm slowly withdrawing from life. I'm not the most social of creatures but since dating Bill, I've noticed that I'm slowly, almost imperceptibly withdrawing from friendships, hobbies, usual habits...(like comics, for example...I'm about a month behind. There's the lack-of-cash-factor as well...and I feel as if I'm losing the passion. I remember back in my twenties when I LOVED traveling to Scotland, had some somewhat hyperactive vim and vigor about life in general...Now I'm just settling into being a homebody-recluse. The thought of traveling on a plane...hell, traveling ANYWHERE just fills me with dread. Not blaming my boyfriend for this...actually I love him because he likes to stay in, watch movies, listen to music, among other things...but I AM changing...withdrawing. I should be concerned but I'm not.Is this AGEING? I remember when all dreams seemed possible. Now everything seems like fading potential. Not being sure of what I want to do or how hard I want to work to achieve whatever goal I decide to aim for...the ship is leaving port if it isn't already LONG GONE... Yep. These are autumn thoughts...GaP

Music Discussion With My Next-Door Neighbor-To-Be

On 11/1/06, G-- wrote: Hello, Bob... When it comes to music, despite tightening funds, I'm still finding ways to find more bang for the buck, as it were. That involves scoring on iTunes coupons, trawling the used cd bins at Newbury Comics, and taking advantage of special offers at BMG Music, the club that basically owns my soul. (Still waiting for my bargain-priced Loretta Lynn Box Set...You have any favorite bands, singer/songwriters/whatnot? Rock on...GaP ___________________________________________ Robert wrote: I was a Phishhead for years, eventually I got into virtually every genre, old and new. Mostly, I like Rock/Folk/Blues -Bob Dylan, Ween, The Who, Beatles, Talking Heads, Frank Zappa, Jerry Garcia, and a lot of Jazz (Wes Montgomerry, Miles Davis, Coltrane), Lauren has her own tastes, she has a very unique collection of Soundtracks, classical, 90s Rock, Ella Fitzgerald, celtic, rap, showtunes, and...oh yeah..Roxette. I stopped getting CDs a while ago, I realized I had a problem with the cd bins at Newbury. How about your favorites? ______________________________________________________________________ What problems? Quality of the discs? Scratches and whatnot? Just signed off of BMG Music, spending money I really SHOULDN'T be...These were the selections... Strummin’ With The Devil: The Southern Side Of Van Halen(Bluegrass) The DFA-The DFA Remixes Chapter One Various Artists Johnny Cash - Roots & Branches David Lee Roth actually contributes vocals for the Bluegrass Van Halen tribute so you KNOW that's worth a listen... Favorite bands off the top of my head(or artists) Aimee Mann(whom my roommate hates but he likes Andre Rieu so his opinion doesn't really count), Nada Surf, Morrissey, any GOOD electronica...but that's always a crapshoot to discover...hence much reading and listening to some iTunes radio to get a sense... I find that I discover bands but acquiring bargain-based compilations...one or two bands will prompt me to discover their other work and the domino effect will continue...Recent discoveries...Patrick Park, Joseph Arthur, Sufjan Stevens... Roxette. Yow. Still beats Celine Dion, however...(whose music I hate just for fun...) Later...GaP _______________________________________________________________ Robert wrote... My problems? I bought way too many, I digest a cd and move on to another a week later. I flooded my cd cases to the point where Lauren and I can't find any of the cds we want anymore. I had to cut down so I can listen to what I have! Bluegrass Van Halen, I gotta check that out. Are you a Roth fan or Haggar? Lauren has some great stuff that I never would have thought of getting (Cowboy Junkees?), she also has a bunch of Showtunes that I'm not a fan of (except the original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar which rocks! - the lead singer of Deep Purple was Jesus!) ________________________________________________________________ GaP wrote... Yeah, I used to have that problem...then it comes down to deciding what you really WANT. The beauty of iTunes and other online music stores is that it allows you to sample tracks inexpensively...AND I've been gathering together tracks that I've wanted but didn't actually want to buy the albums to...MAGIC(Mick Smiley) from the Ghosbusters Soundtrack for example....or MORE THAN THIS from Roxy Music. Cowboy Junkies are excellent but if you only have to get one, it's THE TRINITY SESSIONS. Regarding Van Halen...Both have cut some pretty decent tunes for the band...but when push comes to shove, it would be DL Roth... Which reminds me, there's a great song from NERFHERDER that pisses all over Van Hagar with it's VAN HALEN track...Damned funny... Catch you later...GaP