Paved paradise, put up a parking lot

I was saddened to read on Boston.com today that my beloved Virgin Mega Recordstore at 360 Newbury Street is going to be replaced with a Best Buy.

I was under the impression that they were looking for something a little more upscale. Clearly, I was wrong. I am sure that the people who bought those million dollar condos upstairs are just thrilled. The not only have living right over the Mass Pike to deal with, but a mini mall downstairs.

I wonder if they are starting to rethink the fabulousness of living there; I sure would.

Bringing in the sunshine

I was feeling rather down yesterday after work. I had had a series of diappointments over the course of the day, some large scale, some not so large scale. So I headed off to Whole Foods to buy myself a little pick me up.

I ended up with some "emergency cheese" (which is exactly what it sounds like, cheese to eat during emotional emergencies) and some calla lillies and orchids which I arranged together in a vase when I got home.

Surprize Me

Lately, I have been rather down on the human race. It is kind of hard not to be what with the stories that have been in the media lately. But something has happened to reaffirm my faith in humanity. Yesterday would have been my brother's 30th birthday, and I think that all of us were pretty down in our own way. I went out after work and bought myself a present, which is kind of funny as during the first few years of his life I had "decided" that my brother didn't really appreciate presents that were given to him and I would take them for myself. Ah, to be the older sister.

Anyhow, my parents, in particular my father, were feeling particularly down, and they had decided that they were going to go out to the movies to see Man of the Year, in an attempt to lift their spirits. Before they could leave though, the doorbell rang. At the back door, with a rose for my mom, was one of my brother's friends from high school. He stayed for about an hour, updating my folks about the old high school gang and reminiscing about fun times he had had with my brother. He told them that there were a lot of times that he thought about my brother and "talked" out difficult decisions with him.

It was incredibly thoughtful and moved both of my parents greatly. It also really moved me. I used to wonder if this particular guy was going to self-destruct during high school and to hear about how kind he was to my parents yesterday just filled me with an incredible feeling of HOPE.

Man's inhumanity to man

Things going on in the world seem so dark these days. Between the school shootings, the perve incident with Congressman Foley (he is one NASTY piece of work,) the torture policy legislation being passed, and the fact that the price of gasoline has dropped $.70 over the past month (just in time for the mid-term elections...,) there is a large part of me that is simply horrified to be an American.

And I love being an American, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I love living in the City of Boston, home of the American Revolution. I love hot dogs and baseball, fireworks on the Fourth of July, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, apple pie and the Smithsonian Institute. I just don't particularly care for the way that America is running its business at the moment. Hopefully that will change significantly after the second Tuesday in November.

I spent last night at a Yom Kippur break fast with my friend JR and assorted other members of our urban family. And on the drive home, I gave some considerable thought as to how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends around me, who reaffirm my belief that there is good in the world, that there are people who have open minds, open hearts and open homes for each other.

My Angst has a Soundtrack

Co-Worker Nina and I are all alone in the office this afternoon. We have been passing the time by playing the world's saddest songs for each other.

The standing comment is: "This song makes me want to kill myself... I LOVE IT!"

So far, REM's "Everybody Hurts" is winning for most depressing song ever.

Back in session

Well, it looks like summer is really finally over. The students are back to school, and all the traffic is back to its pre-summer conditions, which makes for a little bit less than smooth sailing on the ride in to work. That just means that I will have to stop lollygagging in the morning, watching "Buffy" on FX while trying to wake up out of my sleep stupor.

August was pretty wonderful weather wise, sunny and cooler. Most importantly, it wasn't so overwhelmingly hot that I thought I was going to have to kill myself or that I was going to go broke trying to cool my apartment, which is how much of July was. Now that September is here, it really is on the cooler side. I just wish that the sun would come out. This can't still be residual Ernesto, can it?

I bought three pairs of shoes at DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) over the weekend, which probably wasn't the most fiscally responsible move I have ever made. Two of the three pairs though are actually replacing pairs of shoes that have seen better days, and all three pairs are (event) work appropriate. I got a pair of simple Life Stride black loafers, a pair of cognac colored Nine West ankle boots and a pair of black Mudd Mary Janes with kitten heels that are SO cute. Of course, I still have the problem that I really don't have ANY weekend loaf around shoes other than boots and red pseudo bowling shoes that I got at Payless ages ago. But I have resisted all temptation to buy more Chuck Taylors, which do NOT fit into the plan of only buying shoes that match my new "adult" attitude, which I don't really have, but am still working on.

I liked all of today's 5 Things to be Happy About, so I thought that I would share:

the soft, cool feel of flour
bagpipe music
pens clicking open
a footbridge creaking
red wine's earthy aroma

What is the nature of your emergency?

For the second time in the past five days, I was awakened at 2am by craziness going on outside my building. The first was the spillover of a party next door on Friday night. I was annoyed, a lot, but it is to be expected with the students back in town, and the weather still being fairly warm. It is something that you try to learn to cope with when you live among students and your bedroom is on the second floor, street side of the building.

Last night was a bit different. I was awakened by the voice of a young woman sobbing, repeatedly yelling, "Why are you doing this?" to which a young man responded in an unpleasant voice, "Kelly, come over here." It made me really uncomfortable as I listened to it continue, so I called 9-11 to report the disturbance.

Apparently, the police did come out, but they couldn't find the couple. The dispatcher ended up calling me back about twenty minutes after my call to see if I could see them. I couldn't, but then again, I hadn't been able to see them through the trees earlier; I just heard them. Maybe that is why it freaked me out so much, these disembodied voices yelling at each other. Maybe I have watched one too many horror flicks.

It probably was a bit extreme to call the police, but if the girl had been in real trouble then I know that she would have appreciated it. On the other hand, if the couple was just being very drunk and disorderly, well, then they would learn a tough lesson about respecting one's neighbors. In the end, I said to the dispatcher that I hoped that they were okay, and I meant it.

Several years ago, there was a huge drunken fight in my building. No one called the police even though there were at least two other apartments occupied besides mine and the combatants, and one of the pugilists ended up being thrown through, first, a wooden door and then, a glass paned door. I always felt bad that I didn't get involved in preventing that, even though it wasn't "my responsibility." Other people were home, and they didn't get involved either. Our society is so individualized these days; people don't want to get involved in other people's drama. This I can understand, but how far do we let the drama go before we assume responsibility as a fellow member of the community?

I don't have any answers after last night. I am just left with lots of questions, going through an overtired mind.