Pack Your Flippin' Bags!

I haven't been around much this summer on the blogosphere.  I've been a bit busy and, quite frankly, my summer has not been all that exciting.  Nothing to report.  I've been trying to be very disciplined with working out, singing and doing morning pages (from The Artist's Way).  I've also been trying to keep my son's brain from atrophying so we've been doing math and reading all summer. 

I hope I haven't lost you to boredom yet but you can see why there's not much to blog about.  We did see U2's 360 tour a couple of weeks ago.  I was completely underwhelmed.  The sound was not good where we were sitting and we kept trying to find a better listening point.  The stage itself was supposed to make the concert feel intimate.  Instead, I felt like I was watching it on YouTube.  This is coming from a diehard U2 fan.  Well, I was.  Back in the day, I could tell you anything you needed to know about those guys and I had such a crush on Larry Mullen.  I might still do.  I think I may be a bit over them now.  Bono just seems too preachy to me these days.  At the end of the concert he wanted the audience to sing Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela.  These guys are Irish, we're in Philadelphia, it was Bastille Day and we sang Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela?  I like Nelson Mandela, don't get me wrong but it seemed just so out of place.  I get that Africa is in a crisis.  I understand.  But if Bono is so gung-ho about this cause, why doesn't he sell off some of his houses or motorcycles or guitars (that he can't play, damn did I say that out loud?) to help the cause.  I mean, either practice what you preach or don't preach.  My apologies to the U2 fans out there.

A side note on singing:  I found a new singing teacher whom I love and I have made such progress since switching to her.  And, she's a lovely human being.  It's like a win-win-win.

So anyway, here's the gist of my post:  A pet peeve.  It's happened so often now that I want to scream.  We have a Trader Joe's by us, which I frequent.  Often, I am just running in for milk or olive oil or some other item that I've run out of.  Here's what kills me:  At the register I am always (make that ALWAYS) behind a customer who does not believe in packing his/her own groceries.  That customer just stands there (like a flippin' idiot)  waiting for the cashier to finish ringing up the items and then bagging them.  Wasting my time I might add.  How hard is it to pack your own groceries?!

The worst scenario is the customer who engages the cashier in some sort of jocular conversation while NOT bagging his/her groceries.  Usually this customer then turns to me trying to engage me in this banter.  At this point I have 2 choices neither one good:  I can either ignore the person which just shows the entire Trader Joe's community how much of a curmudgeon I actually am; or, I can respond and thus prolong the misery by giving this person an audience. 

I don't go to Trader Joe's for the social aspect.  Yes, they are kind and unique grocery store but I don't actually want to hang out there for the afternoon, if you know what I mean.  One day, and this is good, the customer in front of me, instead of packing his groceries, was speaking Klingon to the cashier.  Klingon!  Really?  This isn't a freakin' cocktail party.  I'm not even sure Klingon would go over well at a cocktail party. 

Now you know a bit more about the real me....the curmudgeon.  Hopefully, it won't prevent you from reading future posts.  But if it does, I understand.  Just please, do me a favor?  Pack your groceries at Trader Joe's?  Deal?

Theme Thursday: Castle

When Robert Altman garnered an honorary Oscar at the 2005 Academy Awards, he compared movie making to building a sand castle:

"I've always said that making a film is like making a sand castle at a beach. You invite your friends, and you get them down there, and you build this beautiful structure, several of you. Then you sit back and watch the tide come in. Have a drink, watch the tide come in, and the ocean just takes it away. And that sand castle remains in your mind."

When I first heard this, I thought, yeah, but with a movie, you at least have the film - that doesn't go away. I've always thought this metaphor was better suited to a play where it actually does go away -- the set, the props, the costumes, the actors.

But as I re-visit this idea I realize that he is talking about the actual building of the sand castle. A film is just a photograph of the sand castle, it does not convey the joy or the camaraderie or even the agony of making the perfect sand castle.

So many memories are like this: they are built with friends and then washed away by the tide only to remain in your mind.

And this idea of memories really struck me the other day when I saw another picture of a castle. I was in New York City with my kids for an audition for my daughter (she didn't get it). We were walking by a slew of posters when I noticed one of them was for The Unforgettable Fire, the re-mastered version by U2. Immediately, I was in high school in 1984, having just returned from France where I had heard U2 for the first time. U2 was just starting to get popular in the states with this album and I'm in the lunch room discussing the band with friends, thinking I know more about U2 having heard them in France.

That sand castle is long gone but it's still vivid to me. So in honor of The Unforgettable Fire and all the memories U2 has given me, here's a link to their performance at LiveAid (remember that sand castle?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHnXOSxka1Q

Here's to your sand castles!