While I sorted my collection of old vinyl LP records recently, I found a set of albums that belonged to a schoolmate of mine. She and I had shared some good times together and presumably she left the records at my place because I had a stereo system on which to play them. In the 25 years that I've kept the records, I've lost track of why I was supposed to have them so I decided to believe she had loaned them to me until such time she could get them back.
I contacted my friend through facebook, copying her sister on my message, in case my friend was not a regular facebook user. Sure enough, her sister let me know that my friend rarely checks facebook (in fact, I think it was her daughter who set the account up for her). Therefore, the sister said she would gladly receive the albums instead of my friend.
So, to get the records back to my friend, or at least her family, yesterday I took the records with me to a local store that specializes in packing, boxing and shipping items. I have used the store in the past to ship items that I sold on ebay, with satisfactory results. I walked into the store on a Monday, a government holiday in the United States (Presidents Day or Washington's Birthday), not expecting to see anyone I knew.
Inevitably, when we're looking our worst or are in a mood for not talking to others, we run into someone we know. Wearing an old parka I picked up in Ireland a couple of years ago, I stood in line at the store and looked over to see a former work colleague, Don, who was dressed in nice casual business attire. Don had worked in marketing but as he looked at my ragged outfit, he told me he now has his own import business. I told him about Tree Trunk Productions while his eyes scoffed at me in Don's way of wearing his thoughts on his face (his face said, "He has his own website? Ha! Exactly what kind of website does a guy like that have?").
Don has an off-kilter sense of humor, sort of like Andrew Dice Clay and Sam Kinison rolled into the suave character actor, David Niven. He bites your head off and spits it out, all while telling you how nice you are and how well he will always remember you as he hands your head back to you, wrapped in paper and stuffed in a nice hat box.
[We exchanged emails later in the day, using both of our humorous points of view to take joking stabs at each other. Hey, what are friends for, right?]
I returned home, picked up my wife and drove us to the theater to see the movie, "Coraline." After seeing the movie, my wife felt depressed the rest of the day. It didn't help that we went to a local Chili's restaurant afterward, sat for 10 minutes without receiving service and walked out to the protests of "Wait, wait" from the hostess (going instead to a new corner pub that opened a little over a mile from our house and serves good burgers).
To be sure, the storyline of the movie is not the most uplifting:
if your parents intentionally ignore you in order to pour their energy into their job (which, if their current project does not work out, means even less food on the table than the scraps you're eating now), turn to a fantasy world to relieve your boredom.Perhaps the story is poignant in this economy. I enjoyed the movie more than my wife because I fully comprehend the importance of a fantasy world for one's creativity. Understandably, fantasies in and of themselves do not put food on the table, but the fantasies may result in your creating something that attracts the attention of people who like seeing or reading fantasies and who will pay you to share your fantasies with them. Even if you have no ability to turn your fantasies into a viable enterprise, having a creative escape mechanism can help you relieve the daily stresses and boredom that creep into your life.
I have lived a sheltered life, rarely bumping into the "underworld" of illegal activities we call 'crime' that some estimates say totals more than all government military budgets put together. So, while trillions of dollars are spent in the exchange of goods and services that don't get taxed, may include bribes, definitely include the exchange of free electronic copies of software, music, movies, and literature, I walk through the world expecting my colleagues to participate in the "up and up," buying and selling items for which we expect to pay government taxes and from whom the item was acquired legally, benefitting our society with this social framework of trust. I know, I know. Don't tell me. What kind of fantasy is that, especially in this economy?! ... lol ... At least I returned a set of albums to a friend of mine, which makes me feel good and costs nothing but packing and shipping.
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