ericboy's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \"Ignore the smoke and smile\" - A Perfect Circle My feet smell like dead things and my arms aren't working too well. I just walked back home from rehearsal, a pawdry 49 blocks (I counted), and now my body is adjusting to stillness in a rather unsettling way. Rehearsal went really well, and I'm already mostly off-book (as far as knowing my lines; my blocking is shotty, I spend most of my time poised for flight since I'm not sure) but horribly out of character. My stage persona, Wyatt, has a serious moment or two, and I can't stop smiling when I'm up there. Perhaps it's because I'm up there. Work today was... volatile. Early on in the day, a man comes up to me and asks "Do you-- Oh, I see that you do work here. Perhaps you can help me." Already, this guy was on my good side, and appealed to me as an intelligent being. Most of the customers will stare directly at my name-tag and ask me if I work at the store. I always want to say "No; I'm an inmate here." But this guy, intuitive little bastard that he is, he figured it out. "I'm looking for a 'Mad World' by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews. Do you have that creation?" "We sure do," I say as I lead him over to the Poop/Schlock New Excrements. "You can find it on either the Donnie Darko Soundtrack, where it is accompanied by Michael Andrews' score compositions for the film; minimalist orchestrations, you know; music with no words. Or on Gary Jules' finally released debut album Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets, which features the 'Mad World' cover as well as his original songs; kind of folky/poppy singer-songwriter stuff; guitar and vocals. Here's his album, now." The customer looks at it. "Which do you think would be the best, as far as other music to listen to on the CD?" No shit. I actually said this to the man: "You remember a second ago, when I was talking, I was moving my lips and words were coming out? Yeah, that was me telling you what you're getting with each one, so you can make that decision." Rather than blow up at me for being, let's face it, very rude, he merely folded into himself in embarassment and said "I'm sorry; I haven't had my coffee yet." Realizing that I owed him something in the way of an apology, I said "Well I'm on my third; I guess that's why I jumped on you so hard." We made nice and he asked me about the other songs on Gary Jules' CD. I told him that I hadn't heard it, but I imagined that the other songs should be along the same lines. This is a blatant lie; I've heard the new album. It's crap. It's worse than I ever thought it would be. Rather than the melancholic whispering dirge that we hear on the enormously popular Tears for Fears cover, it is all Jason Mraz / Neil Diamond pop-infused shit. Other customers did stupid things today, also, and I reprimanded them, as well. If people are not made aware of their short-comings then they've no hope for overcoming them and bettering themselves. I just want to help; that's all. And vent. 9:38 p.m. - 2004-04-13 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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