Lee.org

—- Didn’t Fix Computers
I tried to fix Deann’s computer tonight and failed. Bean found a fix for her problem on her own. And last night I was unable to fix Sam’s computer. And I thought I had gotten out of the Computer Guy business. Grr.

—- Missed Kite Fight
I was at Bernal Hill for Kite Fight again. Again, there was no one there. It turns out that while Kite Fight happens every 2 weeks, it doesn’t happen on the same day of the week. This time it was on Saturday. Grrr.

—- Missed Lunch
I got to Boogaloo’s at 3 for a late lunch. I walked in and they told me they were closed. Grrrr.

—- Found Pointless Stores
I wandered into several stores on Mission looking for nothing in particular… for stuff on my long list of “it’s be nice if I had”‘s. police tape, tupperware, a thing to tell when I should stop my car in my small garage so I don’t hit the wall, a small dish rack for the office, whole peppercorns… crap. I found none of what I was looking for. I was most pissed off when I saw they had a giant selection of tupper-like products and none of them were well made. Grrrrr.

—- Almost Got in a Fight Over a 12 Yr Old Litterbug
I was standing in front of one of those pointless stores and watched as a twelve year-old girl took the batteries out of her CD Walkman one by and and chucked them across the sidewalk. They skittered across the concrete and then just lay there. I considered saying nothing. I didn’t. “What are you doing?” And with the kind of derision an older sister would offer a younger brother, she said, “The batteries are dead. ” “Use the garbage can. Are you stupid?” She shrugged and walked into the pointless store.

I looked around to evaluate the situation and a man standing near me gave me an appreciative smile. I could see through the window that the girl was standing next to someone older that looked related. I walked in and told the man, “You should suggest to her to use the garbage can. There’s one right [pointing to the can that she almost hit with her errant batteries] there. I stood for a moment and then left.

A few moments later, as I was walking down the sidewalk, I heard some yelling behind me. I turned to see the father. With more than a hint of anger in his voice, he said, “Did you call her stupid?” In a neutral voice, I said, “Yes.” His ire catching up with him, he said, “If I punched you in the face right now, would that be stupid?” As I had already started planning tactics and what I’d say in the police report, I wanted to say ‘yes’. But that wouldn’t have given the girl the right impression about littering. So I carefully thought about a defusing thing to say. “I couldn’t say,” is what came out. Apparently, it was the right thing to say. He was caught off guard and blinked. “Well, you should apologize for saying that.” I nodded and said, in a more earnest tone than before, “I apologize.” Placated, he came back with some mutter of, “Ok,” turned and went back to the pointless store.

I think I got the littering message across but it took way more effort than I was planning! Grrrrrr.

—- Missed the Library
I walked into the library at 4:58, just in time for them to tell me they were closing. Grrrrrrr.

—- Laura was good to me
Laura helped me unwind with some visualization on the phone. :-)

—- Saw a fun movie & Got a Part in a Play
I went to Bad Movie Night at The Dark Room. They showed The Astounding She-Monster. As the title promises, it was astoundingly bad and we had a great time laughing at it.

Most extrordinarily, I was chatting with some folks after the film. I was plugging Emporer Norton to this one group so much that they wanted to see it and were asking if it was still playing. After the new Nortonians left, I was rewarded with a wet nap by one of the Dark Room guys. Overjoyed, I did the old, “read the back of the wet nap dramatically” bit. Turns out, I was talking with the producer of some upcoming Dark Room shows and they liked my delivery so much, I may just get a bit part in an upcoming show. Wee!