I should have known. Never tempt Murphy; he's fast and he's mean and he thinks
he's funny. And he's got a Law. Yesterday while waiting for my Jello to jell, I
stopped at the Aveda store for shampoo and conditioner for my gym bag (and at
J.Jill for a bunch of new shirts). Yesterday night, I carefully put the new Aveda
stuff into the gym bag, restocked Q-Tips and cotton pads, put extra undies in a
baggie to stay in the gym bag for those forgetful days -- the baggie is so they
don't have to hobnob with sweaty gym clothes). I remembered to pack underwear,
shoes, socks, and jewelry.
In the gym this morning, I told the very
nice women who laugh kindly at me whenever I forget underwear that I was now
organized, prepared with extras. Then I walked into the shower and realized that
instead of buying shampoo and conditioner, I'd bought shampoo and another kind of
shampoo. Then I got to my locker and realized I'd left my clothing hung in the
car. One of the nice women offered to go fetch it for me, but I figured it was
easier to pull the gym clothes back on and do it myself than to have her trying to
figure out where my beige Civic was parked. It wasn't until I got to work I
realized I had put a silver ring on under my engagement ring instead of on the
other hand where I meant to put it. Murphy's Law and hubris are an ugly
combination.
When I was in J.Jill yesterday, I noticed the background
music was a collection of songs by the Kennedys (Pete and Maura, not the Dead
ones). The other week, when I went with Rudder to test drive a used Jaguar (he
didn't buy it) the dealership was playing other Kennedy songs. This is beginning
to worry me. It's not that I think Pete and Maura have sold out; Pete's guitar
wizardry, Maura's pure voice, and the insightful lyrics they sneak under pop hooks
are certainly not degraded by being played in the background of places that want
to sound tasteful, yet alternative. And singer-songwriters have such a
nonlucrative job (even with several albums out and after playing backup for Nanci
Griffith for years, I bet the Kennedys don't driveJaguars) that any way
they can make aliving from their music, without compromising its quality, is fair
game. It's just that now I'm wondering if I've been buying and listening to Muzak
all these years.
Nah. See "guitar wizardry, pure voice, and
insightful lyrics", above.