Hey You Kids, Stay Off Of My Lawn!
December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman fatally shot music legend John Lennon in New York City. Music hasn’t been the same since. Also, today marks what would be (or is) the 63rd birthday of another rock and roll legend, Jim Morrison who some theorize is living quietly in France since faking his death back in 1971. (Ok, so I’m the only one.)
The other day I traveled over to the local Wally World (Wal-Mart) to get myself a new cell phone. I was very excited as I had not been using a good phone for well over a year. My sweet Motorola flip camera phone met an unfortunate and untimely demise as I was running across a slightly busy Nash-Vegas street while expeditiously attempting to attend a Will Hoge concert.
I had my sights set on the new Motorola Sliver. This baby is sleek, has a digital camera, a video camera and plays MP3s! I was like a kid in a candy store (or Ben Affleck in a strip club!). I walked up to the cell phone counter which is located as far from the front of the store as can be. Please note that I had just gotten off of work; I was tired and hungry and cranky. Now, I am currently a customer of Cingular Wireless; however, I was no longer under contact and was ready to forgo my freedom in order to get the discounted price of my new candy phone.
I had to wrangle up a store associate as they were busy pretending to work while discussing their boyfriends and the math exam they hadn’t studied for. Finally, I was able to inform the young lady that I wanted to upgrade my phone line to the new Sliver. At this moment, the Mensa candidate felt it necessary to ask me if I currently have phone service. Obviously, if I wanted to upgrade my current line, I must have service, right? When I told this to the girl she moved on to complete the transaction as the School Girl walked away to stave off embarrassment.
The entire process only took about 30 minutes. During this time of waiting I began to participate in one of my previously mentioned favorite hobbies...people-watching. Just behind me in the aisle of the electronics department, a huge flat panel television was set up and was hooked up to a karaoke machine that Wally World was trying to sell. A group of grungy, rock and roller type high school boys had meandered over to play with the machine. I noticed that they were scrolling through the list of songs that were displayed on the monitor screen. Some songs, I assume, were newer by bands such as The All-American Rejects and other groups I do not listen to at all. (On a side note, this happens to be the CD that Little Harry wanted me to get him for his birthday last month…go figure!). The machine also had older artists such as Marvin Gaye, Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin. These boys, of course being uneducated musically, mocked them openly.
It was at this moment that my coolness factor was rendered to zero. I believe (in my little mind) that I have a pretty high coolness factor and can be mistaken at times for the epitome of hipness, when in actuality I am just old and pitiful. One of the young men, I will call him “The Good Kid”, scrolled through the songs and stopped on “Every Breath You Take” by 80s musical geniuses The Police. I will admit that this song can be a little weak at times; however, it is still a classic. “The Good Kid” mentioned that he sort of enjoyed this song. The other boys, I will call them “Jack Ass Kid #1” and “Jack Ass Kid #2” looked at him with puzzlement. “J.A.K. #1” then said, “Who the hell are The Police?”. It was at this moment that I finally realized a little bit of what my Dad must have felt when I tried to get him to listen to Poison or Cinderella and scoffed at any myriad of great bands from his day that I didn’t know. I hope that someone remembers to get me a walker for Christmas and signs me up for AARP.
The other day I traveled over to the local Wally World (Wal-Mart) to get myself a new cell phone. I was very excited as I had not been using a good phone for well over a year. My sweet Motorola flip camera phone met an unfortunate and untimely demise as I was running across a slightly busy Nash-Vegas street while expeditiously attempting to attend a Will Hoge concert.
I had my sights set on the new Motorola Sliver. This baby is sleek, has a digital camera, a video camera and plays MP3s! I was like a kid in a candy store (or Ben Affleck in a strip club!). I walked up to the cell phone counter which is located as far from the front of the store as can be. Please note that I had just gotten off of work; I was tired and hungry and cranky. Now, I am currently a customer of Cingular Wireless; however, I was no longer under contact and was ready to forgo my freedom in order to get the discounted price of my new candy phone.
I had to wrangle up a store associate as they were busy pretending to work while discussing their boyfriends and the math exam they hadn’t studied for. Finally, I was able to inform the young lady that I wanted to upgrade my phone line to the new Sliver. At this moment, the Mensa candidate felt it necessary to ask me if I currently have phone service. Obviously, if I wanted to upgrade my current line, I must have service, right? When I told this to the girl she moved on to complete the transaction as the School Girl walked away to stave off embarrassment.
The entire process only took about 30 minutes. During this time of waiting I began to participate in one of my previously mentioned favorite hobbies...people-watching. Just behind me in the aisle of the electronics department, a huge flat panel television was set up and was hooked up to a karaoke machine that Wally World was trying to sell. A group of grungy, rock and roller type high school boys had meandered over to play with the machine. I noticed that they were scrolling through the list of songs that were displayed on the monitor screen. Some songs, I assume, were newer by bands such as The All-American Rejects and other groups I do not listen to at all. (On a side note, this happens to be the CD that Little Harry wanted me to get him for his birthday last month…go figure!). The machine also had older artists such as Marvin Gaye, Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin. These boys, of course being uneducated musically, mocked them openly.
It was at this moment that my coolness factor was rendered to zero. I believe (in my little mind) that I have a pretty high coolness factor and can be mistaken at times for the epitome of hipness, when in actuality I am just old and pitiful. One of the young men, I will call him “The Good Kid”, scrolled through the songs and stopped on “Every Breath You Take” by 80s musical geniuses The Police. I will admit that this song can be a little weak at times; however, it is still a classic. “The Good Kid” mentioned that he sort of enjoyed this song. The other boys, I will call them “Jack Ass Kid #1” and “Jack Ass Kid #2” looked at him with puzzlement. “J.A.K. #1” then said, “Who the hell are The Police?”. It was at this moment that I finally realized a little bit of what my Dad must have felt when I tried to get him to listen to Poison or Cinderella and scoffed at any myriad of great bands from his day that I didn’t know. I hope that someone remembers to get me a walker for Christmas and signs me up for AARP.
posted by LeBlanc at 11:25 AM
1 Comments:
Than you can be just like dad---did he just sign up for AARP?
La Hermana
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