An evening thru 2 Filters
Last Thursday, after dinner, I had 1 "mission": Drive from Kimball to Maple Grove and get some ADAT tapes. My plan was to leave at 7 p.m., get to Guitar Center by about 7:50, leave around 8:10 and be back by 9. Here's how it actually went, as seen through 2 "filters"...
Filter 1: After finishing dinner and warming up the car, I actually pull out of the driveway around 7:20. The roads are dry, with lots or snow around, and it's a chilly -1 F outside. En route, the landscape is a desolate mix of new development and billboards, adding to the bleakness of the evening... I start trying to play a CD-R with my latest 4 songs (freshly mixed). And even though the CD and car are reasonably warm, all I get is "Error 6" :(
After about 15 minutes of this, I exit for "Hemlock Lane" and am quickly whisked around to a stoplight. Since my side windows are iced up inside (again), I get out the scraper and remove this ice-haze. While doing so, the light turns green, and suddenly i hear impatient honking from the big pickup truck right behind. I start driving, but at the first opportunity he angrily speeds around me. A minute later, we're both waiting at the next stoplight.
During this time, though, I've passed an unmarked mall entrance on the right, which is where I needed to turn (I was looking for a street sign). So I turn around and enter the mail on the other side, where there *is* a street sign. Thinking I must be close, I weave my way through about 5 mall parking lots, including one section that antiseptically resembles a winter tourist town's main street. After about 15 minutes with no GC in sight, I sheepishly call the store. With new directions, I finally get there about 8:25 p.m.
Under the strange florescent lights and gaudy signage, I saunter along until I reach the recording area. There's no one there, and I stand for a minute looking at the crazy amount of gear. It feels like they must have hidden cameras there, so I figure someone will see me waiting. But no, and after another couple minutes I lumber back out and approach the "main area".
About 60 feet away, 2 guys are throwing a rubber ball off the wall! Almost incredulously, I raise my right hand their way, and instinctively find myself making the peace sign :D One dude sees me and makes the sign back. The other guy turns around, and I implore "Can I get some help back here?" Guy #2 arrives swiftly, grabs the tapes and swipes my credit card. Amazingly, it's declined (though it works fine the next day somewhere else).
Eventually I complete the purchase, and dazedly exit the store. Now, with my tapes safely on the passenger's seat, I must find the way out. Being that it's an unmarked quagmire here, I don't see an exit and after a while just follow the car in front of me. Luckily, that car leads us in serpentine fashion out of the lot...
Back on the freeway, the suburban development fades away. There are still billboards, but I don't notice them now, and also don't try playing any CDs. After a silent journey, I need to stop for gas. Five minutes later, I'm back on the county roads and into the final stretch. Actual time of arrival: 9:50 p.m., almost an hour later than I'd projected.
And while annoyed by this uncanny sequence of delays, in a short time I'm basically back on schedule. And so, really, it's no big deal. Which leads to Filter 2, where I later decide that it was actually a successful trip and a perfectly fine eveing! Realizing (again) that it's really all in the perception, I endeavor to try and keep "Filter 2" more in mind for future "missions".
