Wednesday, June 16, 2004

RANDOMNESS

I have been crazy busy at work lately. I would joke about how it is cramping my lifestyle, but I am actually starting to be concerned that it *is* my lifestyle. Anyway, crazy busy has an adverse effect on my ability to post my usual highly-literary, always-entertaining blogs. Actually, I am kind of hoping that any new readers (!?!) will just give me a free pass for the crap they read and assume that the archives are literary and entertaining.

FIGHT TO THE DEATH

L and I purchased a new car last week. The old car formerly known as “mine” started acting like a krautmobile with 100,000 miles on it, which, as Laurie Anderson once said, he turned out to be. L, as is her wont, did a tree-mendous amount of research on various cars and we narrowed our selection down to a SINGLE V.I.N. before we ever set foot on a lot. We knew everything about the car. I mean everything.

Anyway, the dealer we went to who allegedly had the car we wanted told us they had sold it. They tried to sell us a different car. Bad idea. The second dealership had a car that may, very well, have been the exact car the other dealer told us they had sold. It was about 4:00 p.m. We made clear the amount of information we had, and what we were willing to pay. Easiest sale in the guy’s life, right? At 9:30 p.m., we finally left with the car, at the price we said we’d pay.

There is no industry in the free world that operates as poorly as the car sales industry. It is insane that we “fought” for five hours. “Fought” is in “quotes” because it implies that there may have been a different winner than there was. We were either going to buy the car at the price we suggested, or we were going to walk. Not really a fight. In any case, we have a new car, and I will gladly avoid the car-purchasing process long enough to forget just how ridiculous it is.

POTTER!

Last night L and I saw the third Potter movie. I don’t think I’ve read the book, but of course L has. The movie is fine, the story good, etc., etc. The theater was about one-third full. It is an older theater and lacks the amenities of newer theaters. These include an absence of cat-pee smell, modern bathrooms, and chairs that any rational person would want to sit in for two hours. However, it is two blocks from Case de Forgue/Hahn, which is a major factor in its favor.

Just as the film was starting, a group of people came in. There were two adults, two adolescents, and two children. Six people in an almost empty theater seem likely to take six seats. We were in a section of four abreast, so I assumed (DOH!) that they would not sit by us. Oh, how wrong I was. I realized later that having the kids sit on the adults’ laps was convenient because otherwise the wee tykes might have had to scream to tell the adults what was about to happen in the movie. This way they could say it at a conversational tone. Much more convenient. Also, with their short little legs, kicking my chair probably would have been more difficult had they been in their own chairs. Thus, it really was a win-win for everyone.

Oh well. I take solace in the likelihood that the dementors gave them nightmares.