It’s Sunday and another week of summer has come and gone. The temperature is climbing and the heat warning keep coming and don’t stop coming – so why not step inside where it’s at least slightly cooler and enjoy a refreshing beverage as we talk about the week that was?
As has been typical, the workdays have been steadily busier as we head towards the start of the fall term. I’ve been in more meetings to talk about how my area of expertise can help streamline processes for prospective and incoming students, which paradoxically means that as I’m creating processes to simplify things, I also have less time to keep on top of daily tasks – at least until the projects take effect.
I suppose this is the work equivalent of cleaning house where things get a lot messier before they suddenly shift into something better than it was before.
Which, coincidentally, I’ve also been doing.
Monday and Wednesday were rehearsal days, and one week from today we hope to have Act One blocked and off script. I’m getting there.
Wednesday was delightful in that I was able to replace a shirt that was no longer being sold by the original artist. I’ll show you when it comes in.
Friday I went shopping. I started out by trying to find a new set of pots as the ones we got back in 2018 have started to flake – and even then, we got them used, so they had a long life of service. Nonetheless, I’d rather not have nonstick coating in my mashed potatoes – know what I mean?
The first place I went to had a sign on their door saying they’d be opening late due to tech issues (probably something with the registers), so I decided to go just down the road to the Goodwill, where I’ll look through the books and knickknacks and DVDs and vinyl records.
The last few weeks I’ve come away mostly empty handed, but not this day.
As I got down near the floor to look through the records, I noticed a familiar font:
My heart skipped a beat. I’ve been looking for MCR vinyl in thrift shops since 2013 – give or take – and have always come up empty (and not to be confused with consignment shops, where sellers mostly know what they’ve got). I”ve found some re-pressings at retail shops but I wanted that thrill of finding one in the wild.
I knew the font style meant it was either Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge or Life on the Murder Scene. I held my breath as I moved other albums out of the way and hoped for Three Cheers – with no shade to Life on the Murder Scene, but I already own that vinyl.
I pulled it up and out and recognized there it was: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.
Taken as a complete album it’s definitely in my Top Five if anyone were to ask me to name five perfect albums without restrictions. Earlier this year the band released a 20th Anniversary remastered version, which I purchased, but the original still eluded me (in physical form; thank god for streaming, right?)
Still, I was skeptical; I’d been burned before in this very store with empty sleeves – looking at you, Beatles White Album. And then you’ve got the times when what’s inside isn’t what’s on the cover . . .
I could feel the weight; it wasn’t empty. I gently pulled the record out and saw
SIDE A
33 1/3 RPM
1. HELENA
I started to shake and looked through the rest of the bins to see if maybe someone had gotten rid of their collection, but there was nothing else. My treasure was alone, nestled between the Frank Conniff and Zamfir (master of the pan flute) and 70s-era gospel recordings.
As a parody of “You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison” might sound like:
In the middle of a Goodwill
In the center of the vinyl bins
They say, “Come with your hopes raised high”
I wasn’t going to risk losing my find. I stood up and immediately walked to the register. I was so certain that the cashier would say “oh, this was supposed to be in the display case” or something like that, but no . . . The register displayed my total: $1.06. I was so happy I rounded up the $0.94 as a donation to make an even two dollars – even at that price it was the bargain of bargains.
It almost made up for the jealously I felt last week when I found out my nephew went to see them in concert – and speaking of which, I did find out that his girlfriend is really into the band, so it took some of the sting out. Some. I’m still salty, but mostly for the bit at this point. Mostly.
With my thrift shop adventure over it was back to the other shopping.
I didn’t find any pots that I was willing to pay what they were asking at the store, so I went grocery shopping. As I was picking up the usual stuff I decided that since it was so beastly hot with the heat index north of 110 F that I would do a cold dish for supper and wondered how hard it would be to make a street-corn-inspired pasta salad.
Turns out, it wasn’t complicated at all, with the only out-of-the-ordinary-to-me ingredient being tajin, which is a chili lime salt seasoning. Everything else I already had. I made my pasta and added corn and bacon and made a mayo-based dressing and got pre-grilled chicken and some tomatoes and cheese cubes for additional toppings.
I made a whole box of pasta, which means we’ve been eating this pasta salad for at least one meal for the last three days, but today we’ll reach the end of it and it’s been SO GOOD and really easy to make it will definitely be on the summer rotation from here on out.
Saturday I ventured back out to check out another store for pots, and actually found the newer version of the ones we need to throw out! I probably paid a little more by buying them separate rather than in a set BUT I don’t need the pans or such that come with the pots since I use either cast iron or stainless steel. But that’s fine with me because we’re getting something we know we’ll use and will hold up well.
The same store also had a small “international foods” section and I found a box of stroopwafels, which my regular grocery store no longer carries. So I’m set for the next few weeks, assuming I stick to my one-per-week routine.
And now I’m here with the fans and the AC on and the windows open to let in some natural light and alternating between cleaning and scrolling social media and learning my lines for the play. Later on I plan to do some journaling.
How have you been?
What have you been up to?
Running In My Head 