BONUS POINT WEDNESDAY EXTRAVAGANZA!
Sep. 12th, 2007 10:08 amBonus points to Mumbles Menino and his Wednesday "Ask da Mayuh" column in the Metro where, this week, he goes out of his way to thank a letter writer for "[travelling] in from Newton to enjoy our city." (For a little regional context, that's like New York's Mayor Bloomberg thanking a Brooklyn resident in Prospect Park for expending the time and energy to come over and visit Manhattan.) Then again, given the current D Line woes, perhaps trekking alllllll the way in from Newton really can be an arduous task at times so bravo, Mr. or Ms. Newton-From City Visiter! Your determination and tenacity and defiance in the face of slow-moving traffic, be it train or automotive vehicle, have certainly caught the mayor's eye and captured his heart!
Next, Menino will heartily congratulate a citizen from Somerville for "finding a way across that river thing to make it over to our nice city."
Bonus points as well to the Magic Lite Music Station (what's so magic about it, anyway?) whose enterprising engineer decided to get us all into the RED SOX SPIRIT!!!!!1 by remixing "Sweet Caroline" to include the Fenway crowd's participation during the chorus (it's a bottom-of-the-8th tradition, of course. "SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!") Oh, and they also added in a "LET'S GO RED SOX!" chant during the quieter parts which didn't match up with the song's beat at all.
Oh, c'mon. You sing (or drunkenly holler words which somewhat approximate the song portion of) Sweet Caroline at Fenway. You do it with the crowd, even if you're down by 6 runs at the bottom of the 8th and most of the pessimists have already left so they can beat the traffic. You can also sing along with the song when it comes on the radio, or hum along to it when you hear it at the morning convenience store, but sakes alive, you shouldn't have to listen to a recording of people doing it for you. It's that kind of forced frivolity which I absolutely cannot stand, man.
But oh! Here are some real bonus points, I mean serious bonus points bordering on what the kids call mad props or big ups, to TAGS in Porter Square for being open until 9 last night, and Neil for driving me down there quickly before they closed. One of our apartment-wide fuses blew last night. You know, the ones the size of shotgun cartridges? Yeah. Those big suckers. I got a call from T. during rehearsals and, although I have Director's Prerogative to say "OH WAIT GUYS I GOTTA TAKE THIS" kindly waited until our first read-thru was done. We're out of power, I heard, and N*Star had been called, but it may just be our unit, cause there were lights on all over the street.
Luckily rehearsal ended early so I ran back home and checked the fuse box. Ohhhhh yeah. No need to call N*Sync over this one. And have you ever smelled a 60 amp fuse what's gone explodified? Man, it reeks. You smell like you've been setting off fireworks for twelve hours straight. And you could easily tell which one had gone and burned itself out. It looked like it'd nearly blown a hole out of itself.
TAGS was closing in 15 minutes so Neil flew down there as fast as prudently possible. We got there at 8:55, I lurched down the stairs in the direction of the useful hardware section, gasped "FUSES! 60 AMP!" at some guy wearing a nametag (at least, I think he was wearing a nametag) and was helpfully led over to the right section, found my replacements, and made the appropriate transactions. Made it on my way and hoo-rah!
Did I mention I was totin' the fuse containment unit with the TOTALLY SMELLY fuses the entire time? Tons of fun. The Home Depot in Everett was open til 10 so I knew we had a backup in case TAGS didn't work out, but still, you have to admit, any time you can make a routine transaction to fix something an exciting, breathless adventure, the cries of "VICTORY!" as you shove that fuse holder back into the box and listen to the apartment come to life are that much sweeter.
bragtime: who's got two thumbs and is going to see young frankenstein: the musical on october 19? thiiis guy.
Next, Menino will heartily congratulate a citizen from Somerville for "finding a way across that river thing to make it over to our nice city."
Bonus points as well to the Magic Lite Music Station (what's so magic about it, anyway?) whose enterprising engineer decided to get us all into the RED SOX SPIRIT!!!!!1 by remixing "Sweet Caroline" to include the Fenway crowd's participation during the chorus (it's a bottom-of-the-8th tradition, of course. "SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!") Oh, and they also added in a "LET'S GO RED SOX!" chant during the quieter parts which didn't match up with the song's beat at all.
Oh, c'mon. You sing (or drunkenly holler words which somewhat approximate the song portion of) Sweet Caroline at Fenway. You do it with the crowd, even if you're down by 6 runs at the bottom of the 8th and most of the pessimists have already left so they can beat the traffic. You can also sing along with the song when it comes on the radio, or hum along to it when you hear it at the morning convenience store, but sakes alive, you shouldn't have to listen to a recording of people doing it for you. It's that kind of forced frivolity which I absolutely cannot stand, man.
But oh! Here are some real bonus points, I mean serious bonus points bordering on what the kids call mad props or big ups, to TAGS in Porter Square for being open until 9 last night, and Neil for driving me down there quickly before they closed. One of our apartment-wide fuses blew last night. You know, the ones the size of shotgun cartridges? Yeah. Those big suckers. I got a call from T. during rehearsals and, although I have Director's Prerogative to say "OH WAIT GUYS I GOTTA TAKE THIS" kindly waited until our first read-thru was done. We're out of power, I heard, and N*Star had been called, but it may just be our unit, cause there were lights on all over the street.
Luckily rehearsal ended early so I ran back home and checked the fuse box. Ohhhhh yeah. No need to call N*Sync over this one. And have you ever smelled a 60 amp fuse what's gone explodified? Man, it reeks. You smell like you've been setting off fireworks for twelve hours straight. And you could easily tell which one had gone and burned itself out. It looked like it'd nearly blown a hole out of itself.
TAGS was closing in 15 minutes so Neil flew down there as fast as prudently possible. We got there at 8:55, I lurched down the stairs in the direction of the useful hardware section, gasped "FUSES! 60 AMP!" at some guy wearing a nametag (at least, I think he was wearing a nametag) and was helpfully led over to the right section, found my replacements, and made the appropriate transactions. Made it on my way and hoo-rah!
Did I mention I was totin' the fuse containment unit with the TOTALLY SMELLY fuses the entire time? Tons of fun. The Home Depot in Everett was open til 10 so I knew we had a backup in case TAGS didn't work out, but still, you have to admit, any time you can make a routine transaction to fix something an exciting, breathless adventure, the cries of "VICTORY!" as you shove that fuse holder back into the box and listen to the apartment come to life are that much sweeter.
bragtime: who's got two thumbs and is going to see young frankenstein: the musical on october 19? thiiis guy.