I turned in my application at Barnes and Noble today so that I might become a lanyard clad, book hocking holiday helper monkey. I'll sell you books approved by Oprah, USA Today, and Entertainment Weekly. Want a heartwarming collection of poetry about the cute things moon-faced retarded kids say? Come see me. How about the long-winded diatribe of an ex congressman? I have that right here for you. What's the best way to put to rest the rumors of your shameful illiteracy? Why, buy a book! Scientists everywhere agree that books make people look smarter. You like looking smart, right? You're not a dummy, are you? Of course not. But maybe you're worried about looking pretentious? I can see how you might worry about that. Not to worry, though, our books won't make you look pretentious, like that old "Little Professor" store. They carried books about "Europe," and "Asia", and other places Americans don't live. Thank divine providence that they aren't selling those kinds of books in our fair city anymore. Come see me, or any other semi-casually dressed book seller, and we'll get you set up with a good book. You'll be able to feel good about your purchase, even if you never actually finish or even comprehend the content within.

Ok, that's out of my system. I know I have to stay positive, even though I hold a bit of a grudge against them for forcing out smaller privately-owned stores. B&N isn't that bad, really. They have a nice selection of art and design magazines. I might even get a discount on their sparse collection of obscenely marked up cds.

I found a bunch of Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan concerts from as far back as 1992. All kinds of live performances, from various sources of varying quality. It's amazing to think that I missed most of these shows the first time around because I didn't know how much I would enjoy them when I was older. When I was in seventh grade I hadn't the foggiest idea how cool it would've been to see a curly-haired Billy and company performing "I am one" right after it came out. To see them perform '"Starla" for fifteen minutes to a packed audience. It makes me wonder what I'm unaware of right now. These things always take time to filter into the suburbs, even to avant-garde-lite types like myself.