Ungrateful...

So that new ipod? The one that was left in my car? (I've since spotted hobos sleeping in our garage, I guess they could be the culprit) I find the dial to be imprecise. Often I might touch the center button and find that I've also managed to just nudge the selection up or down one in the same motion, and I've selected the thing I don't want. Also, unlike the dial on the model I bought, I find this can be activated by coins and other pocket-dwelling objects, causing the volume to change of its own accord in my pocket. On the topic of must-be-stolen goods, some of pals have been singing the praises of GTA IV. Now, according to tradition, if the new console iteration is out, it's time for me to start playing the last version on PC. I loaded up San Andreas, and I probably didn't give it a fair shake, maybe not even totally out of the tutorialesque missions, but I wasn't hooked at all. Bored, perhaps, but not hooked. And I can't play this wonderous new thing, since I have neither PS3 nor 360. I just started a new gig though, which means income....but I still don't really want to shell out all the cash necessary: console, games, possibly accessories...I haven't an HD TV either. But...maybe a browse through craigslist.

I find a too-good-to-be-real deal. Console with HDD, three controllers, two headsets, guitar hero guitar, and over a dozen games, including the out-for-about-a-week GTA IV. For the price of the console alone in stores. I write in, since it's only been posted about 15 minutes, and I'm assured it's available. Bit of a drive, but worth it for the bargain. Will I be ripped off? Held up? Sold into white slavery?

It turns out, the answer's no. I say that I want to meet somewhere where I can see that the machine works - 360s are notorious for breaking down and I want to make sure this one isn't DOA. The seller ignores me and we agree to meet in a high school parking lot. I figure if the machine's dead, the price is good just for the extras. Scrawny kid shows up in a big pickup truck, with his scrawny buddy. Takes out the box of stuff. Of course, he's taped the box shut. I reach for my pocketknife, but it turns out he's taped the box shut so that he can pull out this comically large switchblade. 'Cause, y'know, he's tough. But he forgot the guitar, so he goes home to retrieve it. I do poke at him a bit about wasting his money on GTA if he was just going to sell the machine now, but all along I've been careful not to express too much interest in why he's cheating himself to such a degree. Don't want to scare him off, after all. Goods and cash change hands. We both scurry home, undoubtedly both sure we've won this encounter.

I power it up at home and...red lights! I'm neither surprised nor disappointed - I figure he didn't show me the working machine for a reason - it doesn't work. I even start planning to e-mail him and tell him it works great, to make him doubt himself for deciding to sell a broken piece of hardware, but then...the clouds part, and so do the red lights, giving way to green. Turns out, red lights are standard when no AV cables are detected. The system works great. GTA is okay, and I'm having fun with guitar hero (2 more than 3). I've yet to crack open the half dozen tom clancy licensed games or the other various titles - I plan to sell off most of it, maybe pay for the system. And there are still around 7 games out there that I might like to pick up some day, which for me is really all a console needs to be somewhat successful. Less than a dozen games, all especially strong, have been enough to put the gamecube and wii in the winner's column for me.

And so the door opens to yet more unconsumed recreation, floating about...

Tips for bolder living, #39

When volunteering in a crowd, it is best to assume that any pointing / choosing / calling upon made in your general direction refers to you specifically. This includes when positioned directly behind and directly ahead of other would-be volunteers, and when the chooser is blindfolded. This simple act of cheating will greatly increase your chances of selection or reception of a desirable situation. This has been another tip for BOLDER living!

Oh, brain...

So I had a dream that tonight's the big night, the official competition that a team I'm on / class group I'm in has been training for weeks to compete in has been practicing for. As far as I can tell, it's been a recurring dream, in which I've actually been progressing in time - it's not the SAME dream each time, but each time it comes around we do practice this event (which is similar to evacuating someone on a stretcher), and other things have been developing as we go...as the 'season' or series progresses. But what if it's not? What if the idea that it's the conclusion to a series of dreams is all a notion from this lone dream? I don't have any particular memory of pondering the other practices... I guess if we're going to get into that, I'd prefer the notion that this right now is the recurring dream other people are having....oh, brain!

So maybe I kinda do 'get' Blade Runner...maybe it just turns out that I'm not a sci-fi fan...

Six!

I was riding my bike yesterday, like I do. I was undecided about whether to walk or ride, since I was just going to the Best Buy, and then later planned to ride over to the UCB theater. I rode, as exposed in the first sentence. I tend to ride in the street, not on the sidewalk, because the sidewalk is full of people walking and riding bikes and waiting for buses and slowing down a more determined bike rider (like me!). I'm cautious, I've got lights, I follow traffic laws and often cross streets with crosswalks instead of presuming to merge on a bike into a busy left-turn lane. I presume to save or prolong my own life in this way. Yesterday, while riding my bike, I saved another life too. It was a small dog. It's owner, some socialite-lookin' would-be Paris Hiltony blonde enormous-sunglasses-and-heels-wearing creature was gabbing away on a mobile phone, back to the street, as her little dog wandered around on its leash and into the street. I didn't hit the dog. I probably would've gotten hurt if I did, as it'd be a big bump. But I couldn't make a sharp turn into cars speeding along, and I couldn't quite jump the curb at such a narrow angle. I scraped up my palms and a knee, sprained my wrists, and snapped the cable on my $5 odometer. Now I've gotta get the brakes fixed on the car AND the bike - the rear brake cable was also jostled loose when the front wheel spun around backwards. For her part, little miss starlet-to-be did a good job scooping up the dog and running away in heels when some guy and a bike wiped out right next to her. But I'll just bet if I hit that dog nobody would have run away, there'd've been hell to pay. So it goes. ONE! I notice lately, especially around shopping centers and trendier parts of town, there is a certain style to carrying one's ipod (and here in LA, everyone has an ipod, even the thieves, as we know.). In the more hipster kinds of places, they remain unobtrusive, perhaps with an earphone cable hanging out, or sometimes neatly threaded through the shirt. But in the trendy section, it's carried between the thumb and one finger, display out, at chest height. Sort of where their chest-graphic would go, if they were care bears instead of ladies in expensive clothes, interested in advertising their song choices or ipod ownership.

TWO!

On multiple occasions, I've had the dubious fortune of being passed on the sidewalks of Santa Monica Blvd. by an old guy in a flannel shirt on a Rascal. As he passes you, or anyone else on the sidewalk, no matter how close of a pass it is, he shouts "Outta the way, asshole!" Everyone he passes gets their own yell, so one mightn't take it as personally as it seems at first. Also, he has a blue parrot on his shoulder. A real live bird that looks at you, but does not - so far as I know - shout 'asshole!' at strangers. Yet.

THREE!

Walking into the Best Buy today (I'm determined, see?), a comedian stopped me and said hello. Truly unnecessary, since I didn't spot him at first, but very cool, and good for one's ego.

FOUR!

Apparently, someone's been murdered somewhere around here lately. There are signs on lampposts and such, offering a $57k reward for information on the murderer. It was an older gentleman, out for his 'nightly walk,' and apparently stabbed to death. That part's sad, but not strikingly unusual. The unusual, bastardly thing is that someone's going around sticking up self-defense class advertisements next to the reward posters.

FIVE!

And back to antagonistic traffic, last week walking back from Trader Joe's, a motorist was upset that he could not turn right because the car in front of him was not willing to mow down pedestrians in the crosswalk. He honked his horn. "Beep!" I said. He honked more. "Beep! Beep beep," I said. After the third such exchange it became clear that his window was down, that he could hear me clearly, and that he was now not-turning-right even though the way was clear because he was very pointedly honking at me. I didn't stop though, already having gotten this far. I didn't look at him either, but I smiled more. Russell assures me this is the course of action you want to take with someone you've placed into that kind of losing situation. And it didn't get me shot this time!

One, two, three, four, five, SIX! That's enough of that for a while. Typing hurts.

Burgle updates...

So today I cleaned out the car, tried to look for anything else that might be amiss. I think, unless I'm just really disorganized or misplaced it while moving (totally possible), the burglar may have taken my camera tripod as well. I got it from Best Buy in Connecticut, so it wasn't too fancy, but it was still pretty good. I think it was in the back seat behind the driver seat, under the extension cord that wasn't taken.

In the front was where the bonus trash was left.

So I cleaned out the wrappers and a bunch of trash that was genuinely mine (and not stolen!), including napkins, receipts, and 35 parking stubs. One item stood out.

Later:

I don't know how you make this mistake. There's the speculation (by ME!) that the burglar was spooked and left in a hurry, hence not taking / finding the paper money, and leaving the trash.....

The back has been sanded or something - it makes for a nice 'brushed metal' look that I would actually prefer to a bunch of smudgy fingerprints (MY ipod is backed with gaff tape). It also makes good on removing the serial number.

It didn't turn on. I thought perhaps it was also trash then. But, the burglar did unplug my ipod charger and leave it behind....

It works! We'll see if it holds a charge - it's completely empty, and based on the language select, probably JUST had a factory reset done. It's obviously stolen. Is it mine now? Karmic compensation? Where do you even take a stray ipod? I thought there was a to-do a while ago about how apple doesn't care because they want you to buy more, and like I say, the serial's gone...hm.

Also, I just found out that the movie really is called "Step Up 2: The Streets," which is how I'd been referring to it ironically, as though it were really called "Step Up 2 The Streetz!" But my deliberate misunderstanding was founded in genuine misunderstanding, so I got it right. You win some you lose some, right there.