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Sinister: MANCHESTER PICNIC ARRANGEMENTS
by fiona 27 Mar '02

27 Mar '02

hey kids, ok here goes, it looks like we might be blessed with good weather so i have high hopes. times and places are: 1pm-ish piccadilly train station 1:30 / 2pm-ish chorlton green 5:30 / 6pm-ish dry bar, oldham street if anyone has any problems with these times don't email me at this address cos i'm going home for easter weekend, but i can be found at feegrr(a)yahoo.co.uk i'm going to assume everyone has mobile communication, because full directions to chorlton would be too wordy, suffice to say you have to get a bus, but if anyone gets off the train and can't find us give me a ring and i'll talk you through it. my number for any emergencies is 07796 69 20 89. and anyone who is coming to manchester, but can only make it for a a drink before the gig come and meet us in the dry bar (i can also do directions there as well if anyone needs them). so fingers crossed this works and happy easter everybody, love and picnic arrangements, fiona. p.s. anyone who is coming picniccing, don't forget sandwiches and ribena. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Heartbreak B&B.
by snowy . 27 Mar '02

27 Mar '02

Hello everyone. Idleberry's post made me really sad. Mainly because I've recently been going through the same thing. Well, since November, so it's probably about time I snapped out of it really. But I can't. My ex and I have remained close friends. Which is nice but painful at times. Our relationship should never have worked on paper. Different religions, 7 year age gap, different social backgrounds, just 'different' on so many levels. But we just clicked, and it felt so special. Even the most mundane things we did together felt special, and there was nowhere I'd rather have been than with her. She felt (feels) that time is running out for her to settle down and have kids, and that is something she really wants to do. I had thought I definately didn't want any more kids, but started to think differently when I was with her. Then she got an acting job and went away and within 3 weeks that was it. I feel that I've lost my perfect partner. When we see each other we are close and tactile, and I (stupidly) keep thinking this may lead somewhere, even though she is quite clear it won't. So I got another dig in the ribs this morning, with an e-mail making sure I knew the boundaries. I generally take about 2 years out between relationships, and am more than happy to be alone, but something's changed inside me. I think I've had a glimpse of what it's like to have a relationship with a soulmate for the first time in my life. And I've been getting broody again :-0 There's no easy cure for a broken heart. But large quantities of alcohol can ease the pain on a superficial level. Take care xxx _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Re: Sinister: NYC We Will See
by Red Geisha 27 Mar '02

27 Mar '02

Speaking of NYC, a friend and I are travelling there for a girly weekend April 25 - 29. We're going to TisWas, a few acquaintances from Toronto are regulars there. However, are there any other good nights we should look out for. I know all the shopping and can't wait to go to othermusic, it's just the nights that are always iffy. Many thanks! > >So who's going to the New York show on the 5th of May? >Raise your hands. > >-Elsa > _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: My baby left me.
by idleberry 27 Mar '02

27 Mar '02

I've been dumped. On friday, I was dumped. you know I was dumpeda few weeks ago well, this is real dumped, as in, I can't convince him to give me a chance, becuase he won't. I've lost. I think the truth of it is hitting me slowly. Saturday I didn't feel so bad, but as each day has started, my tears have got progressively worse, and my self esteem and ego and pride have crescended to the depths I can't remember. Part of me wants to go to the doctor, and ask for them just to put me away into a little cell for a while with lots of drugs and specialists. But the last time I felt this depressed, I only got through it becuase of my now ex boyfriend, so I think if I went into anywhere, I don't think I'd ever come out, with nobody to love me like he did, and help me. When theres no light, theres no hope. Hes on the list. I told you, no ego, no fries, no self esteem left. The clever girl in me would remain in stone cold silence, maintaining her diginity. She wouldn't have begged him back like I have done, or phone him up every day (well, Suday, Monday Tuesday) to ask why, even though she knows why. She would find a way of getting on with her life. But the clever girl doesn't exist. only the stupid girl, who can't cope with such a problem to solve. I loved him, and I love him, and I miss him, and I feel like someone has pulled my entire body into tiny little peices and is burning each part, bit by bit. There is nobody who can help me at all, bcuase I have spoken to them all, all those I considered who might. I can barey sleep at night. Thats when the pain really strikes. Do you want to know what it feels like? A slow, cruel, evil torture. I can tell myself, and my friends, all day long, that I'm ok, I can tell everyone that. And generally, every day, I am so strong. But at night, I crumble, and I hope for exhaustion to take me quickly into sleep, and I hope to be too tired to dream, becuase I can't escape my dreams and nightmares easily. And when I can't sleep, or when I wake up, like I have done now, thats when the problems are. You know I'm writing this at 5:41am. I wish I could escape it all, escape my feelings. But the last three years have turned me into who I am, how can I escape that? And Mark, he was the love of my life, the only bloke I have ever trully loved, and cherished, and he was my soul mate and my best friend, I don't care if hes reading this, becuase its stuff I told him when we were together anyway. I wanted to propose to him, and I had worked out all the details as well, the ring especially, wwas going to be red gold. he was the only man I ever really trusted, who Icould look at, and feel so complete with, the only person I could be with and not feel inclined to hide up my body in case he saw the wobbly bits or th extra white bits, or the saggy bits, or the hairy bits I hadn't had chance to de-hair. I knew he would never eye up slimmer girls than me, becuase he would look at me, as he drove me around, and I'd see him stealing glimpses, and he'd smile and tell me I was pretty. And all the things we did, and said, and how he would want a hug when I got up out of bed to go to the shower after a lie in. or tickling me. Or calling me a wierdo becuase of the thing I did with my toes and the duvet. Playing his guitar for me. listeing to music together, because I've never met anyone with as much in common as we had, especially music, there was no trying to impress each other, becuase we knew what the other liked, and I knew when it came to music, I could always trust his judgement. And I've lost that. I've lost my soul mate, the man I loved and adored and the man who made me feel complete. Now I feel like every cell has been amputated from my body and scattered, and is being picked at by seagulls. And quite frankly, if I don't ge one chance at sleep, within the next twenty four hours, without the dreams where I'm on the phone trying to call him and beg him to come back to me, then I don't know what to do. People say take it step by step, day by day. Well, I've broken it down even further and am taking it second by second. You know my laptop is covered in splodges of tears right now. I am sitting, in my brothers room, on a dining room chair, with my legs tucked under me and a duvet wrapped around my arms and back and shoulders, wearing a sky blue t shirt with groovy chick on it and matching bottoms in a darker blue. My fringe has parted, and moved into the waves of my hair, so it doesn't look like I have a fringe. my eyes are tiny little pinpricks, surrounded by pink, puffy wet flesh where my tears have been pouring along. its daylight outside, my toes are cold becuase the central heating is yet to come on. I thought the idea was that I'd get better, not worse. but its not happening. I think I'm reversing into hell instead of driving out slowly in first gear. I really need to pass my drivers test, and get my gears sorted out. My hair smells nice, I bought some tony and guy stuff at the weekend from boots on special offer. The shampoo and the conditioner weren't as great as they should be at �4.49, not in comparrison to pantene pro v, but the blow dry stuff was good, and left my hair shiny. and smelly, in a nice hairdresser smelly way. i had to change my password on my e mail accounts after my (now ex) boyfriend cracked them, and read things he shouldn't have. If I had made them harder, perhaps I wouldn't be single. If I had behaved myself in the first place and not gone developing crushes on other people, maybe he wouldn't have found anything to dump me over. Do you think "legalman" was too easy really? Don't even try it- i've changed them now. I didn't mean to have a crush on someone else. It was just someone who was paying me some attention and taking an innocent friendly interest in me, that made me think he was cute, while my boyfriend and I had taken each other for granted, and allowed everything with the exception of sex to go stale. I think last time we had problems in our love life, it was the sex that was first to dive bomb. So I think my method of thinking was: save the sex, and everything else will follow suit. If anyone else is in a rough patch in their relationship- it doesn't work. its so odd, I thought I'd be the strong one out of all of this. but I'm not.I'm making a right pigs ear out of myself, and makin a complete fool of myself too. All the things, all the things I said I wouldn't do, all the things I have done. 23 and I have lost all my dignity, self respect, pride, and any respect I am sure from anyone who ever knew me, becuase i'm not strong, I'm feeling very very weak, and pathetic, and i just want to hibernate until all my feelings have washed out of my system. There is nothing left of me not really, except for the following: two eyes (severe water damage) mouth (in desperate need of a little tlc) two saggy breasts (too much chocolate) two legs (may need to be trimmed- sightly overgrown hair thing going on) two lungs (functioning- but have been juttering for the past few days, on account of crying and the convulsions of sobs) one heart (broken beyond repair- irreplaceable) liver (alcohol free for five days) hair (thick, dark, glossy, manageable, shiny, looking great.) All available on a second hand rate. its 6:10 am. I've had about an hours sleep all night. I might wander out to the shop in a bit. if only I knew what to do now, and how to cope. I just wish he hadn't phoned me back after being a drunken idiot- I was doing so well when i could blame him. Instead, now he is being reasonable, I'm adapting the role of the idiot and my feelings are all over the place. must think: cool ice maiden... cool ice maiden.... cool ice maiden... not : ice cream guzzling incoherent blubbing emotional wreck Bridget Jones style loser. walkies. LATERS Idles (and her duvet) xxx ===== http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/corduroysmoke and the world did get covered in a thick haze of corduroy smoke. And it felt good. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards� http://movies.yahoo.com/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: NYC We Will See
by Tsong 27 Mar '02

27 Mar '02

So who's going to the New York show on the 5th of May? Raise your hands. -Elsa +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Lille or Paris activities?
by Nick Davis 27 Mar '02

27 Mar '02

Will anybody be attending the Lille and/or Paris shows? I'll be visiting from San Francisco and most likely quite lonely. Also, does anyone have any information on the two venues, the Aeronef in Lille and the Grand Rex in Paris? My french is tres mal. Oh, this is my first post, hi, I'm Nick. Nick __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards� http://movies.yahoo.com/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: IKEA, Volvo, Saab, and The International Noise Conspiracy
by Tsong 27 Mar '02

27 Mar '02

Thanks for all of you who so warmly welcomed me. Today was the first time I've gotten this many replies... I've also learnt quite a few things about some of you... Many of you asked me about my "deal" with wanting to go to Sweden. I dunno... I guess because the place is so BEAUTIFUL? The boring Jersey landscape of Turnpike highways, factories, and pharmaceuticals cannot possibly compare to the snow, the water and tons of natural goodies of Sweden. The food is excellent and the people are friendly (at least those I met there). I especially miss the kind of cheese that comes in a tube and has something to do with shrimp. I'm not vegan, by the way... Anyways you can't find it here in Jersey, not even in IKEA. The second time I went was for the Midsommar. It was crazy. The sun was just up forever and people were just insanely drunk and happy. I loved it. So there, that's the deal with me and Sweden. Does anyone think the same thing as I do? -Elsa +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Dirty Dream #3
by Fernando Brito 27 Mar '02

27 Mar '02

(I bet someone else used this subject first!) Hello, Sinister! Hope everything is alright! Last Saturday I went to this shopping center in the downtown area, the so called Rock Gallery. This is a very famous place here, some people say it's the largest agglomeration of rock'n roll related shops in the planet. There are lots of CD shops, tattoo studios, etc, etc... whatever you can imagine as related to rock music, you will find it there! But it's more a place for heavy metal, hardcore and gothic fans, there's nothing related to indie music. I went there just to buy a pair of shoes, but what I was really looking for was a few meters away, in another music mall, and this other one does have an indie section! And guess what I was looking for? And found it! Belle and Sebastian Live at Free Jazz Festival! The audio record of the happiest day of my life! And... it sucks!! It was recorded from the audience, the sound quality is horrible! It only works as a souvenir from that day, along with my SM autograph. My SM autograph reminds me the story that Astrid told us about her party with the band... GRRR!!!! Isn't anybody else as jealous of her as I am?! All I have to remember from the day I met Stuart Murdoch was that I was fighting with other 20 guys trying to get his autograph! And it wasn't necessarily a fair fight, it was push and pull and punch and bite and kick... more or less like those cartoon fights! And when I finally reached Stuart I couldn't see him because of that huge crowd! And I felt that someone was trying to take my ticket from my hand! I was getting furious, I was thinking that when I finally got to get near him my only paper to the autograph (the ticket) would be stolen! Eventually I could see who was trying to steal my ticket.... it was Stuart himself! He was looking at me with a very angry aspect like saying "Hey! If you don't give me that bloody paper you'll get no fucking autograph!!". I felt so embarassed, I just grinned and let him take it... and I was so ashamed I couldn't even talk to him. So all I said was "You're great, man, you're great!". He looked at me and grinned back, and I just turned around and let another guy take my place... What a shame! What a shame!! Anyway... Last night I had the oddest dream of my life! My dreams are always so boring, nothing really happens, it's just like someone sitting on a chair, someone saying "Hi"... nothing more complicated or sophisticated. But this dream... I woke up in the midle of this street, with lots of people passing by, some staring at me... I was dressed with only a t-shirt and my underpants. Then I saw myself taking breakfast on the hood of a Brasilia (a very old brazilian car) that was parked at the sidewalk, it was like the car's hood was a table, and I was there, eating half naked, in the middle of the street! After my breakfast I walked home, which was right in front of the car. My house was crowded with college students, and I had to ask them to leave because I didn't know them at all! People that I've never met in my whole life were using my house to hang out, like it was a park or something! So whilst I was walking in the house I had to keep saying "Could you please?", "Please?", pointing my house's gate and asking them to leave. This part is quite interesting, when I think that I would love to (be able to) make new friends and that I don't have anybody I can really call a "friend". But instead of calling them to have a beer or a cup of tea (not really!), I simply expelled them! Then I walked around my house, maybe I was checking if there was anybody else there. But all I found was a very old doll without its head, lying on the grass. And when I found it my dream was over, I woke up, had a laugh and returned to my sleep. Everything in my dream was in grey tonalities, my whole dream was in black and white, but I'm sure the old car was red or orange. But there are no red Brasilias as far as I can remember... Now, Mable! So you were on the tube looking at a B&S CD cover?! Did you know that this is the magic pose you use whenever you want someone to fall in love with you?! I wish I could take my B&S CDs to the clubs & pubs where I hang out, these places are full of cute girls and I'm sure they'd love to talk, kiss, whatever, with a B&S fan!! But it would be kinda weird, you know, take my own CDs to a discotheque! Now, guys, listen carefully and please do not tell this to anybody else that's not a Sinister: A Belle and Sebastian CD is like a puppy, girls love it!!! But be careful when you make your looking-at-a-B&S-CD-cover-pose when the CD you're looking at is "I'm Waking Up To Us", this can be really dangerous! It's is like going out with a basket of puppies or... I don't know what else can be that seductive! Be ready to say "no" to priests, nuns, nazis... all these people will fall in love with you as soon as they see you, in your irresistible pose, holding the most powerful aphrodisiac ever invented! OK... I think that's too much BS (aha!) for only one post, I'll save some for the next one! Kisses and Hugs! Fernando Brito +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: I know where the summer goes! ( ég veit hvert sumarið fer)
by Guðmundur Jóhannsson 27 Mar '02

27 Mar '02

Hello all! I need to get this load of my shoulders! Two weeks ago I went on my first B&S concert in Copenhagen. I made a five day trip out of it and I went with two of my best friends. We stayed at our friends house in Copenhages where they are studying. This trip was the best ever. A lot of beer, talking and just generally hanging out in a beautiful city made the trip better then i imagined. On sunday reality finally caught up with me. I was finally gonna see my favorite band in the whole wide world. Of all the bands i listen to (Sigur Rós,Grandaddy,Travis,Blonde Redhead,Tenacious D, Turin Brakes, etc etc etc) I adore and listen mostly to B&S. After the concert I didnt know really what to make out of it. now 2 weeks later it really hit me. The concert was exactly how I imagine heaven to be. Isobel sings like an angel. Stuart is GOD and he keeps everything together. I have been listening to the songs they played that night and I am just now just understanding it all. This was by a far the best experience I have lived! Sorry if the rant is out of context. I aint that used to write gibberish in English but if you lot would understand Icelandic I could say more and tell you about the concert better. Are there any Icelanders on this list?? Please contacty me if there are. best of luck to you all! GJ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: It's a good day for flying
by KevShindig＠aol.com 26 Mar '02

26 Mar '02

I never knew going to a travel agency would be so heartbreaking. Once I decided I was going to fly to Atlanta to see Belle and Sebastian, I needed to set everything into place as quickly as possible, before logic set in. "At the first travel agency I see", I told myself, "I am buying plane tickets." Cambridge Travel resides in a little dais-like mall area in Porter Square, the same building that houses my favorite burrito stand. Actually, I'm kind of pissed at the burrito stand - they used to play jaunty Mexican renditions of popular light-rock tunes, but about two weeks ago they switched to playing the actual light-rock songs, in English. I don't know about you, but I'd rather hear a Mariachi version of "The Wind Beneath My Wings" over the Bette Midler version. The last time I was there they were playing the aforementioned Bette Midler version and it took everything in my power to not turn to the guy behind me in line and me and exclaim, "Hey, do you know what this song makes me think of? High school graduations!" with fake over-earnestness. In retrospect, I should have done it. Boston is the most unfriendly place I've ever been to, let alone lived in, and I have to keep myself amused somehow. Oh yeah, Cambridge Travel. I don't want to use the word "ramshackle", at least not in a sentence, but there was a general feeling of disarray to the place. I had read somewhere, I think, that the whole business of being a travel agent was on its way out due to the internet, and airlines cutting costs. I was the only customer, and I looked a bit ramshackle myself. Besides, they were playing jaunty Chinese-language versions of popular light-rock hits. A good omen. My new travel agent, a middle aged woman of Asian descent, and I sat across from each other at a desk, and proceeded to hash out the details of my trip. I wanted to leave on a Monday, I said, and return either the next day or possibly on Wednesday. She asked me if it was a business trip, while staring at my black t-shirt for the punk band DOOM which says, I kid you not, "Making Punk A Threat Again!" on it. (digression : many moons ago, I would work Sundays at a record store in Providence, Rhode Island called Fast Forward so the owners, Ron and Judy, could have a day off. Ron and Judy used to pay me in merchandise, which was fine because I would just spend the money on records anyway. I was picking out twenty dollars worth of stuff one day, and after grabbing the used copy of "Snowball" by the Field Mice I picked out the DOOM t-shirt, because if they were Making Punk a Threat Again I wanted to be on their side. This was seven years ago, and Fast Forward is no more, but I still sometimes wear the t-shirt while listening to "Snowball") "No", I told her, "I'm going to see a band." This amused her, I could tell, as she started to figure out prices for tickets, muttering, "You must really like band..." Her quotes were about a hundred dollars over what I was expecting to pay, from checking out prices on The Internet, so I asked her to check some other airlines, and it was all roughly the same amount of money. And the travel agent told me that the airlines have stopped giving them commission, and she seemed to be resigned to losing another customer because of this, and the whole thing was just impossibly sad. A Cantonese version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart", playing in the background, only heightened things. I suppose it was a combination of guilt and altruism (guilt mostly) that spurred me to buy the damn plane tickets anyway. Hell, it's a Belle and Sebastian tour, and I want to see them as many times as possible. And I already bought the show tickets, and I want to see my friend Noah in Atlanta and drink coffee until five in the morning with him and talk about old soul records like we used to do before he moved. The travel agent seemed really cheered by this, and said "Thank you so much!" a couple of times, and my head filled with images of her returning to her forty-seven children that night, declaring, "Tonight we dine like kings!" while brandishing the credit card receipt from our transaction. She shook my hand and gave me my plane ticket. I left quickly, before one of us started crying. Kevin +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. 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