Greetings all, As we sit in our respective caves preparing to get ready to party like it's 1999, I'm going to launch my initial assault on the Sinister list. I initially thought it was a little snooty to tell newbies to study up for a week or more before posting some inane question. After I decided to stay and find out just what kind of elitist jerks resided on this list, I learned to love each and every one of you, and glad I waited more than a week before posting. I had the worst Christmas ever, there was a huge bombshell dropped during dinner with my Dad and his soon to be third ex-wife about some shenanigans going on with him and my ex-girlfriend. What ?!?!?!? Anyway.... I was feeling incredibly miserable the day after, like I didn't have a friend in the world, completely betrayed by everyone I had ever known. I even went to the rehearsal space with a friend and played some really obnoxious Faces covers, which didn't help a lick. I had a solitary dinner of Pad Thai and Tom Ga soup in Chinatown, then decided to go drown my sorrows under the stacks in the local record shop. After looking at every single record in the bins,and deciding to leave the store with more than a few of them, I made my way to the counter to be rung up. There was this couple that were a little too cute for my liking there, not being in any sort of mood for cute couples at this particular juncture. All of a sudden I was being punched on the arm by the girl, who was way too cute, asking me what I was getting. This complete stranger was showing me more love than I had ever known, just with a simple punch. I shared my purchases and she reacted to the ones she liked by punching my arm. We both agreed that the Rolling Stones' Sway is one of their best. She then asked the clerk if they had any of the Belle and Sebastian EPs. It was then that the ball really got rolling, and she, the boy with her, and I had a great chat about B&S, the show in Boston that none of us got to see, and just became great friends for about three minutes, and then they were gone. Even though it was so short lived, it really made my night, and saved me from extreme self-pity, and I was able to return to just a normal dose of self-pity. All because of this little pop band that I've never seen from some place I've never been. It was pretty special. On the subject of discovering, or rediscovering records for the first time; I wished that I had saved a Beatles record for many years from now. I couldn't imagine hearing the White Album or something for the first time again. I think I ruined it by hearing it for the first time when I was six. If I ever have kids I'm going to save some great albums to spring on them just when they think there is nothing left to hear by some particular artists. On the subject of Douglas Coupland, I was really embarrassed to be reading Generation X on the train. I had to put the book in a brown bag. I found Shampoo Planet even more worthless, and the Life after God didn't change my mind at all. I had to cut my losses here, so I didn't read Microserfs or Girlfriend in a Coma. Okay, I hope I didn't make too awful of a first impression. I hope you'll have me back some time. I'm here in Boston in the states, and if there are any of you local feel free to drop me a line, particularly for the New Year. Take Care. Robert Morris winboog@gis.net +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+