« April 2006 | Main | March 2007 »

May 30, 2006

The Failure of Shameless Materialism

Dear Craigslist-- You're supposed to be the go-to in the clutch, the site that everyone told me that I should go to when trying to sell my couch. I believed in your prowess, enjoyed reading the Rants n' Raves section, and generally have heard great things about experiences. And I'll admit it--it was partly my fault--I tried to sell a couch on the Friday night before a long weekend, when lots of people aren't in front of their computers and those that are are probably never going to leave and therefore won't be looking at or carrying any couches any time soon. That said, Memorial Day is supposed to be this huge commercial holiday (though of course, it's got that somber tinge to it as well, and such memories should be kept and preserved), when people go out and think about entertaining their friends and family with flamethrower grilling and lawn darts and sprinklers and hot dogs and beer in the sun and...well, you get the idea. The point is, this is when people are often moving into and out of apartments, thinking about new furniture for entertaining, seeing what they can get and what they need. And here, I got a single offer from a person who offered me $100 for it and pick up a day after my must-move-by date and an expression of interest from someone who hasn't replied to my email and both of whose phones have been turned off. If you're telling me that capitalism isn't at least just a bit sick, I'm telling you to think again. Love, Shoe

This was Amusing To Me and New York , and it appeared on May 30, 2006 12:51 PM. | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 25, 2006

Be Careful What You Wish For

Okay, so you know those health quizzes where they talk about stress factors and events contributing to heart attacks? You know: "If you started a new job, add one point. If you had a death in the family, add 3, and 2 more if it was a close relative like a parent, spouse, or child." Right. That kind. Maybe I'm only making one up (because I couldn't find it doing a half-assed Google search for something like that; perhaps typing in "heart attack stressful events death job" isn't enough), but I'm pretty sure that I've seen these, and all I know is that they suggest you limit the number of such events to as few as possible over as long a period of time. Yes, yes, you're not supposed to love, move away from home, work, get married, etc. Then you'll live forever. However, despite no longer being a teenager--and frankly, never having been one of the ones who thought he was invincible or whatever--I do fully recognize my own mortality, and rather than take another vitamin or schedule a prostate exam, I have apparently wholeheartedly embraced the Stressful Events Vortex as though it were a Sunday morning toilet bowl and I was a frat-boy who found a free case of Boone's Farm late on Saturday afternoon. I got myself married to S, who is now S Blue Shoe. Two days before the wedding I was offered a new job, doing music law work for a firm I have always wanted to work for, and then upon returning, the Missus and I packed all of our stuff (okay, our friends Torrie and K, along with some movers packed it all up), and we moved, and then I accepted the job at the end of the last week. If you add that up, that's 3 Major Life-Changing, Personal World-Shattering, Heart Attack-Inducing Events in the space of three weeks. I'll see you when I get out of the ICU next month some time.

This was Law and Love and Musical Musing and New York and Perspective , and it appeared on May 25, 2006 6:51 PM. | Comments (0) | TrackBack