fees suck

i caved. i bought Belle and Sebastian tickets just a while ago through the price-gouging ticketmaster. on top of the $30 ticket, there is a convenience fee of $7.50 PER ticket. can you believe that?? that's like a 25% tax. obsurd. the only other way to obtain tickets to the show is at the box office of another music venue, The Independent, which operates m-f, 11am-6pm. it's cash only and a $1 charge per ticket. i'd save $13. on tuesday with the help of cary, i scramble to get cash after work and rush there before 6pm. guess what? NO TICKETS, says the girl nonchalantly. what?!? she calls someone. WE'LL GET MORE TOMORROW. she shrugs her shoulders with disinterest. i was irked. other people out of desperation like me will eventually, though grudgingly, shell out that extra 15 bucks. so finally, afraid the show will sell out soon, i did the ticketmaster thing. BAH!

grassy glassy fillmore

(top picture) kemo sabe plays the fillmore lounge. the hippies and stoners loved them. the aroma of marajuana was omnipresent. i was not particularly fond of the main attraction: railroad earth. cary's friend casey and i were scornfully shushed by a rotund, ardent railroad earth devotee.

F*&#King shit

my wallet was pilfered on a crowded 22-fillmore bus this saturday afternoon. i felt suspicious about the man standing close behind me and shifted about. my senses were seconds too slow. by the time i thought i heard velcro being slowly pried open and swung my bad around, my wallet was gone. the thief disembarked. the spot where my wallet sat still held its former shape, now vacant. tachycardia set in. i announced to cary my wallet was gone, stolen. we got off the bus. the guy was no where to be seen. certainly, my story is not unique, but when it happens to you it just really sucks. dread and panic momentarily set in, and you just want to scream WHY ME? WTF!! and other profanities. GRRR

well, it's back to drawing the brain. i have a deadline tomorrow for the parkinson disease booklet. i love to procrastinate.

(NOT MY) new year resolutions

*the BART fare goes up, yet again- a 3.7% hike to be exact. plus, they've reduced trains going toward SFO/Milbrae (the one i take to work).
*postage rates are increasing effective this sunday. this includes a 2 cent increase on regular 1st class mail to 39 cents and a 1 cent increase on postcards. for people like me who still write letters and postcards via snail mail and refuse to pay certain bills through the internet, this increase is rather irksome.
*the damn government just extended the patriot act for another month, despite the previous block against renewing its wicked provisions by the senate 3 weeks ago. i'm sure the prez will be working furiously this month to try and get this invasive act indoctrinated into law permanently.

random reflections, non sequiturs

i was hoping for a more favorable start to the new year. unfortunately we've been challenged by inauspicious deluge in the bay area and massive fires in texas and oklahoma. also, a string of bombings greeted the new year in iraq.
my parents' visit last week was met with rain off and on. we spent two nights in napa county at a quiet refuge called mountain home ranch. we couldnt fully enjoy the 300 acre of land and its offerings because of the constant downpours. nonetheless, it's a wonderful place. we also drove though parts of napa and sonoma, which became very flooded this weekend as 2005 came to an end.
i'm not one to every make definitive new year resolutions. i know people who actually make a list or wait for the year's end to stop some bad habit, like smoking or nail biting. i tend to just make mental notes and goals throughout the year, regardless of it being a new year or not.
this year i seemed to notice more personal tragedies, but maybe that's because i am more cognizant of current events nowadays. tragedies occur daily-some greater than others. recently i interviewed at the berkeley free clinic to be trained as a lay medic. one of the questions asked how i dealt with stress and calcamties. i had cited the illness and eventual death of my mother earlier as the most difficult obstacle for me to date. i think i answered that realizing there are other people suffering more than i puts things in perspective. it helps you move on and be less self-piteous. granted, one has the right to grieve; one's experience of a personal tragedy is unique to that individual. still, one has to consider others' suffering, too. i don't think the empty feeling will ever go away. people die daily, and someone will be affected by that death. we will all experience some horrible thing, and hopefully will find a way to not drown ourselves in it.