The world keeps getting smaller

Given the lack of decent radio stations in the LA area (I swear, every frequency is filled, but they’re mostly crap), I find myself occasionally listening to a San Diego station that sometimes comes in clearly. (It’s a step above Star, at least.) It’s about 80-90 miles from here to SD. I was listening to them today, and when the song ended, the DJs came on and announced that they were broadcasting from Disneyland. About 10 miles away. In the other direction.

Current Music: Eh, it would just get stuck in your head.

Does this sound remotely familiar?

alenxa and I were driving back from lunch when something reminded me of David Bowie’s “A Space Oddity.” This in turn reminded me of a previous conversation — with somebody — about a story or story idea I had read or thought of. The key issue here was the repeated “Major Tom” theme. There are at least the two songs, and I recall hearing that there is at least one more somewhere.

Anyway, the story idea was this: suppose there was some seriously traumatic event – maybe not 9/11 level, maybe more like Challenger, or any of several celebrities who died before their time – that everyone knew about, and everyone was affected by. Now suppose that all memories and records of this event disappeared. But it’s still sitting there, in the back of people’s minds, and every once in a while there’s a song, or a TV movie, or something about this event that no one remembers really happened.

Imagine “Candle in the Wind” without Marilyn Monroe, for instance. Or imagine that an early astronaut really did drift off into space to be lost, and no one remembers Major Tom except a few songwriters, and even they don’t realize they’re remembering his story and not making it up.

Has anyone read a story like this? If not, would anyone like to?

Checklist

LiveJournal back up? Check.
Phone line back up? Check.
DSL connection stable? Check.
Fixed Ticketmaster order? Mostly.
Pick up PowerBook? ….

Well, I figured UPS would drop by in the early afternoon, so my original plan was to come home for lunch and hope they showed up while I was here. When the phone crapped out and I needed to schedule an SBC tech to come out, I figured 1-5 was a good idea for the same reason. Of course, UPS got here at 11:30, long before I did. So now I’m trying to arrange to pick it up, but because it’s still in the truck, I have to wait until 8:00 before I can get it.

I’m beginning to think I should have just signed for it, only I didn’t want to leave a $1600 computer sitting outside the front door. I suppose I could still just go in at lunch tomorrow.

Back to Ticketmaster: Aimee Mann concert in Anaheim on June 12. Somehow ended up with tickets to her concert in Atlanta on June 16. Last night they told me my order had gotten switched with someone else’s, but today they said I had confirmed it that way on the website. I suppose it’s possible, since I was rushing through the order the night before the wedding, but still… Atlanta? Anyway, even though they say no refunds or exchanges, they will make exceptions in extreme circumstances (like tickets to the right show on the wrong side of the country!), so I have 10 days to send the wrong tickets back.

Anyway, now that the phone line’s working again, it’s time to head back to work.

Current Mood: 😡frustrated