The end of an era, good news at work (of all kinds) and bees suck.

[gridlore]

When I was a kid, there was one real record store. Tower. It was the place to get your tunes. The staff were always cool (and extremely knowledgeable), the bins always full, and if the watered-down domestic release wasn't what you wanted, check out the import isle for that UK or Japanese pressing.

Yes, I'm talking records. Stacks o'Wax. Tapes were in their own room.

Next door was Posters and Plants, which sold.. well, posters and plants. And all the accessories you needed in the late seventies and early eighties. (For use with tobacco ONLY!) Black lights, grow lights, bongs.. the good stuff. Inside P&P was the Bass/Ticketron counter, where you got your Day on the Green tickets.

Now Tower is going out of business, another victim of changing markets and trends. I know this is like complaining that you can't get a good buggy whip anymore, but I recall going in to Tower and asking for Iron Maiden's Killers and immediately being told "dude, you need to get the import!" When I went into our local megabook&music emporium looking for Maiden's latest, the staff wasn't aware that metal still existed as a genre.

What brought this up was we went shopping today. The reason we could afford to spend some fun money is that I, and everyone else at Lord & Sons, got a $300 bonus on this paycheck. End of fiscal year was very, very good to us! So I picked up some Maiden and Dead (geez, my musical tastes are diverse weird) and grabbed the D&D3.5 PHB and Complete Mage.

I need these, since for the first time in years I'm playing in a game. Not running a game, but playing in one.

In other news, I had a brief email exchange with Steve Jackson (they're changing their system of handling author accounts, and he needed to know something.) I briefly mentioned my concept for the Concordat, and he seemed receptive. I've signed up for NaNoWriMo (I'm gridlore there, too) to track progress.

Finally, today I had a new experience. I got stung by a bee. Yes, forty years on this Earth, and while I have been attacked by fire ants, bitten by a black widow, and found scorpions in my boots, this was the first time a bee had ever stung me. Damn thing flew right into my truck while I was driving, hit my arm at the elbow and got her last revenge on the master species.

Sucker fucking hurt. But I didn't drop dead/swell up/turn into the Amazing Bee-Man so I guess I'm not allergic.

Comments

[slrose.livejournal.com]

With insect sting allergies, they get progressively worse.

So you probably won't know until NEXT time you get stung, if you're allergic. But if you have allergies, it is something to keep in mind.

I've only been stung once -- and I want to prevent another one as long as possible.

[khaybee.livejournal.com]

The thing with bee stings is that the first one is free. Next time you find out if you're allergic. It depends on what your anti-bodies are doing now.

[rboleyn.livejournal.com]

Or whether you're not allergic. If you're not, sometimes the each sting has less and less effect until the poison does just about nothing. Despite being severely allergic to many pollens, I'm not allergic to bee stings, which is just as well, as I managed to get stung about a dozen times at once as a kid because I ran across a paddock full of flowering pennyroyal, complete with bees after the nectar.

[silverstorm2013.livejournal.com]

>I know this is like complaining that you can't get a good buggy whip anymore,

I know a fue places where you can still get a good buggy whip :-)