About a week ago, I was running late to work, but I needed to stop by somewhere to pick up cereal and milk for breakfast (I eat my breakfast at work, due to my being a big fan of sleeping in as late as it is humanly possible). Since every minute counted, I passed up all supermarkets and Quickimarts that deviated at all from my usual 60-mile journey from home to work, and I went to the BP station right by work, right along the road.
I tend not to go there, because the first time I went in, there was a small fluffy dog (a kickdog, if you will) in there that apparently belonged to the cashier and that wanted to start a torrid love affair with my left leg. Happily the dog was not there this time, and I was able to conduct my search for milk and cereal unmolested.
The milk was easy enough to find - coolers are good navigational aids for that sort of thing - but finding the cereal proved to be problematic. I was about to give up when I found a small selection of cereals on the bottom row of a corner aisle. It was readily apparent that these cereals weren't going to be top-notch quality, as there was not a Kelloggs, Post or GM among them. They weren't even Malt-o-Meal. Instead, they were of a brand I had never seen before, with box art that appeared to have been made in Illustrator by someone with a passing knowledge of the program. I almost conceded defeat and went somewhere else, sealing my tardiness fate, but decided that it couldn't be all that bad and went with the corn flakes.
As it turned out, I still had enough cereal at work to get a decent breakfast, so I didn't discover the horrible truth about my corn flakes until the next morning. My first clue was when I opened the box to find that the "flakes" were, in fact, almost uniformly oval. This was enough to get me to investigate the ingredients. They all seemed to be natural (no sodium benzochloridiferroushydroginate to be found), so that eased my mind, though the "Made in Egypt" below the ingredients kinda uneased it back a bit. Still, how was I to know if I liked it or not it I didn't try it? So I tried it.
The box said it was corn flakes, the ovals in the box had a corn flake color, but they sure didn't taste like corn flakes.
To paraphrase Phoebe on Friends, now I know what evil tastes like.
I got about 3 or 4 bites down and then decided that starving until lunch would be preferable. Happily, a fellow worker let me have some of his Kashi, and all ended well.
And now, here comes the music:
1. "The Red" - Chevelle
2. "Ugly On The Outside" - The Judybats
3. "Throne Room March" - John Williams
4. "Glory" - Liz Phair
***At this point, I changed the sorting from "Time" to "Artist" so that all the Liz Phair and Crowded House and such could be grouped together, and decrease the odds of getting the same artist more than once on a random shuffle.***
5. "Do You Realize" - The Flaming Lips
6. "I Got You" - Split Enz (the proto-Crowded House)
7. "The Old Man Down The Road" - John Fogerty
8. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" - Elvis Presley
9. "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)" - The Flirts
10. "Shock The Monkey" - Peter Gabriel
11. "Canary" - Liz Phair (so much for the re-sorting strategy)
12. "What's Up" - 4 Non-Blondes
13. "Vienna" - Billy Joel
14. "Hey You" - Pink Floyd (in a repeat appearance from last week)
15. "Sadie Hawkins Day" - Mary Prankster
16. "Stand Back" - Stevie Nicks
17. "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone" - The Monkees
18. "Now You're A Man" - DVDA
19. "A Matter of Trust" - Billy Joel
20. "That's Entertainment" - The Jam
21. "The Reflex" - Duran Duran
#3 is the music that was playing at the end of the first Star Wars movie, when Luke and Han (but not Chewie) get their medals. It is also the music that played as the recessional at my wedding. So that song reminds me of two good things now. What's noteworthy about this copy is that it does not go directly into the End Credits music, as it does on the soundtrack. My brother edited the extra music out for a friend for his wedding recessional (the friend that also played the Darth Vader theme for the bridesmaids' processional) so there was a recessional-ready version at my disposal.
There are 382 songs in my iTunes library here, only 18 of which are by Liz Phair. Yet I manage to get at least two Liz Phair songs every time I do this. Go figure. I wouldn't mind so much if I was still into Liz Phair, but I've kinda cooled on her in the decade since I got Exile in Guyville, from which all these songs are coming.
Of course, I didn't complain when Billy Joel came up a second time.
I'd have to say that, overall, this is the best list I've had so far!
3 comments:
How can the people who built the pyramids mess up cornflakes?
I think it's funny that you consider cereal and milk a good breakfast to have at work. I'd go for a muffin and a banana so it would all be disposable.
I like Liz Phair. I recently re-discovered Polyester Bride on an old mix tape (yes - cassette!). Excellent song. : )
Muffins are crumbly and make a mess. My desk is messy enough as it is!
"Polyester Bride" is good. So is "Supernova". And "Why Can't I" is more or less M's and my song. The stuff on Exile in Guyville is all kind of a downer, however. And it's all kinda monotone too. It's not bad - I'm just rarely in the mood for it anymore.
Aliens and wugulars made the Pyramids. Everyone knows that.
Now I have Jukebox playing in my head. I initially thought this was a good thing, but since I can't remember the whole song it may turn to torture soon.
I didn't discover Liz Phair until a couple years ago. I burnt out a bit on the one album I have.
Did the cereal have an expiration date? I always check in convienience stores. The one I used to go to had brand names, but the boxes were all faded from the sun.
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