Clocks and Maps

Just got back from a birthday party for my friends' four-year-old daughter. It was most festive.

I went to the party almost directly from the funeral for my neighbor across the street. He was a nice guy, sturdy, foursquare, active in the community and in his congregation, a retired teacher, father of two, grandfather of four, enthusiastic gardener. We didn't talk much, except to wave to each other sometimes as we worked in our yards. He did come over to congratulate me on the capture and relocation of the groundhog that had been menacing our neighborhood last year. I confided in him that I feared that I had only captured a groundhog, not the groundhog, and soon an army of relatives and offspring would descend on me and seek bloody retribution. That never happened.

I was originally going to go straight to my friends' place in my funeral duds, but then I thought better of it and decided to at least swap my dress shoes for sneakers. Then I decided to replace my black dress pants with jeans, but inexplicably decided to retain the black suspenders, which I thought in combination with the white button-down Oxford shirt really made the outfit. I wisely chose to leave the tie at home, as ties are fragile things, and difficult to clean.

So naturally, I managed to spill red wine all over my shirt. I was very upset about this. I mean, I was drinking that wine. And I had wasted some of it.

(Now, rumor has it that there may be a photo of me dozing while sitting on a couch in my suspenders and wine-stained shirt watching Barbie: Mariposa* with the birthday girl, who had decided to come over to me from her couch on the other side of the room and put her princess tiara on my head, but I summarily deny the existence of any such photos.**)

Anyway. I'm rambling. Funny story: I was in a supermarket last night and all the songs on the Muzak seemed aimed at my demographic specifically. I heard Coldplay's Clocks and U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. OK, that story's not that funny, at least not as funny as the time someone managed to play Radiohead's Hail to the Thief in its entirety over the Muzak system while I was there. Clocks used to be my wakeup music, and I looked the song up on YouTube when I got home just to get the instant fix of hearing it right away. Here it is:


Looking up this song while preparing this post put me in mind of another song: Maps by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. At this moment the only version of this video I can find on YouTube is an official Universal posting, which is non-embeddable. It's a good song and an OK video. If you'd like, you can check it out here.

*A movie that contains at least one Midnight Cowboy reference. As the butterfly fairy Mariposa heads to work, she is nearly struck by heavy commuter cross-traffic and yells "Hey! I'm flyin' here!" I laughed.

**Of course I was able to get the wine out. Spray 'N Wash and lukewarm water appear to have done the trick, though I won't know for sure until I have washed and dried the shirt. I was afraid hot water would set the stain, as is the case with blood, which is to be treated with Ivory soap and cold water. Ink and Sharpie marker stains are treated by pouring alcohol through the fabric from the side opposite the stain, and using scrap cloth, a paper towel, cotton balls, or some other blotting material to absorb the ink as it floods out. Spray 'N Wash is effective on grease, though it may fade the fabric colors somewhat. Hey, I stain my clothes a lot, and I get my own stains out.