Mezzanine

10/19/2009

UVA

I feel like I'm at UVA at a party. I'm sitting on a kitchen counter talking to a hot girl about music. She says she's got some files I should look at on her laptop. I asked if they're files to use as loops in music creation software like Frooty Loops or Cakewalk. She is absolutely amazed that I know about these programs. I tell her music's my thing, I even used to be a DJ for a year at the local lesbian bar. As she's getting her laptop out to pull up the files, someone comes up to me who recognizes me. I'm talking to them and I glance at the hot girl's computer screen... it's scrolling through all sorts of porn pictures. In order not to embarrass her, I continue talking to whoever it was that came up to me.

Then I'm outside walking around the campus and it's snowing out. I lay down in the snow and say out loud, though to no one in particular, "It's so beautiful out here... I wish I had known how my life would turn out by going to VCU. I wish someone would have told me. If I'd have gotten better grades in high school, I could have come here."

Then Jamie Nelder, one of my sorority sisters, comes up to me and asks me if I got her paperwork to fill out in the mail. (Random!)

Blockbuster

I walk into a Blockbuster and I feel like I'm in Buffalo, NY. (I was watching the Bills/Jets game last night. Plus, I had just gone into a Blockbuster for the first time in a long time a couple of days ago and rented the first season of the L word... 4 discs total.) Half of the store is inside, half is outside. Instead of the category toppers on the shelves like Romance, Comedy, etc, are street names from Richmond. Staples Mill and Park come to mind. I see Chris Lennon again, the guy from a week ago who I dreamed had a sex change. I told him, I thought he said he lived in Richmond, what's he doing in NY? He said he does live in Richmond, look at the signs, he lives right down the block.

Then I'm in line with my movies and I'm with my dad all of a sudden. He rented some video games and I don't know what I got. The total comes to about $200. I'm flipping out. They said it was late charges. I said, "no way, I returned my movies, all four of them, I'll even go get them off the shelf if you want me to." So a manager comes up after two other people come and try to straighten this out. My dad said he'll pay $26 but no more than that. I'm crying by this point. I'm yelling "Do you think I'm stupid?!? I'm so smart, you don't even know." At this, the manager shakes his head yes and I get so offended by this, I don't know, I think he's mocking me or something. So I said "Fuck this!" and storm out the door.

Now I'm in New Mexico. I call information and am immediately connected to Blockbuster Headquarters. I ask for the district manager who manages the Carytown Blockbuster location. I remember thinking, I wonder if it's still Randy Stultz, who was in reality my district manager from PacSun. I find a restaurant and walk up these wooden stairs to the balcony so I can get some privacy while I'm on this phone call. But no one answers, I don't even get voicemail. I walk back down the stairs and find my dad in the middle of the plaza by a water fountain waiting for me. We walk into a shop selling jewelry and he asks someone where we are. I look at some business cards on the display case and it said some city name, NM.

Express

All I remember is being a manager of Express and setting up a window display and looking across the walkway to see the store across from me blow up.