Month: November 2008

Random acts of kindness/recognition

Last Thursday, I bought a sandwich in the park. The woman at the kiosk asked if I had one of their “buy 12 sandwiches, the next one is free” cards. I didn’t. She rang up my purchase and punched not one, but four of the holes on the card. “You eat here all the time,” she said. For the record, I don’t. I have been there several times — it’s a couple of blocks from the office, although a little expensive — but not so often that I thought they knew me.

The next morning, on the train, I forgot my ticket. It’s a monthly pass, so of course the only day I forget it is the last day of the month. When I took out my wallet to pay the collector, she said, “But don’t you usually have a ticket? You use it as bookmark. That’s how I remember you.” She let me ride without buying a new ticket. The collector on the evening commute wasn’t so nice.

Kaleidotrope #5 review

Sam Tomaino reviews the 5th issue of Kaleidotrope in this month’s SFRevu:

The new issue of Kaleidotrope, #5, is here with its usual mix of distinctly different stories, all of them worth reading….Kaleidotrope remains a wonderful magazine of varied and interesting stories.

He goes on to discuss each of the stories (though not the poems) in full.

Now if I could just get The Fix to review an issue, too…

Cross-posted to the Kaleidotrope weblog

October songs

Here are the songs I discovered, re-discovered, listened to a lot in October:

  1. “Shake that Devil” by Antony & the Johnsons
  2. “Down in Mexico” by the Coasters
  3. “Season of the Witch” by Richard Thompson
  4. “Jenny Says” by Dash Rip Rock
  5. “All My Little Words” by the Magnetic Fields
  6. “Color of Your Blues” by Money Mark
  7. “The Point of it All” by Amanda Palmer
  8. “You Don’t Know Me” by Ben Folds (feat. Regina Spektor)
  9. “Coma Girl” by Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
  10. “Circus Fish” by Vermillion Lies
  11. “Pouplar” by Kristen Chenoweth
  12. “Disarm” by Amie Miriello
  13. “Never Quit Loving You” by Jill Barber
  14. “Hollow” by Heather Nova
  15. “Just What I Needed” by Kate McGarry
  16. “At this Moment” by Billy Vera & the Beaters
  17. “In Liverpool” by Suzanne Vega
  18. “Immortal” by Winterpills
  19. “It Was a Rose” by Dead Confederate
  20. “The Sun Will Set” by Bombazine Black
  21. “Guitar Hero” by Amanda Palmer

Though I don’t expect any takers — there haven’t been any so far, save one — I’m always up for mix CD trades.