Me and My Tapeworm

Faced with no real plans for the afternoon, and determined to get out of the Eeyore mode I’ve found myself in the last day or two, I decided to finally take care of an errand I’ve been avoiding for about a week and went to buy a mouse (I spilled water on my track bad a while a go, and while it’s still technically functional, the right click function occurs on a left click on my desktop, and not at all most other places, a small nuisance which prevents me somehow from dragging text and files, opening attachments or using gmail). The electronics market is near Wensan Rd, an area I’d been meaning to explore more, so I filled my bag with books, maps and busywork and took the bus across town. The electronics market was certainly no Best Buy; two flors of booths crammed with mp3 players, cameras, computers, cell phones and all of the accoutrements that come with them. One of my teachers had helpfully told me the word for mouse (NOT the word for the animal) and told me the approximate price of a bottom-line one. I dispatched the errand without too much trouble, though I of course just bought the first decent one I found. It was a bit overwhelming and I am happy with my purchase, so no matter.

I then set off for a café on a nearby street to kill some time and relax away from campus. This was my first chance to have a relaxing Friday afternoon in a while, and damn it, I was going to make use of it. Unfortunately, I failed to notice that though I was on Wensan Rd (3rd Wen Rd), the place I wanted was not on Wen’er (2nd Wen) Rd, but WEST Wen’er Rd, so I ended up trekking a fair bit across town. It was definitely walkable, and a rather pleasant walk at that, but by the time I arrived I was more than ready to collapse into an armchair on the second floor, order a drink and a sandwich, and not move for a long time.

I spent the next couple of hours working out travel itineraries, reviewing my 1 on 1 a bit and reading, while listening to a continuous loop of lounge piano recordings of, among others, “Somewhere Beyond the Sea”, “White Christmas” and another that I couldn’t place but is definitely in at least two Meg Ryan movies. In fact the whole CD may have been “Sounds of Meg Ryan Movies” as I’m pretty sure White Christmas is in Sleepless in Seattle, and Somewhere Beyond the Sea in When Harry Met Sally.

Coffee house music here never fails to amuse. One place had a recording of several Beatles covers, a few sappy 1990s love songs of the Patrick Swayze variety (one really was that song from Ghost with the pottery wheel; can’t place it now, but you know the one), “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” again, but with the lyrics, and a rock version of Auld Lang Syne. Still another had “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” sung in French, as well as several similarly moody selections, but the CD was replaced after only two repetitions by an excellent 80’s mix, every other track featuring Michael Jackson. This is rare; they usually don’t change the CD all day. You can actually measure the time you’ve spent in a café here by how many times the CD repeats.

At least it’s better than the street cleaning trucks that roll through several times a day. From all points on campus you can year the truck ambling past blaring an ice-cream truck medley of Christmas tunes, mostly “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, and one tune that I swear sounds like Scarborough Fair. If you go farther West, it’s Happy Birthday, London Bridge and Brahm’s Lullaby.