Oh My God!!! A VirginWhy yes, there are a lot of things that many americans take for granted that I have never done.
Well
madmerle decided that as a part of our grief management system, that she would take me out to a coldplay concert. Since it would get her some 'beach time' - and as my step mother is want to say, I am a 'safe date'. Needless to say, as those who know me, there are certain security issues that complicate these sorts of things.As we drove towards it, I was pleased to notice that the SJ Police Force was out sorting out directions. But let us be honest, the HP Pavilion is a reasonably obvious target! As we got closer I noticed that there were no crash barriers. There was no anti-aircraft positions. No Anti-Tank Positions, not even a strand of concertina wire! I Mean Holy Flying Wombats of Cleaveland!!! Here we are four plus years into the War On The Tyranny Of Literacy and there are still no defenses in place to protect americans from the ever lurking presence of the evil doing evil doers!
There is the small social positive I have begun to enjoy about california's anti-tobacco usage stance. It offers some of us a socially acceptable method by which we can case a facility to resolve which of the egressways will be more viable, without emotionally traumatizing the walking dead who have not taken the time to notice how expose the position is to even the modestly inclined attack by Godzilla or any of the lesser All Monsters Everywhere! But ruth understands that some of us have these issues.
She bought lovely seats, as far as I was concerned, on the second deck. She of course was concerned, when she noticed that my seat - #1 in the row - had the grating up in front of it, since that meant that I would be watching the concert through a safety grill! Then she laughed and noticed, 'way too drieuxish' a place. She was also polite enough to bring along aural protective gear ( ear plugs for the peasantry ) so that the excess Db's associated with contemporary america bashing heathen apostate cult ritualisms would not expand on the general case of tintunitus I suffer from.
Fionna Apple opened for the band. She of course did a good joke about how when she was changing positions, this time she didn't fall down in the dark. I will confess that prior to the concert all I knew of her was the hoopla over Criminal that seems to have confused way too many sick and perverted persons who did not notice it's opening stanza
I’ve been a bad bad girl,Which is a topic of discussion for another time. But clearly Nice Young Republican Girls should NOT be careless with a delicate man.
I’ve been careless with a delicate man.
And it’s a sad sad world,
When a girl can break a boy
Just because she can.
Just not proper.
As the roadies started to change the set up, Ruth and I chatted. She watched me continue my sweep as the house lights came up. She also understands that I feel safer when I am working. It is easier for me to cope in these sorts of cases, because, well, It's NOT the tonnage that is required, but the correct count of beams that need to be cut to bring a building down. What can I say... If you have never moved a 'package' you may not understand that some things never change - and it is easier for me to deal with these things by knowing that I signed her out, I will sign her back in. Ok, so I try not to laugh at the rental security units, since, well, yes, some of them do ALERT on my behavior, in the words of Radar O'Reily from the movie M*A*S*H
Their Ringer Spotted Our Ringerand in the time before the play acting about national security, we use to be a whole lot mellower about these things. Since we could greet each other with, 'it is a job...' and let it go at that.
I pointed out to Ruth the irony that the sports facilities for football, and the like, were all into this thing about 'pat down' searches - but here they merely scanned the bar code for the ticket, and had not so much as said, "hello, have any metal you wish to pre-declare..."
We talked about my affection for sultry blues, since like so much of life, it is not the years, but the mileage that counts. One of those unpleasantries, again, that comes from having burned up a few more miles than were proper in my youth.
She explained to me the things that I should know about Cold Play. And I laughed at a joke no one else heard.
As she could tell I was mostly calming down, she leaned over and noted that she wanted to share a private assertion, and said, quietly and demuirly,
Warrentless Wiretapand I called her a Hussy!
Ok, so I still do not get the desire to be standing there in front of the decible level normally associated with the main shaft space on a Carrier as it kicks it up to flank speed. But hey, I guess if you have never been down there checking the space, you might never notice the dancability of getting to flank speed... But hey, I guess it takes all types to keep a planet spinning. I do have to say, that clearly some folks like the idea of getting their cheast blown open with arythmic pulses from over driven speakers working hard to blow at least one fuse, if not the substation...
I will say this, now I can associate the music with the band, with a stage performance. An interesting experience.
After the Encore, as the house lights came up, we returned to miscellaneous conversations. I would work the crowd to get her back outside, where I noted,
I hope you don't mind if I have fag while these loonies get over their issues.and she giggled, as we watched the absurdity of it all wandering by. I mean, talk about people with irrational stressors! Not to be impolite or anything, but when debarking two divisions worth of people and vehicles, there is a time that will be required to get the job done! I mean anyone with half a lick of logistics understands that. It is merely an instantiation of queueing theory! I mean, like Duh!
So while we are enjoying the sheer stoopidity of it all, I shared with her the unheard joke.
Here we are, a primary target. I mean how many of these folks can not even remember back to when we accidentally bombed the former Wheelus AFB, and other targets in Libya, because it was easier to attack them, in retaliation for the bombing of a dance club in germany, frequented by american GI's, than to attack the persons responsible for the bombing.... Ah how the silly Pherris Wheel of Kharma keeps on bringing the same songs around on the National Organistrum...So we chatted about the SOP that most of us kept overseas about low profile, and other such technical issues.
When the crowd had dispersed to a level where we would be able to back out and get into the game. She mentioned that she was thinking about getting something to eat, Or Maybe we should go back to my place and play,
National Security Policy Sessionanother reference to an old blog entry. And I was SHOCKED! SHOCKED I tell you!
I mean, you don't see MalePerkin taking NonMalePerkin to primary targetted facilities as a perlude to wanting to take them back to their digs and embark on a Bruttal and Savage Round of
National Security Policy SessionI say SHOCKED! Why can't NonMalePerkin be more Like Proper Young Men!!! All they think about is how to take advantage of naive, innocent, waifly ones from the Midwest...
And we giggled at the sheer silliness of it all. It's the mileage, not the years.
A big shout out goes to James And Gina for the spare Futton Sofa, where I could safely stash her! When she gets Silly Like That. She still giggles at the fact that I blush like a school girl in places she just does not always expect. But I think that is the positive side of these trying days. Most americans are still trying to work out where they want to stand on which ever is the current political posturing about which ever is the More At War Than Ever Before.
And some of us have tossed our quarter into the big national defense kettle, and told them, "call us if you ever decide to throw a real war."
Which leads me to a big shout out to all of the ProWarTypes still hiding in the rear with the beer! It is so relaxing to know how little you really cared when we were manning the rails and keeping the Monsters At Bay. Sorry if we do not get our panties in a wad merely because YOUR TYPE is having issues coping with your deep seated unresolved issues. Which really is a relaxing and enjoyable way to live these days.
Needless to say, yes, a big shout out to the Women who have been willing to help and be supportive, like
madmerle, and be a part of the Staff, doing their part to brief me in on how exactly one 'takes tiger mountain by strategy'. But maybe that is the real problem with our ProWarTypes - they lack the prior military experience, and biblical certainty to understand, In the Abundance Of Counselors A War Is Wagedto step aside from their folly, and rally up a staff of folks who can provide the proper background briefings.
Proverbs 24:6
Our liberal friends talk in terms of 'it takes a village to raise a child', but it also takes a competent council of Kampf to know how to get into the sorts of appropriate situations where reproduction, the old fashion way, would be even a possibbility. Ah yes, the folly of youth, when young men were foolish enough to take their cues and guidances from their contemporaries and persons of their own gender. I should know, I was so much older then, I am younger than that now.
So while I rather doubt that I would take a young lady to a primary targetted facility, left massively exposed as a soft target, by the failures of the National Security Apparatus, to beef up the security complex. It clearly seems a far better option than attending the sort of sporting facility where they are using the excuses of terrorist threat to have their "grope the fans festivals", in the name of national security. I mean if I want to get groped, I clearly do not need to go out to a public sporting event!
Who knows, some day americans may just decide what they are willing to fight for. Who knows, they may even find the courage of their convictions to be willing to openly speak about what they are NOT willing to play act that they are at war for...
But I guess, going to a stadium concert for the first time, like all first times, comes with a whole range of cultural contexts than most folks do not always take the time to fully appreciate.