Bringing the Drama

i am stealing this idea from my friend kari who has originated the idea of writing letters to different people, corporations, and inanimate objects. i hope that my letters can come close to her’s.

–

dear target,
i went looking for matches in your store this evening only to find i was unable to purchase them. i did in fact find the aisles with all of your candle varieties, birthday candles, AND camping gear. none of these areas of the store had them. i also went to the front near the check outs and found several lighters. i just wanted matches. please make them more accessible.

still running out of matches at home,
scott

–

dear people who are new to quizno’s,
most sub places are the same, you step to the end of the line where they make your sandwich, and pay at the other end, the one with the register. the clearly labeled and neoned “ORDER HERE” sign should tell you where to order. please don’t waste time at the end of the line where you pay, and then make people who are behind you in the order line wait while you figure this out.

tired of waiting for people to catch up,
scott

–

dear sara watkins,
i admit, you were once my celebrity crush. i met you after a show in birmingham in september and we talked about music. i offered you my number, but you indirectly refused. i understand, i actually was expecting that, but offered anyway to say i did it. kind of like why people go bungee jumping i would think. i did not purposely move on, but circumstances have proven otherwise. i hope your solo album turns out well, and the final year of nickel creek tours extensively in the south.

still a fan,
scott

–

dear kelly clarkson,
i very much enjoyed your concert over the summer, as did many of my friends. your concert was the most fun show i’ve been to this year, and i have now been to 20 different shows. i don’t think the death cab show next week will be able to overtake your’s. i saw you today on a rerun of a cmt special on reba, and was blown away by your rendition of “why haven’t i heard from you”. please find a way to incorporate that cover into your live show for next summer. you are touring next summer, right? i now have a celebrity crush on you. i hope that’s okay. my friend brandi met you after the cmt special (she works for the reeb), and said you were cool. next time you’re in nashville, y’all should hang out, she’s good people. i’ll be there in the middle of december, so in case you’re going to be recording or something, we could hang out.

hopeful yet realistic,
scott

football is important. going to a football game and being on the losing end makes the rest of your day disappointing. maybe i’m different, but even when i was in school and would go to every game, and when clemson was going 3-8, losses just stung for the whole week. it’s not so much of an effect now, but losses still don’t feel good.

i went up to clemson this weekend to visit with my friend scott, meet his new fiancee, and go to the nc state game. i played some golf too, almost had a hole in one. it was a great weekend. driving during the weekend, and esp on the way home today was like driving through a calender with all the trees having turned fall colors. gorgeous weather for most of the weekend, except for yesterday afternoon. it actually got cloudy and started raining. after the game, we were chilling around my car, drinking beer and discussing theology, when my friend bill and his g/f came up. they had just bought their copies of a new clemson book and showed it to us. it was amazing. after we left the parking lot, we stopped and i bought a copy, even got it signed by one of the authors. it is awesome! i love clemson. even if they allow commercial chains in downtown, even if they build small cities of apartments off campus, even if the window of my first dorm room has been covered by a tree, i will always be glad to go back. i returned from the weekend with a couple of new shirts, a couple of new stadium cups, and a gallon of sweet tea. what up.

back to the post title….the end of the game, nc state is driving. clemson is ahead 20-14. nc state runs this pass play where the qb heaves it towards the end of the end zone hoping the WR can come down with it. less than a minute on the clock, from the 40 or something, and there goes the pass. the WR catches it, but comes down with his foot out of bounds. the ref calls the play out of bounds, they ran another play and got sacked, and the game was over. seeing the replay on the stadium screen was pretty fun. it was SO CLOSE, and the reaction of the people as they watched it and the looks on their faces was priceless. everyone realized we were THAT CLOSE to losing in the final seconds. i’ve been to games like that, i hate games like that. yesterday was not a game like that. and below is how close the play was:

so today being election day and all i found myself looking at news sites. i happened upon this article about a fight that broke out between homeless people and people that wanted to see a girl jump off a building. i found myself laughing at my desk today just picturing this going on. you have the frightened girl wanting to end her life, then you have a group of people who just want to see something outrageous, and then you have some well meaning bums. all combined with a fight between the bums and the people on the ground while the girl is up on the ledge of the building. kind of cartoonish or something.

that reminded me of a story someone had told me a while back. they were driving into work one day and came upon traffic on the high rise in new orleans. the cops had stopped traffic on the three lane each way bridge while they tried to coax a guy from jumping off the top to the water hundreds of feet below. the storyteller recounted how he remembered sitting in traffic, hearing people yelling for the guy to jump, while the police were trying to talk him down. i thought as i heard the story “i’d probably be yelling for him to jump too.” after all, the least the guy could do is not want to jump during rush hour. incidentally, the guy did not jump. i have not been able to verify the authenticity of this story since i can’t remember who told it to me, and it does seem rather like a “fill your city in here” type story, but relatable to the first story nonetheless.

i wrote another article for corner table last night after watching an episode of studio 60. (half of it was written before brandi’s!) some people say they don’t like it because they feel the show is condescending. i tend to disagree, but tonight watching some of the election coverage, i felt i was being talked down to. something about being republican and living in the south, apparently that made me special to some of the commentators. too bad their dialogue is not witty, but at least their only on every couple of years.

so last weekend i wasn’t planning on going to voodoo fest because the free ticket that i was going to get didn’t come through. jacob was going to go though, and get some interviews. saturday morning i awoke around 11 or something, and jacob called to tell me he had a free ticket for me. mute math was playing at 1, so i knew i had to hurry to make it in time. i change clothes and go down to city park, only to hear mute math start up while i’m trying to find a parking spot. thanks show organizers for moving the schedule up 15 minutes! i met up with jacob, walked in through security (do you know they search under your hat now? what are people hiding in there?), and walked straight over to the stage where mute math was playing. i got to see another stellar performance…in the middle of the afternoon. i don’t know how they do it, but they manage to blow minds and amaze every time they step on stage. after their set was over, i decided to head back home. i’d been to voodoo fest three times prior, and this time, standing in the field with a completely free two day pass, i decided to only go for mute math. it was a pretty good feeling, like i was better than everyone else….”i’m so great and such a big deal, i don’t need to be here all day.”

on my way home i drove past one of the levee breaks, so that was pretty sobering to see. i saw a couple of houses that looked still untouched, so that was frustrating. some people were rebuilding their house right next to a house that was untouched. i can’t imagine the aggravation that must cause.

this weekend i played golf and watched football. i also went and saw the fray, which was cool. i just wish they didn’t attract so many drunk woo girls.