(stream of consciousness freeform post, me sitting in my office with music and then… this.)
as bolero plays I am inextricably drawn, no, transported to a transformation, into the dawn of seasons, to spring, to observe the saplings, the probing buds, all the green things, the rise of life from fallow-dead-white fields, months shallow now filled eyes out to the horizon brim, plum blossoms sun-bursting in celestial parades, off carried by a gentle hand – a tender breeze, seed stars dance like human figurines, in this glorious ballroom of renewal, yes, bolero, more so than vivaldi’s reckoning, I do not know why, but that reminds me of spring in full swing, not this, not the uprising whistling just past the thaw, the burgeoning tide of dawn, where bird’s chatter is that much more amplified – melody, more – harmony, epiphany, the perfect score for the painted landscape being re-born, yes, bolero, tickles my ear, punches the ticket when I am on board, elucidates a dreaming dream to sweep away the doldrums of this daily day, for I see snow, and the icy remains, but no, bolero has brought me the inspired warmth of spring – if only for a moment as graces my auditorium.
the howling winds yes, the cliché, like a freight train, but I must say, whoever coined that phrase, was quite correct, I saw the line coming in on radar, somewhere over Dingman’s Ferry just an hour ago, now, as predicted quite sitting, over my homestead, I sat out for a bit, enjoying the sheer raw power wind, found a spot not quite so wet to take it all in, seeing my newly planted bamboo bent and flailing about surely gave me pause, but things and trees have to learn after-all, I did however batten down whatever hatches I could, the reports of 60 miles per hour received and understood – and felt, what few leaves survived the autumn culling will surely not survive the night, and thirties temp in the forecast later certainly have snuffed out any oxygen left in hopeful lungs of summer, or spring, or whenever this began, the holidays and days that never were, the stalking virus seemingly an eraser of time (where did easter, 4th of july or halloween go?), things changed in a blink, kind of standardized but never slowed down, for children I suppose it might be worse, a stolen summer, a time in life never to be realized, how important things like 9th grade or 8th grade seemed, a prom missed, and there were, no second chances there, children have such strict avenues until they are out in the world embarking in their own canoes down that river… the roaring continues, but now rain has come to play, no place safe, well, no place dry to stay, save indoors, so I retreat, still, I open my window just enough, to invite a piece of the tempest thus, the TV is out, all the better, I have power, tough life I have no doubt, I can only imagine the spectacle such a whip coming through caused in a frontier house of old, wind finding every little crevice and racing through infiltrating, gas lit lamps flickering, threatening to go out and bring the dark veil, huddled in a patchwork waiting for the wind to die down, I romanticize this scene, only because secretly I know my modern convenience provides me the protection to watch the beast thrash about like I am watching some show, the sound though, the sound, my eyes deceive me as I watch a car drive down the street with no sound, I am sure the sound is in there, somewhere, in the blender, but damn if I can make it out, all there is, is nature’s voice, a roar, a throaty steady bellow racing through the leaves fallen at varying pace, stalks touching toes, why does this enthrall me so? maybe I am jealous, I can not conjure such magnificence, I only get to be a witness, but such things are better than not being here at all.
let this be a cautionary tale, since I get company vehicles I received satellite radio with each new one, I was out on the road more often in the past so I signed up for XM service fulltime on my dime, however, in these pandemic daze… or days, I am not nearly out on the road so much (plus I have tons of stuff to listen to on my USB drive anywho), I got a new car (and my ex-car was passed to a new tech) so I figured I would just let my XM subscription run out by itself and not even worry about it (giving the new guy free radio for a bit), easy peasy, right? nah… not so much… I get this screaming yellow letter that my account is past due and they will continue to charge me (the credit card on file is expired), so I figure I could cancel this online… right? nope… back to screaming yellow letter, the phone number in big print should work…nope… well then, at the very very very bottom, and in ant size oompa loompa font print there is a completely different phone number for cancel requests, Stall Tactic #1 (here on out known as “ST#”), so I call the (small) number, I have to verify my entire DNA genome, twice, (I mean just an account number is not sufficient in this day and age? please…), that would be ST#2 for those keeping score @ home, call center connects, I have to verify all my info, again, twice (seriously, ST#3), guess what? their computer system is having ‘trouble’ (ST#4+), I get put on hold a few times for this, semi-robotic-non-sincere apologies are not exactly soothing my soul, not to mention that the words “I want to cancel” do not seem to penetrate into the lobe of the phone conductor, so after this myriad of delays (15 minutes in now) the clerk informs me I need to ‘take care of my balance’ for the amount my radio was being ‘used’ past the expiration date, $24.14… OK, no big deal, I’m ready to deal, seems simple? nope… I am informed that I need to pay a total of $241.64 to bring my account current (that is the yearly rate), what? but then I would be issued a credit … wait for it… “if I want to cancel”… (insert hair pulling here), so almost 30 min in @ this point and I have to pay ahead to go ahead and cancel my account, maddening, I protest, a couple more times put on hold (ST#5), finally the clerk reads me some legal mumbo jumbo and is going to take my $24.14 to bring my account current, whew, near done? right… ? nah… so I give her my credit card number, twice (of course), put on hold… she comes back, ‘I’m sorry that card is declined’ (ST#6+), this is a brandy new card, I have near perfect credit, and there is not even a balance on it… so, we go through the card number again, twice (as if you had to ask?), put on hold… and low and behold, viola! my card works, how magical… she says ‘OK, your account is current after the $241.64 charge’, what?!? now I think I understand that astronaut who put on diapers and drove across the country… so I again, reiterated irately that I wanted to “cannnnncelllll theeeeee aaaaaahhhcountttttt”, (cruising past the 40 minute mark now), ‘I understand but before I can transfer you to that department -were you able to have everything you needed done on our call today?-‘ (phone drop sound, on my end) “No, of course not, how can you even ask that question?!” ‘ok, sir, sorry for the inconvenience, please hold’… (ST#, ahh… who’s counting), another person picks up, I think you can guess what happens here, I have to give them my information… from scratch… again… I was pretty much at my end here so… the conversation went south (I am omitting a bunch of ‘put on holds’ for the sake of my sanity)… “I want to cancel my service” ‘do you no longer have the 2017 Hyundai?’ “No, it was crashed and took both my legs with it” (and without a hitch…) ‘so will you be getting a new vehicle?’ “No, my wheel chair does not have a radio” ‘well, I was looking through your account and it seems we can offer you 41% off for the year, that would be a credit of $120 off what you have already paid for the year’ “NO… I WANT TO CANCEL MY ACCOUNT” (nearly an hour in… last nerve twitched and frazzled, but I did not use obscenities’.. I was close though… so damn close…) and finally… finally… I get a confirmation of the cancellation… now I know what it feels like to run a marathon and break through that little tape thing @ the end and collapse in a joyous puddle of my own fluids… ok, maybe that’s a touch gross… but I digress…
I don’t support boycotts and the like… but companies should be called out for garbage like this…
Shades of My Garden 