Or, You Meet Styx Fans in the Most Unusual Places

Ken left for Korea this morning. We had a really good few days together. He had a ton of stuff to do—work, SCA, house stuff for me, computer stuff for a friend—but we had some relaxing time together, too. We watched all the eps of Veronica Mars since he’d been gone (six or seven), went out for Thai food last night, etc.

It was also a time of conspicuous consumption—we bought a Mac Mini G5 to replace our still-works-fine-but-has-gotten-overloaded six-year-old G4 tower. I’m blown away by the speed of this thing! Not to mention how tiny it is! And it has DVD editing and burning software and capability. So once we get a DVD-recorder, I can start dumping things from ageing tape to DVD and get it organized. (Do not ask how many tapes worth of Styx stuff I’ve gathered over the years…)

We also picked up little things, like a sleeve for my iPod, a back brace, a yoga mat, a new electric kettle, a knee pillow—random errands like that.

Now we all just have to think positively that Ken will be back on Friday as scheduled. Things could get delayed, which would be bad. Anniversary Tourney is Saturday, and we’re running it…

In health news, I’m feeling okay. I’ve stopped taking the prescription painkiller and muscle relaxant; Tylenol seems to be fine when things get a little painful. I need to set up a dr’s appt. next week and then hopefully start physical therapy. My muscles are really feeling the need for some serious stretching!

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Some of us went up to Ojai for high tea at Tottenham Court this afternoon. Mmm, scones and Devon double cream and lemon curd! And tasty sandwiches and soup and tea. I scored a set of 10 vintage linen napkins with handmade trim for $23. Afterwards, wandering back to the car, some of us got sucked into a store, where I bought a hat. I’ve lost my favorite little straw bowler, which I bought in Greece, and have been very sad. This one’s slightly bigger, but has just the tiniest of jaunty tilts on one side. I feel prepared for summer now.

A very amusing thing happened at the tea shop. They had a pianist, who recognized Morgana and Brian and played some Beatles for Morgana. Brian sent Janet (a friend’s teenage daughter) over to him with a tip and a request for more. A few songs later, he came over to ask our group what else we might want. Brian asked for Billy Joel, Morgana for Phantom of the Opera. Then one of them pointed to me and said “Styx.” Now, I wasn’t going to burden everyone with my obsession, but it was out of my hands now.

The pianist’s eyes brightened. “You’re a Styx fan? I love Styx!” I said I see them 10-15 times a year, and he said he’s seen them 17 times total. So we chat about that, and as he starts to go, I remember to request “No ‘Babe’.” He says something about me being a fan of the newer version of the group. I protest that no, I love the older version too, I just hate “Babe.” Somehow this leads me to mentioning that Dennis (previous keyboardist and founding member) will be doing a solo show in San Diego soon.

At which point the pianist and I suss out that we were at the same Dennis solo show in March 2002.

I chatted with him a bit more after we ate, and he said he thought he might have seen me at other concerts, too. It would be such a blast to run into him at one of the shows this summer. Too funny!

Oh, and he did a fantastic job with the songs. When he started “Come Sail Away” (the first Styx he did), Morgana, Janice, and I shot our hands in the air and made pseudo-lighters and swayed back and forth, giggling madly. I love my friends, and I love Styx, and it was just a perfect moment.

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I’ve gotten little else done today. Ken and I had breakfast together (leftover pizza!) and then he left. I sent some e-mails and started straightening my desk, which looks like a bomb hit it because everything got shoved around when Ken installed the new computer. Cat arrived to recover from dilation at her eye appointment, and we had the chance to chat for a bit, which was lovely. I checked work e-mail and caught up on a couple of things.

I’ve had a low-grade headache for most of the day, and since getting back from Ojai all I’ve been able to do is a little computer work and some TV watching. I keep thinking I should take a nap, but now it’s 9:30 already. So I’m going to stay up for a bit more (I’m supposed to take my meds at 11:30, but I can take them a little early) and relax and hopefully get a good solid night’s sleep. I really need to get some writing done, but I’m not sure how productive I’ll be with the headache. We’ll see…