magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

pretty early on today i used up the small cache of special paper that i had bought when i got back from the northern tour. sometime around the middle of the day when everything is closed. later, after four, laura and i went out to the art supply store only to find that the branch that sells paper doesn't seem to be open at all on saturdays. and they're not open on sundays either, of course. so from there we headed out to the other art supply store. a fair distance away, all the way up the via del corso.

stopped to buy some more airtime for my phone. i would still have been able to receive calls the last few days (had anyone called me) but not send little late night emails.

as it turned out, the other art supply store was closed as well. they close at one on saturdays. it was after six at this point. but across the street was this cute little music store. actually, it was difficult to figure out exactly what it was at first. it's called remix art cafe. at first glance through the window it looks like it might be a trendy little gallery. one small, well-lit room with a few abstract paintings on the walls. but then another with what looks like a few hundred used cds.

and they were used cds. and cheap. but on closer inspection, the other room contained about a hundred cds as well, sparsely spaced out on a few racks, and some more prominently displayed on one wall. mostly electronic stuff, ambient, house, techno, etc. and then four nice cd players, with headphones for listening to anything you find, and little stools to sit on.

downstairs there was a similar set up, but with vinyl. a small room of new dancy electronica (i have a feeling this is where a lot of rome's djs shop), and then a snaking basement hallway filled with old records.

the shop was run a particularly friendly austrian fellow by the name of pieter, who made suggestions of music to listen to, and was generally all around helpful. and so of course i ended up buying four new cds.

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i also signed up for national novel writing month. two thousand words a day? i think i can handle that. but we'll see.