Thank you Amazon!

There are 2 annoying things about the kindle:

1. When you are on a plane it counts as an electronic device.  Therefore you have to have it turned off through some of the most boring parts of your travel time
2. It's an electronic device.  Usually when electronics break I go to a book.  When my kindle breaks, I'm royally screwed.  Like now, 10% from the end of this book that I'm dying to know how it ends.

So I write to amazon, prepared to deal wtih a large argument.  To my surprise, they quickly take my info and tell me I'll be getting a new one in 2 days.  Now that's what I call customer service.  I guess my kindle is over warranty so I asked them why they were so willing to send me a free one.  The guys said, "we are looking at your account activity and we feel that this is the right thing to do."  And I said, "so what you mean is I spend a lot of money on my kindle and you don't want to lose my business."  and he said, "yes, basically."

That made me smile.  But new kindle on the way, exciting!!

What I really remember about Sandman was not only the fantastic stories and images I so lovingly read and stared at for hours, but the world I was currently in while reading them.

These were nights of hot cozy dorm rooms, a mix of smoke swirling around our collective heads, coffee, dim christmas lights, pizza boxes, and coca-cola splayed out on the floor, and of course, Portishead playing in the background.

I am not sure which came first - the Sandman trades or the Portishead album - but the two merged with my memories to create the perfect marriage.  Sad, slow, electornic notes flowed together with a crooning melodic female voice to images of dark, drastic, edgy colors and dialogue straight from the masterstorytelling abilities of Gaiman.  The images of his characters in NYC, living the 20 something squallid life, resonated with me so deeply and romantically that I have always found myself drawn to the yearings of it.  While my early years in boston represented a portion of this lifestyle I found it unappealing.  ON the page, it was magic.


 I write this because I found myself listening to Portishead again (Dummy is by far the best album imo) and it similarly reminds me of my youth and my freshness with everything around me, but also of my love of Sandman and comics.  I am curiously reminded of them equally.  And I find that it still remains a perfect partnership.