Packaging is everything!  The outermost packaging was festive, the first hint that my Secret Santa was a thoughtful one indeed.  Upon ripping that open, I found two more wrapped packages carefully protected within bubble wrap.

There was also a folded note, but the outside said not to read it until the other packages had been opened (spoilers inside).  So I didn’t.  I opened the thicker of the two first — it was a Zen Magnets Gift Set — basically buckyballs (the recently-banned tiny neodymium magnets) — but in a much more elegant packaging.  Inside the fancy cardboard box was a fancy wooden box.  Inside the fancy wooden box was a fancy red pouch containing the magnets.  Underneath that was a lovely cloth for cleaning the magnets, a laser-etched platform for building magnet sculptures, a pair of 3D glasses and a building guide.  AWESOME!  My secret santa noticed my love for cultural artifacts, especially things that have been or might be restricted or banned, and fulfilled that completely!

Then I opened the other gift — a copy of Dark Dreams, by an FBI profiler.  As most of my friends know, I really enjoy books by FBI profilers.

I will absolutely participate again next year, and aspire to be as good a Secret Santa as mine was this year!!!

Tonight was one of those nights that help me put getting older into some sort of perspective. For the second time in a week, I reconnected with an old friend I hadn’t seen in years. And weirdly, some other lines reconnected as well. The bands that played tonight (Charm Offensive, King Mixer and the Delarcos) are populated by people who played in DC bands that helped shape my (misspent?) youth – Teen Idles and Youth Brigade in particular. And in the crowd was someone I knew from a different world back in the day (online/pre-online), but found out tonight was one of the geniuses behind Bloody Mannequin Orchestra. At least I think I found out tonight.

I own vinyl from all three of these bands, and vividly remember getting to see Bloody Mannequin Orchestra back in the day.

That’s the weird thing about being this age and having so many odd stacks of experiences and memories. I find it hard to imagine that I DIDN’T know he was with that band back then, but I don’t remember knowing. SO maybe it’s a new discovery, or maybe it’s a rediscovery. If ever there was an argument for the simulation hypothesis, tonight would be it. Too many things came together for it to seem believable.

Thanks to Mike Lastort, sax player for The Delarcos, for making that timely connection that allowed me to enjoy tonight’s show and all the memories it triggered.

I welcome further visits from the Cosmic Coincidence Control Center. Gnite all.