I took the day off work yesterday so I could hold The Girlfriend’s hand while she underwent a minor surgical procedure. Okay, I wasn’t allowed to actually hold her hand during the procedure, but I was out in the waiting room the whole time. Well, except for when her mom and I ran over to Village Inn for a quick plate of eggs and bacon with a side of pancakes. But we were there when the doctor came looking for us to tell us we could go see her in the recovery room, and that’s what counts, right? In any event, she’s doing fine, thanks for wondering.

Later, finding myself with a free afternoon and nothing better to do, I decided to drop into Beans and Brews for a Starbucks-style coffee-and-milk beverage and an hour or so of recreational reading. The particular Beans and Brews I visited is just down the street from a high school, and, as school had just let out for the day, the place was crowded with gangly, gawky young men dressed in their unofficial uniforms of baggy jeans and dark-colored hoodies, all eager to get their daily caffiene buzz on. I slipped through their gauntlet, bought a mochaccino, and found a sofa to settle into with my book.
I’d been reading for a few minutes when I suddenly heard Steve Perry belting out “Don’t Stop Believin’.” This was a bit puzzling because the coffee-house’s PA system had been — still was, in fact — playing some anonymously mopey rock song that I couldn’t name if you held a gun to my head. I looked around to see who’d brought in a competing music-player… and was surprised to see one of the hooded teenage boys pulling a cellphone from his pocket. The kid was using a song that had charted before he was even conceived as his ringtone. I grinned, thinking to myself that there might be some hope for the future after all.

Then the in-store music switched to an artist I recognized — Warren Zevon — and I overheard the young barista telling his friends to listen to the amazingly cool song that was just starting. “I just love this one,” he said, “It’s called ‘Werewolves of Thunder‘.”
Doh.
I turned my attention back to my book and tried not to feel smugly old…