My paternal grandfather was a staunch and loyal Communist his whole life. When Khrushchev denounced Stalin at the 20th Party Congress, my dad asked him, “So, Pop, what do you think of Stalin now?” My grandfather answered, “Khrushchev . . . that ingrate! After all Stalin did for him!”
Yesterday, I went to the Wiz’s going out of business sale and, even though I have a negative bank balance, bought a DVD recorder, a portable DVD player, a digital camera, a Discman, a pair of noise-reducing headphones, and a Deborah Gibson CD.
I feel somehow that I have lost my moorings.
My immediate reaction to that was how wild and unusual to have such a family history. The extravagance at Wiz’s when you have a negative bank account seems, on the otherhand, all too normal. You must have gotten the Debbie Gibson CD for next to nothing! And, playing with those toys sounds like much more fun than defending Stalin.
Playing with those toys sounds much more fun than actually living under Stalin, too.
Wait! The Wiz is going out of business?!
Shelley, that’s nothing. At some point I’ll relate the story of my maternal grandmother and her nine husbands, or of my cousin many times removed who was the first serial killer to be caught when police matched the hair under his fingernails with his victims’ hair (he was featured on the wax museum episode of The Twilight Zone).
D.R., playing with those toys will be much more fun than living under George W. Bush as well. Oh, wait.
Jere, yes, alas, the Wiz is going out of business. Get down there fast.
Obviously, to regain your moorings you need to go through nine husbands and become a serial killer. You could even combine the two, possibly. Both sound like more fun than living under Stalin, or W., or any number of people.
Who says nobody beats the Wiz? H’mm? H’mm?
I think your grandfather would approve of your thumbing your nose at the banking establishment and “liberating” the works of Ms. Gibson.
I love that story with an unholy passion. “Krushchev? That ingrate!” That made Mr. Convivia laugh hysterically as well.
In the interest of correctitude, I should say that the word he used was actually not “ingrate” but a Yiddish word that translates best as “ingrate.” But I figured there probably weren’t a whole lot of Yiddish speakers among my readership.
Wahey, the Wiz! I went there years and years ago to help my friend buy a new amp for his stereo – back when I used to visit NYC quite a lot.
I’m sad to hear that it’s going out of business….