can't you just listen to the CD at home?

Sunny recently posted about the absence of common courtesy at cultural events. Well, a girlfriend and I have been subscribing to the local symphony for quite some time, and tenure means that we now have great seats. Last night those great seats made me lose even more faith in humankind. And yes, that's still possible.

Generally, I can live with somewhat crazy people sitting around me while I'm enjoying classical music. Last night I was OK with incessantly sniffing man who toe tapped to some random beat, and woman wearing garish neon pink tights and matching garish neon pink sweater with a tiny jean skirt in the middle (she was about 20 years too old to be wearing said outfit, and believe me, I'm not missing the irony of that statement coming from me and my new-found cougarness). I was even OK with dude behind me leaning so far forward in his seat that I could feel his hot breath on the back of my neck. Icky, yes, but not grounds to go postal.

But the crazy guy next to me put me over the edge. Said crazy man arrived alone so presumably came to enjoy the music. And yet, at the beginning of the first piece, he removed his digital camera from the holder on his belt, then proceeded to run through every photo on his memory card, zooming and deleting here and there. At intermission, I mentioned that this was distracting and asked if he could refrain from further camera activity.

After intermission, my new crazy friend decided to spend the full 81 minutes of the next piece perusing the 2008-09 symphony schedule and filling in the order form for his next subscription. This involved much rustling of paper, fiddling with his pen and attempts to write on his knee. After about 20 minutes, I contemplated using my complaint-free world bracelet to strangle him. There doesn't seem to be a lot of positive energy seeping in from the bracelet yet, but I'm expecting it to start any time now.

RainyBow