Category: Abby’s Road

[Abby’s Road] The (second) best medicine

“We’re having some fun We’ve got music and laughter And wonderful times That’s so important in today’s world Oh yeah.” Truthful words, no? A few weeks ago while bumbling around my local bookstore I fell upon a 2007 memoir of someone who I haven’t thought about in quite a while. As I turned it over… Continue reading [Abby’s Road] The (second) best medicine

[Abby’s Road] Shopgirl Evolution

Once upon a time I worked in a record shop. It was way back in the day when cassettes (and cassingles…heeehee!) were purchased with as much fervor as the compact disc. To compensate the gigantic wage that a retail shopgirl could pocket in the early-nineties, I worked at an indie bookstore as well. Working at… Continue reading [Abby’s Road] Shopgirl Evolution

[Abby’s Road] Waves of Mutilation – a Decibel Discussion

Easter Sunday, April 11, 1993. Something was stolen from my awkward, teenaged body leaving me a changed woman today. I blame 808 State and Meat Beat Manifesto. That day, in a steel town discotheque (RIP), an unknown percentage of the hearing in my left ear disappeared… ne’er to return. I was reminded of this incident when… Continue reading [Abby’s Road] Waves of Mutilation – a Decibel Discussion

[Abby’s Road] Virtues are not dead – kindness makes a comeback

Two weeks ago while sitting in the passenger seat on a ride through Waycross, Georgia, I grabbed the steering wheel in an attempt to “help” my boyfriend avoid what I thought was an armadillo sauntering down the center of the road. I almost killed every being involved. Only after what can loosely be described as… Continue reading [Abby’s Road] Virtues are not dead – kindness makes a comeback

[Abby’s Road] Summertime, and the living is easy?

While I can appreciate the beauty of a jumpin’ fish and a nap on a warm day, I am not a fan of the summer months, in DC anyway. If you’ve ever experienced the sticky un-pleasantries of living as a skint undergraduate in a sweltering, almost windowless, 2nd floor row-house apartment with no AC, a place so hot that your lifeblood (read: ramen) has to be eaten… Continue reading [Abby’s Road] Summertime, and the living is easy?

[Abby’s Road] Reunited and it feels so weird

Reunions. When I was a kid they were pretty fantastic. It meant an extended family gathering at my great-Uncle Charles’ house. Grown-ups chattered and played poker. My sister Jenny and I, shy around those we saw but once a year, chased bunnies from their peaceful slumber under one giant pine tree to the next, gulped sugary soft drinks and gorged ourselves with mayonnaise-based salads, greasy potato chips (and anything else that was banished from our own kitchen cupboards)… Continue reading [Abby’s Road] Reunited and it feels so weird

[Abby’s Road] Caring about the young folks

“Let it be known across the land that 35 is the new 25.” Ah yes, I remember the evening fondly, mostly the proclamation I made, whiskey in hand, on the eve of my thirty-fifth birthday. In this year’s mantra I bumped both double-digits up by 1. I plan to do the same next year (and… Continue reading [Abby’s Road] Caring about the young folks

[Abby’s Road] All the world’s a stage

I’m not a big fan of street performers. Funny, while so easily entertained by the mundane actions (inactions?) of random bodies, living and breathing and moving through life, a rehearsed performance attempting to look random, as random as someone playing with their hair or twirling a pencil between their knuckles, makes me scowl a little.… Continue reading [Abby’s Road] All the world’s a stage