i love dottie who is the woman who swipes cards at lunch in the dining hall. there is a devious point system which assigns a certain number of points to each portion of food you get and you can't take more than 10 points worth of food - anymore and you have to pay the difference in cash. it would be a sensible system that prevents waste if only the point allocation were more reasonable. the daily hot entree is 5 points and a drink is 2. that never leaves me with enough to get soup or salad (2 pts each for a miserable short cup of less than 4 inch diameter - you'd need 2 cups to get enough salad or soup) so i'm always stuck with my three pts and a barely visible cup of salad and make up the last point by getting a cookie (1) or a bagel (1) when what i really want is a decent portion. yesterday the entree was pasta and i was startled at what a small helping they gave me. and when i was checking out dottie commented on it too: but why did they give you such an itty portion! she exclaimed. i'm not sure you have enough!" i didn't either. and twenty minutes later i found myself reluctantly going back for another cup of soup. dottie refused to take the money and shooed me through: "no, you deserve a hot cup of soup." she was firm. "i've gotta look after my people!"
i ran into symphony hall and up to the box office and pulling out my purse, gasped: "are there any more student rush tickets left?" the man looked at me. "there were some available...but they are all gone now." oh. i looked at him. he looked at me. "are there regular-price tickets left for the second balcony?" he picked up a ticket and gave it to me. i opened my purse and looked at him because he hadn't said how much. and he said, you're set, go. i said, er? and he said again, it's all right, just go. and i stared at him some more, and he waved, just go on - oh! i said! and i went. the seat turned out to be in the orchestra too. a tad far front, i suppose, but what am i complaining about? i got a free ticket to the bso and one that was smack in the centre too and i have no idea why it was free and i don't care why! and more importantly, bostonians are not all heartless and mean! and dear god how fortunate i was to have been there for truls mork was strange and brilliant and had a sorrowful face and also made me think of james simpson in the english department. and henri dutilleux himself was there (he must be at least 90, what?) and appeared for a curtain call. the card
earlier that day i had found a thick envelope from krisflyer in my mailbox. promotional pamphlet again, i grumbled, but the something turned out to be my 2004 krisflyer card and two new luggage tags. i had been wondering why i didn't get a new card earlier this year, but kept on using the expired card because i was too lazy to call sia. out flutters a letter: they know i was many miles short of renewing my silver status for this year, but because they were so late with my card, they have renewed it for another year at the current status in compensation. oh!
sulin says, free soup and free concert? you're becoming a von! but it really wasn't like that at all:
the soup
the concert
and i suppose i should also include, in this list of good-free-things-i-don't-deserve: