Three kings with the legions come, and preparations soon were made

Escalay (The Water Wheel), Hamza El Din's epic masterpiece, arrived in the mail the other day and I've been listening to it a lot. For those of you who don't who or what a Hamza El Din is, he is a human from Nubia and plays the oud. The album I just got is considered to be among his best. Feel like I should be drinking some mushroom tea when I listen to him, which, even though I don't ever plan on doing 'shrooms ever again, suggests he's the oud player for me.
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At Bed Bath & Beyond earlier this evening, Spira was fooling around with the little key chains that were on display at the counter while I was waiting for the clerk to print out my cousin's wedding gift wish list. The key chains were neat--- each of them different creatures from the animal kingdom---and if you pushed the button on their back, their eyes flashed in a harsh, silver glow and they called out in a manner representing their species. When I spotted the chimp, I smiled and took note of the synchronicity that had just taken place.

When I was working at Taylor Rental, my coworker Kim came into work one day and showed me her new toy. It was the chimp key chain, the same one I'd see months later at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I fell in love with it instantly; the combination of the flashing eyes and the piercing cry of "ooh ooh aahh aahh ahhhhhh" made me want desperately to either buy one as soon as I was able, or steal Kim's. I neglected to pursue either option and soon forgot about the chimp .

Upon our arrival at the store this evening, I saw Kim getting into her car a few rows away from mine. I pointed her out to Spira, refererencing her as a conniving bitch, as we headed into the store. Not two minutes later did we see the chimp key chain. Almost eerie, this series of events. A lot of that type of thing has been happening to me lately.
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Spira and I had been debating over which Bed, Bath, & Beyond to go to--- the only one I knew of was in Burlinton, so I headed there. When Spira caught wind of our direction, she said, "Nuh-uh, lets go to the one in Everett, it's closer."

"Yeah, but there'll be a ton of traffic on 16", I replied.

"I'm telling you we'll be there so much quicker if we go to Everett."

"Alright, we'll go there."

"You'll see, we'll be there a lot quicker."

" I know, but I was thinking more about comfort than timing. Burlington would have been a smoother ride."

When we arrived at the store, which most certainly was a lot closer than the one in Burlington, Spira said, "See, I was right: it's much closer!"

I laughed. "I never really disagreed with you on that."

"I want you to tell me I was right and you were wrong."

"Well, I don't know if I'd go that far."

"Concede!", she said in a firm and even tone that brooked no argument.

That cracked me up. "Concede? What are you, a Roman general?"

We laughed at how awesome my line was and how sexy and groovy I was for saying it with such impeccable timing and delivery. She gazed at me with the same awe I imagine primitive man must have reserved for the stars in the sky. And then we got out of the car and saw my old coworker Kim, the conniving bitch.