Life's staples: gas and music

Money Spent: $35
What: Gas

Money Spent: $9.99
What: Vampire Weekend cd

Ok, so gas is the easy one to explain. Again, I was stopped before my gas tank was full...I guess they cap you when you use a debit card? Which makes no sense, considering that rule should actually exist for credit cards, not debit cards. Remember, debit cards come with cash pre-loaded. Credit's the shady stuff. Suffice it to say, $35 only gave me three-fourths of a tank, which will do for now. I was awfully pissed upon pulling into the station. On my way home from work earlier that afternoon, I had passed a UDF selling $3.89 for unleaded. When I pull into Kroger a few hours later, it had already spiked to $3.99. Now, I may not understand all the complexities of these so-called "gas wars," but wouldn't it make more sense to spike the prices during rush hour, when most people buy gas anyway? Just a thought. Everything turned out ok, though, since my family's trusty Kroger Plus Card gives us 10 cents off a gallon anyway.

Vampire Weekend may need some explaining. So I have been really holding myself back this summer. I am an iTunes junkie, ok? It's an awful habit, but those 99 cents songs go down like empty calories. Delicious. And considering I rarely listen to the radio during the school year, I almost have to buy the songs to hear them. During the summer it's a little easier to keep up with the music scene owing to my long commute to work everyday. Radio really is a blessing...except for commercials. That's why Internet radio is awesome. It really is nice to write for a living--there's no reason to listen to anyone else, so our employers allow we scribes to drift off into SlackerRadio-land all day. That's where I discovered this gem of a group. All right, I'm SO over pretending I'm impossibly cool and am able to stumble over unknown bands everyday. But to give myself credit, they are relatively new and are still creating some hype in the effervescent indie world--so score one for the trendsetting poseur. *Gives oneself a pat on the back* Ok, in all seriousness, I heard "Oxford Comma," fell in love, watched some YouTube videos and decided with the same impulsiveness in which I descended upon The Shins that Vampire Weekend was a new favorite. That kind of love doesn't come around often, so can you blame me for rushing home to download the album on iTunes?

Now I have something to listen to on the way home from work...you know, when there's nothing but crap on the radio.