11.19.99

Winter must be here. I keep thinking that it is still early fall and the rain that sieges is only temporary, but now it is more rainy than not. The trees cling to their leaves in spite of it. +++ Last night I drove to Scarecrow video to rent Searching For Bobby Fischer. Yvonne and I have been playing chess online for the last few months (but only making a move every few weeks, sadly), and I've been reading up on the basic rules to remind myself how to play. A friend suggested I should see this movie for inspiration. At the video store I used the handy database terminal to search for the movie and to see whether it was checked out. The movie was not checked out and the screen said I could find it in the Drama section, wherever that is. I'm always disoriented in that store because the sections are not clearly marked and many of the movies are categorized by who directed them or some other parameter I just wouldn't know about the film. Yippee for the database! At least I can ascertain whether the video is somewhere in the store, after which point I only have to wander around until I find the right section. After some walking I found the Drama section, but there was no Searching for Bobby Fischer in it. So I searched - Searching for Bobby Fischer -- searching for Searching for Bobby Fischer. Eventually, it was clear it was not in the Drama section. I thought that by using the database and wandering around the store, I could avoid trying to grab the attention of any one of the few employees. They look like everyone else, which makes it harder to track one down, but I've figured out that they're the only ones in the store who walk with purpose; everyone else is wandering. Eventually, one was headed my direction so I stepped into his way, slowing him down but not stopping him. Without even a wrinkle in movement, he darted directly to the spot on the shelf in the Drama section where Searching for Bobby Fischer should have been. He uttered a "Hm," and sidled down the room toward the B's, for just Bobby Fischer. I told him I already looked there and he said, "All right," before turning swiftly around toward the door and the downstairs. I caught up with him at his computer terminal where he was learning from the database what it had just told me. "Hm it's here," he said. Then he disappeared behind the wall where the vast inventory waits in clear plastic cases, returning a moment later with the movie. The search was over.

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