Went a few stops on the train (extra stop on weekends, which I didn't realize...) to get my synth today. It was not an impulse purchase, but the act of actually going out and getting it had been... somewhat impulsive. I was stupid and got off one stop early, which I promptly realized after I got off the rather crowded (sardine/farmed salmon/or any farmed animal) train... Dodger's game, apparently.
I then proceeded to walk to the next station, which I gave up after about 20 minutes of walking approximately north, because I had no map and the roads were unfamiliar and too confusing. I did pass through a rather nice residential neighborhood just around that station... front gates, large (expensive) houses, expansive yards, sequoia trees... right outside the town limits though was a ghetto-like area, which I decided not to venture into and therefore turned back and waited for the next train.
When I got off (at the right stop this time), I found the main road pretty quickly. However, I had a fake memory that the street number started with a 3 and has four digits... so I walked in one direction and realized the numbers were decreasing... and turned and walked in the other direction... for ~15 minutes... before realizing that I must have remembered the wrong street number. So I turned back... and sure enough, my original path was in fact correct... as the music store was pretty close to the train stop.The actual process of buying the synth was a lot faster than I expected... because I got the only model that was around my price range ~$300. There were many models that were 3 to 7 times that... seriously professional :-P.
I asked around the AC adapter and the foot pedal, and the store staff recommended the "survivor's kit" that included the adapter, foot pedal, cheap headphones, 2 CD-ROM guides, and 2-year warranty "for free"... the kit was originally about $40, but since I was getting that synth plus the stand (~$20), the store staff essentially gave me a "rebate" of sorts. And I mentioned that I'm a semi-local student, haha.
He asked another store staff to cart everything to the train station. (That was unexpected.) I asked them to tape all the boxes together before that :-P They were quite nice. I think I'm going back there again... if only because in my excitement I forgot to tip the guy for carting my synth...
Shortly before the train came, a random dude asked me if I needed help carrying *that big box* hahah... he looked like a late-undergrad or early-grad student. And yes, he was very familiar with the whole geek-kid-trying-to-relearn-piano deal. That help offer was also unexpected, but very welcomed since after moving it myself... I could definitely use some help... So he and I carried the box on the train and off the train. He had to get back on the train because he was going to a later stop than I was.After getting off my stop, I carried it by myself for about five minutes and... met another person who offered to help me! Turned out she was also a student at the Farm, and was just going grocery shopping so "had plenty of time to spare" :-P She majored in a science during undergrad (that *other* school), and did some lab work for a few years, and then... decided to major in history/philosophy of science/technology for grad school. Fascinating huh. We had a great convo, and I think I might drop by her research group's office because for some reason she's not in the email system. I do know her full name though. Maybe she goes by a different name... oh well...
Hahaha, quite an adventure for this one today. And it's been a very long time since I was this excited... months? :-P wow that sounds sad, ooops.
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