I Suck At Banking

Today started off with a bang. And by "bang" I mean my grooving to a song that I have not heard in some time. As I have been on a recent 1980s music kick of late, I decided to listen to the original motion picture soundtrack to St. Elmo's Fire, which is one of my friend's (Andrea) favorite movies.

For anyone curious, the St. Elmo's Fire soundtrack features the song St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) by John Parr. Interestingly enough, the song never appeared on any of John Parr's albums. And truth be told, I'm not sure I know any of his other songs.

And in the event anyone is curious, John Parr apparently is a big karate fan. That in and of itself is not the interesting fact. The interesting fact is that he is a level four black belt who has perfected his own fatal blow which he calls "the Man in Motion" and "St Elmo's Rapid Fire Punches". Someday, I will perfect my own fatal blow with a catchy name. Maybe I'll call the death blow... "the Instigator".

Anyway, it was great listening to the soundtrack in the wee hours of the morning as I commuted to work. (I do most of my music listening while commuting to and from work because it is such a long ride.) I must say, the soundtrack is pretty good. I forgot all about the instrumental love theme from the movie. Anyway, it probably goes without saying that I listened to St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) numerous times. I wonder if any of the other drivers noticed my head bobbing to the tune.

And for those interested, the song St. Elmo's Fire was originally written for the Canadian athlete Rick Hansen. At the time, Hansen was going around the world in his wheelchair to raise awareness for spinal cord injuries. The journey was called the "Man in Motion Tour." Hence... "Man in Motion".

Aside from the St. Elmo's Fire soundtrack, I did end up listening to some other albums, most notably La Roux's self titled album. (Like I said, it's a long commute to and from work.) Sure, the La Roux album is not from the 1980s, but I happened to have it with me. La Roux sings that song "Bulletproof".

(Below is the video for Bulletproof.)


And unless you happen to be a video game fan, you probably won't get this reference. But, I think La Roux reminds me of a female version of Cloud from the Final Fantasy series.

Anyway, the other highlight for the day... unless you think my baby daughter (Briana) uncontrollably crying for an hour constitutes being a highlight... is going to the bank. Now, I suck at banking.

A lot of my friends make fun of me for still going to the bank. I, however, actually enjoy going to the bank. After all, I spend most of my time in front of a computer. So I think any human interaction is great. And today, I'm actually glad I went to the bank because I ran into an old friend of mine.

While in college, I used to work for a bank. At the time, my friend (Trinh) got me the part time gig because she was a manager at one of the branches. In fact, the bank I used to work for became the bank that I currently have an account with. (Nothing like loyalty...)

Being in college, I made being a bank teller fun... or at least fun for me. There were times I would sing "Come to My Window" by Melissa Etheridge to bank patrons. Of course, I just sang the chorus because I didn't know the rest of the lyrics. People must have thought I was crazy. Heck, the bank's manager (Youssef) thought I was crazy with my goofy laid back attitude.

Well, that was well over ten years ago. And wouldn't you know... today when I went to the bank, I saw none other than my old boss, Youssef. Youssef still works at the bank, only in a different department now. Back then, he was a swinging single guy. He had the cool sunglasses... the nice car... the nice suits. He just exuded "bachelor". (As they say... don't hate the playa, hate the game.)

It turns out, he recently got married in Las Vegas. Who would have thought? Needless to say, it was good to catch up with him again. He still got a kick out of me because he thought I was still the same goofy person I was back then. I'm glad that I went to the bank today.