Where It's At

I like Beck, and I like this song in particular, probably because I minored in radio broadcasting as an undergrad, and I had several live-air shows. I have never "DJed" in the more modern way -- with "two turntables and a microphone" but I have done the studio thing with two turntables and a microphone. Maybe you get the difference; maybe you don't. Anyway, I have a funny Beck story. When his first album came out, I went to buy it in the local (Nowhereville, West Virginia) record store. The problem was that I didn't know the name of the album or the artist. I only knew some of the words, which I sang to the clerk in the store, a middle-aged man who had no clue what song I was talking about and stared at me with the blankest of looks. "You know," I said, "Soy un perdedor. I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me." I'm pretty sure this country gentleman was a little afraid of me or at the very least thought I was crazy. Not one to belabor the point, I left without my record.

So here's how the title ties in with today: When I booked my flight to Cabo, I really didn't know anything about it, including where it is. I had heard of it; I knew it was on the southern coast of Mexico. Okay, I sort of thought that, but didn't really know. I am not bad at geography. I know where Mexico is, but I don't know the name of every state or where every city lies. (However, when my son quizzed me about the number of states in Mexico, I did get the answer right, thirty-one.) It wasn't until I had made my reservation and got the globe out that I realized Cabo San Lucas is on Baja California! Now, that might not mean anything significant to you, but I remember flying over this piece of land on my way to Hawaii and swearing that someday I would visit those beautiful beaches with the clear turquoise water. I did eventually discover that it was Baja California, but that was all I knew. So imagine my delight when I found that that's where I'm going, now that I know "where it's at."