"All words are symbols that represent unspeakable realities. Which is also why words are magical." (Donald Miller tweet)

Monday, October 15, 2007

post #100

I'm having one of those stupid days.

Left the house at 9:30 AM to go to the office and do some things that don't get done when people know I'm there. After a few hours, I was done what I wanted to do. Just one quick errand - I need a spray bottle - and then home again.

Background - A couple of weeks ago, I went to a party to spend money on cleaning products that are "to die for". I've never considered housecleaning to even be worth injury or extra effort for, but there I was. And I did spend.

But I balked at buying the little spray bottle for the product, as it seemed fairly overpriced. After all, you can just grab a little spray bottle at the dollar store, right?

So - back to today. I need a spray bottle. One quick trip to the dollar store.

Except now I am ravenously hungry. When I become ravenously hungry, there is no warning, and there is no relief or thought of anything else, until I eat. I rummage around the church at first, but we don't keep food there. Consider eating a tea bag - seems wrong.

So I will grab some food on the way to the dollar store. Just a little addition to my quick errand.

Except I have no cash, for food or for the dollar store, which is always "cash only". And even if I did, I just can't face another Horton's bagel. (One can only eat so many of those.)

So now I need a bank machine. After all, I really should deposit a cheque I've been carrying around. And since there's a bank machine, and a Wendy's, and a dollar store all in the same place up the mountain in Meadowlands, I will make the trip there.

I drive up the mountain. I drive up to the bank machine. It is out of service. I park the car and go inside to the other bank machine. It is also out of service.

Back in the car, no time for reconsiderations, I will die RIGHT NOW if I don't get some food. Into the Wendy's drive-through. The guy in front of me has apparently never been to Wendy's, or in a drive-through. I roll the windows up and yell in frustration. He moves on, I place my order, pay for my order with interac, pick up my order, drive away...

No fries. WHERE ARE MY FRIES???!!!!

Can't stop now, others are behind me. Search for a parking spot in a full parking lot. Walk up to the window, and pound gently on it. "Oh," says the guy. "You didn't get your fries did you?" I mumble something nice, and he gives me my fries.

Now I'm eating. Still no cash, although I am sitting in my car, looking at the cash-only dollar store right in front of me. Resign myself to going into an oversized department store instead, which will take longer, but I can get cat food as well, and maybe they will have a spray bottle.

I wonder in a fog (because now all my energy is focused on digesting fries) through the department store. They don't have the right kind of cat food. I buy the wrong kind, because the cat doesn't care. I search through Storage, Food Storage, Seasonal, Health and Beauty, and other departments. They don't have spray bottles. I pay for the wrong cat food, and get cash back.

NOW I can go to the cash-only dollar store!

I go to the dollar store, and buy my little spray bottle. By the way - the dollar store now has interac (this branch only). I refuse to consider how much easier this trip could have been if I had only known that.

And now it is 3:00 and I am home again, wondering how this stupid day became so unproductive.

By the way, when I left this morning, there was a kid in a hard hat guarding a street with construction on it, just in case anyone decided to ram through the pylons that are blocking it off. He has no other duties, apparently, except to smoke and consider if this is how he REALLY wants to spend his life.

When I came home, almost 6 hours later, nothing had changed.

I have decided that my stupid day maybe isn't so bad after all.