November 5, 1999

I am happy to report that I am in a vastly improved mood today. It's amazing what a little exercise, good sleep, and a multivitamin will do for your outlook on life. Also, the sun is out today and that always helps.

I would also like at this time to report on the vast stupidity of some of the people I encounter on a daily basis. For example, last night Keith was making homemade sloppy joes and tater tots, and we realized we were out of hamburger buns, so I hopped in the car and headed to the store to pick some up. The store's not that far away. This entire expedition should have taken less than fifteen minutes.

But no. Oh no. Can't have that. No, that would be too EASY, wouldn't it?

I picked up the hamburger buns and a Frappucino (I live in Seattle, I can't help it, OK?), and considered my options at the checkout lines. The store was busy, so most of the regular registers were pretty backed up, and they didn't have an express lane open. Hmm. Things were looking grim.

But wait! This particular grocery store has self-checkout lanes. It's this setup where you scan your own stuff, and then you either feed cash into the machine or you give it your debit card, and it spits out a receipt, you bag your stuff, and you go. Supposedly quick and easy. There was only one person in the self-checkout lane, and most of her stuff was scanned already. She only had one kiwifruit and one canteloupe left. Score!, I thought. I can get out of here in a couple of minutes, go home, eat dinner, everything's groovy.

But no. Oh no.

This woman carefully placed her kiwi on the scale and looked at it thoughtfully. Then she adjusted it slightly, and stared at it thoughtfully some more. She went to the screen display and stared in a less thoughtful and more confused way at whatever it said. She hit a button. It beeped. She looked a little scared. She picked up the kiwi and adjusted it again. Back to the display, and an even more confused expression. She hit another button. It beeped. She actually jumped back from it.

I sighed audibly. O why me? Why does it always have to be me?

The kiwi woman got this resolute look on her face and hit like five buttons at once. The machine beeped REALLY loud. She looked furtively from side to side to make sure nobody was looking, and then put the kiwi into her bag, presumably without having scanned it.

I said nothing. I was so happy that she'd finally given up. But I'd forgotten something.

The canteloupe.

As the woman was carefully placing the canteloupe onto the scale and looking at it thoughtfully, I finally gave up and stalked off in disgust, to take my chances with the human check-out lanes.

Anyway, that's my field report for this week on the state of stupidity in the world. I bet the kiwi woman is one of those people who can't figure out how to use the ATM, too. I hate people like her.

But really, I'm in a much better mood now. Partly due to Billy Blanks. YES, I have become a Tae Bo convert! It's true. Last night Keith and me decided to take the big step of moving from the Introductory tape to the Basic tape. I was bored with the Introductory tape, even though I still don't feel like I've mastered all the kicks, just because I was tired of only working out one side of my body (in case you're not familiar with Tae Bo, the first Introductory tape only shows you how to do all the moves, and Billy only shows you on one side, so every time I did the Intro tape, I'd feel a nice burn but only on my right side).

The Basic tape was a way better workout. We didn't finish it, because part of the way through, I felt a twinge in one of my thigh muscles, and I wanted to stop before I pulled it and had to limp for the next week. I'm really excited about it, though, I felt really good afterward even though we didn't finish the tape. Keith and I have decided that we're going to start getting up earlier in the morning so we can do it before I leave for work.

Jingle bells, jingle bells. Yes, it's Christmas time in the city. I know it's only November, but this is the time of year when I start buying everyone their Christmas presents, so I can avoid the crush of holiday shoppers in mid-December.

Don't worry, none of my family members read this, so it's safe for me to tell you what they're getting for Christmas. My little brother is only five, and he's REALLY into Pokemon cards, but Mom said not to get him any, because they won't let him take them to school. So he has to just play with them by himself at home, and I guess that's not nearly as much fun. The other thing he really likes is Star Wars, so I think I'm going to get him some Star Wars action figures. Mom told me that Jaren got an Obi-Wan Kenobi (the young one, from Episode I) costume for Halloween, but at the last minute he decided he liked Luke Skywalker better, so Mom told him he could be Luke Skywalker instead, since they have basically the same costume. It's really not too hard to please a five-year-old sometimes.

My sister (18) and other brother (16) both asked for gift certificates. I told them no way, that I don't believe in giving people money for Christmas. It just takes the fun out of it for me. I don't know what I'm getting Joe yet. If he sends me a list of CDs he wants like he said he was going to, I might get him some of those. I'll think on it.

I'm getting Amanda (my sister) and my Mom the same present. I decided that it would be really fun for us to all go have our hair done and nails done and get facials at a really nice salon, so I'm paying for us all to go to Columbus on the morning of Christmas Eve to a high-end salon and get pampered and made beautiful. Amanda is completely excited about it. Mom was less excited initially, but she's really getting into the idea now.

I realized something about myself when I was trying to convince Mom that she'd have a good time. She was saying things like, "Oh, but I just like my nails the way they are", and "they're not going to make my hair all poofy, are they? I don't want a really fancy style", and I was trying to tell her that she's paying THEM, and they'll make her hair look however she tells them to. I think I finally convinced her, but more importantly, I realized that she has a particular attitude about her appearance, one that she's had all her life, or at least for all of her life since I've known her.

Mom just doesn't want to spend a lot of time on her appearance. It's not that she looks terrible; actually, for a 42-year-old woman she looks great. She works out all the time, and she has like two gray hairs, tops. But she just refuses to spend any time on her appearance besides for working out. She doesn't wear makeup, she doesn't spend much time styling her hair, she doesn't use nail polish; Mom is very low maintenance. And it works for her, and it always has.

I think I picked up that attitude from her, and I decided that it was the way I was too. I'm pretty sure that's a big part of the reason I never wore makeup all through high school or college, and I sort of sneered at people who did, like they were vain and full of themselves because they wore eyeliner or whatever. My Mom was so important to me when I was growing up that I just adopted her attitude about her appearance and made it my own.

You know, I was so proud of myself when I developed my own ideas about politics and religion, I can't believe I overlooked THIS. I only recently started to buy nice clothes for myself, and wear makeup, and take care of my nails. Before, I'd decided that it just wasn't important, that anyone who thought it WAS important was an idiot.

I can be a pretty judgmental person sometimes. I'm working on fixing that, because I don't like that aspect of my personality. I want to be an understanding, accepting person, not this harsh critical judge of everyone I meet. I think I've come a long way towards reaching that goal, but I still have a long way to go.

Don't worry, I'll keep you updated.

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