Somehow on Tuesday night (and don't ask me how this came about), we got the idea to go to er� well, unlike Bev, I'm not wanting to attract a big number of people over here looking for THAT kind of stuff (the weblog gets enough- I hardly post anything of that nature and yet every week the search results frighten me), so I'll just say that we er, went to one of these (first item mentioned in the link). A Suzie's outlet, to be more specific. What can I say, folks get downright strange sometime after midnight and get some bizarre ideas for entertainment.

I'm not normally the kind of girl who goes in these stores often, if you know what I mean. I have only been in a store like that once before, and it was this one. And to put it bluntly, it ain't your usual kind of store- it's known as "a clean well-lighted place for s-- toys." So I wasn't nearly as squicked out the one time I was there as I would have thought. It was pretty much fine.

This place, however � oh holy cow. Tacky, tacky, tacky. Horrendously tacky. Embareassingly tacky. Half the place was videos, featuring closeup shots of lower anatomy for racks and racks. The other half� oh lordy. That, y'all, was the toy section. Nude chickies everywhere er, demonstrating plenty of um, things. Large things. Things that I have a hard time imagining actually fitting into someone's lower anatomy. Including, well � according to the package it's modeled off of a Mr. Holmes who is legendary for these sorts of things, and it's BIGGER THAN MY THIGH! Honestly, I do NOT believe that could have possibly been real and attached to the area it's supposed to be attached to. Sure, if he was an ELEPHANT, perhaps, but � If I saw that coming towards me I'd run and hide. (Please don't write to me telling me it's real. I DON'T want to have that confirmed.)

Oh man, I just wanted to die in there. I could not believe I was in such a place. Little old innocent me. Caught in public in a store of ill repute. Good god. Why on earth was I thinking this would be an entertaining thing to do last night? What was I thinking to not ever say no to the idea? They were browsing around casually and discussing how those pump things work (I didn't want to know that), I was skulking in the aisles and trying to hide my head. And a good number of people were in there on a Wednesday afternoon, too. The guys, dare I say it, looked fairly skuzzy, but there were a few other girls in there too. One of them was clearly the college girl outdoorsy type, and bought this huge pink thing that practically looked like a bubble gun. Ye gods, bringing stuff like that up to the register� especially since the guy ringing things up tested the toys to make sure they worked for you. (Nice service, yes, but still�)

The most embarrassing moment, however, was not the pictures, not the toys, not the discussion about how in the store in Modesto, they put the arcade out in the middle of the store so everyone sees the people in it, but the aforementioned guy at the register. I unfortunately made the mistake of walking by him, and Mr. Mind Reader (who seems to derive great amusement from reading the minds of innocent store clerks) told me after we left that said fellow had been wondering why a girl like me would be in a store like this and why wasn't my boyfriend taking care of me.

I just wanted to die, yo.

Really, after that, there's not much else I can say about Wednesday, other than we went and wandered the mall for awhile and didn't buy anything, then went home, and they agreed to stay another night and then started trying to talk me into visiting them for the weekend. They finally met Hillary and they were all pretty damn entertained by each other. (We came into the house and said where we'd been, and her response was "Did you get a (instrument of pain inflictment)?" (Oh Google, what a pain you are to avoid.) They then all looked up stuff on bored.com for hours and were terribly amused. Hill eventually went to go watch Junkyard Wars at a friend's house and then Demma and Scott decided they wanted to have a chocolate party (this is a weekly tradition, I guess). So I broke out the brownie mix I had in the house and Demma agreed to make the brownies while we went out to get milk. My comment about this as I left was "Yeah, if you make them, Hill might actually eat some when she comes back if she knows I didn't make 'em." Sure enough, when she returned and I said this to her, she was all "Yeah!"

Ironically, somehow Demma didn't let them cook enough or something, because they were all mushy inside. Wow, she screwed them up more than I ever did! I was impressed! (And makes me, who once again ruined another box of rice last night, feel somewhat better.) We then watched South Park: The Movie, then I caved in and went to bed. I don't know for sure what they got up to after that (ate the rest of the brownies? I didn't see them the next day), but I didn't ask.

I was eventually convinced to go (as you obviously figured out from my absence here), so we packed up and went to their place. I checked out the rat (which was quite friendly and well-trained and made me very ticklish) and the rabbit they were housesitting (a baby Dutch bunny with two differently colored eyes that was SO CUTE!). However, it wasn't all hearts and flowers once I got there. For various reasons, Demma was in a bad mood, the biggest of them being that her dad had "summoned" her home for the weekend and she didn't want to go. I don't know what he "summoned" her for, but I think she thought it was going to be something bad. So she was gripy and "leave me alone" at Scott and went off to sulk in her room for most of the day. I understand that urge, since I have it all the time in that particular situation, but I did feel sorry for him having to deal with that-and since she'd just gone off the depression medication she'd been on after her mother died, things were even more pleasant, if you know what I mean. I won't get into details, but things being rocky with her emotionally is um, a worrying problem. She ended up postponing going to her dad's until Saturday morning, but was still pretty cranky up until then. They'd be arguing in the bedroom, I hung out with the big screen cable TV.

At this point I think I'll break off the story and tell you all about the vampires tomorrow�

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for today, Shawn sent me an e-mail inviting me to lunch with the old work gang today. He mentioned a restaurant and said to either meet them there or call him about going if I got the e-mail in time. Alas, I could not call because Hill was online again, and predictably, as they've been known to do, they couldn't all agree on where to go and had switched restaurants by the time I got there (late). I shrugged and went home.

I wasn't real sure on what I wanted to do with regards to that anyway, so in a way it was a relief that it didn't happen. On the one hand, hey, it was an invite, it was a social activity (I should gather these rosebuds while I still can), and I don't want the old gang to think I want to avoid them or anything. But on the other hand� there was the weirdness factor that I was worrying about. The whole "they come from one direction, I meet them there, me vs. them now" thing. The "what do we talk about" thing. Really, they talk about work, and what do I say? "Um, I went out of town and visited a store of ill repute?" (Well, I could say that, but that would just embarrass the hell out of some folks.) "The job hunt's not going at all?" And what do they say to me? "The other girl's got your spot now and everyone thinks she's wonderful?" I don't think I want to hear about that, thanks. At least, not in a big group or anything.

At any rate, instead I stayed home and ate ramen and wrote this up.

I am debating what to do about Christmas presents for the parents. Normally our custom is to get multiple gifts for each other, I usually get them about 3-4 apiece plus attempts at stocking stuffers. However, given the money thing, I either (a) should skip that, or (b) do the handmade gifts thing. I just don't really know what to do. Jewelry or a jewelry box or something for Mom, I guess, but Dad's not much of a homemade gift person. I may go wander around downtown tomorrow and look for ideas. Annoyingly, there's no craft store in this town, so that doesn't help.

So I was talking to Sam today on AIM and she kindly pointed me to UCD's job listings page. Since I'm quitting the journalism biz (well, already out, really) and writing jobs shall be scarce, my preference would be to get a job at UCD. Great benefits, I know folks, etc. So far I've just found temporary jobs I'm qualified for, but what the hell, I could apply right now (due start of January). It's a shame that I never understood Excel or I'd really be in the money. We shall see, I guess.

I ended the day by finally going to the movies with Shawn to see Harry Potter (boy, have the crowds cleared out). It was excellent. Just like the books with the dull (or Peevish) parts cut out. Woo hoo!

previous entry - next entry
archives - current entry