Out And About

I've been out and about lately, buying this and buying that. After having the carotid ultrasound test (easy, over in no time, very expensive!), I went for a drive in my car (which I'd just spent 300-plus dollars on) to the nearby Good Will Store. There it took forever to go through the pants because the manufacturers and the store personnel seem to conspire to place the size tag where it can't be found when clamped into one of Good Will's magic fuck-you hangers! Just to add a kick in the seat to a kick in the teeth, some pants sizes could not be found when removed completely from the hangers and turned inside out! I even tried to look for places where a tag had been cut off, but didn't find it. One wonders how they ever sold the pants when they were new. I felt like an enemy agent from whom they were hiding important information! Quite successfully in some cases. Finally found 3 pair of pants and two shirts that were the right size, made a quick tour around the store in case they were selling gold for lead, and then got out of there!

Since the office equipment store was nearby, I cruised by there and checked out various things, but mainly their selection of office desks. The cheaper they were, the less I liked them, and the more outrageously they were priced, the MORE I liked them! The really nice ones were $1700 (oak) and $1500 (cherry). I thought the price of the one for $500 was extravagant for me, though it was humbled by the high price and gorgeousity of the top of the line models! I had office desks when I worked at the University, but they were always used ones whether they were wood or steel. NEW would be nice. But my tastes exceed my grasp. It would take every cent I own to get either of the expensive ones. That's not what would be considered wise.

So I went on a small spending spree to get the poison out of my system. I don't remember it all. I bought a new ball point ($2). I bought some multivitamins (ugh, I must be old). Some clip-on sunglasses ($18). Two low-price CD's ($14 total)--Elvis and Ray Charles. Can't do without the dead guys. Went on a junk-run in the grocery section: sugar-free soft drinks and cookies, along with wheat bread, raisin bread, various items I can't think of now and can't ever do without. Oh, Cheetoes--that's one! Etc.

Came home and wrote some checks to some sonsofbitches I owe money to. Some of them are doctors or clinics who didn't "find anything". They charge for examining you, not for curing you! It's a pretty good system (for them).

Among the emails here lately have been a few from my friend George, who decided to crawl out of the muck (I don't really know what it was) after five years and let it be known he was alive and doing fairly well. I wish people wouldn't do that, but then I love him, and that's a fact I can't knock down with all my chagrin about his absence. Hope he stays a while.