Must Love Dogs

I have not finished my Christmas shopping. I have not even prepared "THE" list that tells me who I'm buying for and how much I'm spending.

I have no Christmas spirit inside of me.
Not a drop.

I had to stop by the post office today at noon to mail a package for work. The long line was made up of many senior citizens and young mothers. When I made it almost to the counter, a 20-something-year-old woman butted in and said in a loud annoying voice, "Excuse me. Excuse me. EXCUSE ME!"
The post office clerk looked up and made eye contact. "You have to wait your turn. There are people ahead of you."
"But I just have a question. Can't I even ask a question? Do I have to go to the back of the line just to ask a question?"
The post office clerk glared. "What?"
"How much are your one cent stamps?"
I turned around to see if there was a case worker searching for her.
I was impressed with the clerk's professional and not the least bit sarcastic reply,"they are one cent each."
"So, how much would, like 2 of them cost?"
"You have to go to the back of the line."
"Do you sell, like, 10 of them in a booklet?"
"I have to help the next person in line."
"Would a booklet of 10 cost a dime?"
The clerk ignored her and asked the next person in line how she could help her.
"Excuse me. But could I just jump in ahead of you? I need 10 one cent stamps. You see, I'm in a hurry..."
"We all are girlie..." someone in the line said.
"Not but I really am. I have so much to do. And I'm from out of town. I live in Victoria, and I really need these stamps. Can I just..." she turned to the clerk, "I'll have 10 one cent stamps please. And could you hurry? I'm in a rush."
The clerk turned on her slo mo switch and said, "H u r r y ?"
"Yeah. I gotta go. Hurry. Do this fast."
"Hmmm. T h a t s e e m s l i k e a r u d e t h i n g t o s a y ...."
"Just pass me the stamps. Here's your dime. I gotta burn."

Then she turned and ran out of the store, bumping into people in her haste to exit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I spent my lunch hour on hold. Clint, who is now doing all this own laundry, washed his cell phone. He still has 6 months on his contract, so I wanted to find out what his/our options are.
Thirty five minutes in voice mail hell.

I called back at 4:00. Forty minutes later I just hung up.

(I had gone to the mall last night asking for assistance. No one in FIVE cell phone stores could help me or give me any purchase advice. They all sang the same song - "call customer service - there's a 1 - 800 number on your bill")

At 7:00pm I called again. On hold for another 40 minutes before I was told I would have to pay full price for a replacement phone.

At 9:00 pm I went to Future Shop. Stood in line for 25 minutes waiting for help. I finally left.
Drove over to London Drugs at 9:45 pm - and the line up at their cell phone counter was 4 customers long.

So I went out to my truck and cried.

On my way home I dropped off a rented video just as the store was closing.
I saw that they had "Crash" (used copy) on sale for $11. so I picked it up. And Batman Begins. And the Village. Stocking stuffers, I guess.

And then I noticed they had one rental copy left of Must Love Dogs.

So, 5 days before Christmas with not a drop of baking done, no sense of peace regarding the whole gift thing, two big projects at work that needed attention tonight and a sink full of dishes that have soaked long enough - I ignored it all and watched John Cusak fall in love with Diane Lane.


S i g h




Three things I like about John Cusak:
1. His eyes. Yes they're beady. But so expressive.
2. His height. Tall. Solid. Manly.
3. His smile. Oh yeah.