New semester, new apartment, and a new start for Rebecca.
My new apartment has its own challenges, but they're not the sort I had anticipated. It's great to finally live with people who don't feel free to barge into my room whenever they want, but without people who also feel free to order me around, my procrastination has skyrocketed. I'm lazier now than I've ever been before.
I always take about ten minutes to walk a two-minute distance at this time of year, because the acorns are falling from the trees and I love stepping on all of them. Sometimes I pretend that they're the heads of people I hate. It gives me such satisfaction.
My front right tire went flat, and I was forced to spend about four hours in Wal-Mart waiting while it was repaired in the auto center. I was quite surprised at how I was able to pass the time. There was an ATM machine so I was able to withdraw money for my rent, and there was a customer service center where I could buy a money order with it. There was also a garden center, an optical center, a hardware center, a nail salon, a pharmacy, a portrait studio, a resteraunt, a bakery, and several dozen different vending machines. I read several magazines and the first few chapters of Ann Brashares's Girls in Pants. I tried on velvet top hats in every color in the Halloween costume aisle, and I found Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen brand movies, clothing, make-up, shampoos, perfumes, toys, and furniture. I smelled all of the scented candles, from vanilla to cranberry mango to moonlit path. I watched the last forty minutes of Return of the Jedi, which was being played on a display of enormous flat-screen TVs. While I was watching, a woman asked me what movie it was. I told her, and then she asked a clerk to find it for her on DVD, then she ended up buying the DVD for $20. Why would you ever spend $20 on a movie that you can't even recognize when it's being played? I was shocked at how much Wal-Mart fuels our pointlessly consumer-driven nation. Its "pie-crust" purchases (easily bought, easily broken) are one of the biggest factors behind our throw-away society. I feel sorry for people who shop there regularly.
Lesson Learned: Not all grass is friendly. Case in Point: This month I went to a drive-in movie at a local art gallery and encountered quite a dangerous type of grass. The blades seemed to be made of needles. I was only pricked a few times in my hands before I relocated to a safe wooden bench, but the pain left me trembling.
My birthday is approaching, but now that I have all the Peter Pan movies I really want, I don't know what else there is to ask for!
Music of the Month: "Here It Goes Again," by OK Go; "I Can't Hate You Anymore," by Nick Lachey; and "Chasing Cars," by Snow Patrol.
This month I suffered a terrible loss -- my donkey, my red-white-and-blue all-American jackass, my beloved Alan R. Moore -- and I blame Mom entirely. Even though I know it wasn't all her fault, she was partially responsible, and it feels good to have a scapegoat. I still don't know what became of him and probably never will, and I am still adjusting to living my life and driving my truck without him. Wherever he is, I hope it is in a better place.
Alan Roosevelt Moore
2003 - 2006
RIP