hummingwolf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hummingwolf) wrote2005-12-26 05:11 pm
hummingwolf) wrote2005-12-26 05:11 pm
Dear Diary (Weekend Update)
Friday: Decided I was feeling hale enough to pick up the rest of my prescriptions, so I got in a nice 1ΒΌ-mile walk that way. While at that store, figured it was a good time to do more grocery shopping with another one of the gift certificates I'd gotten, so wandered off to that other store and picked up ingredients for another batch of chicken soup as well as various other items. The store was crowded, but my shopping went well enough.
There was a small incident at the checkout line, however. In fairness to the customer involved, the clerk was perhaps not quite as professional as she should have been. The cashier expected to be treated with the respect due to all sentient beings, and reacted with some dismay when she was not so treated. This is a perfectly human reaction, but not a perfectly professional one. Still, while the cashier may have been too sensitive for her job, the customer was simply obnoxious, both to her and to those of us waiting in line. After some harsh words, the customer demanded the presence of a manager, saying to the clerk, "Do! Not! Touch! My! Food! Ever! Again!"
So we waited for a manager, and I couldn't help reacting my own way. I laughed. The man behind me laughed with me. I gleefully said to the others around that the customer's behavior was caused by "The Christmas spirit! The joyous holiday spirit!" The woman rolled her eyes, her elderly mother waited unsure of what exactly was going on, and the rest of us laughed. Perhaps my reaction was not the kindest one possible, but I do think the woman in front of me had chosen to be miserable and that laughter kept her from infecting the rest of us.
Eventually a manager came over, serenely rang up the customer's order, and then took the cashier aside, telling her kindly that she should expect craziness for the next few days and shouldn't take it personally.
Finally, my order was rung up and I could start to walk home. As I walked, I thought to myself that there are times when people should push themselves to their limits, and there are times when people shouldn't push themselves at all. I reluctantly admitted to myself that when a person is wheezing and has lungs full of gunk, it is probably one of the latter times. So I hopped onto a bus, discovered that it wasn't my usual route, and realized with relief that this route was just as good for me anyway. Passengers & driver sat comfortably chatting about how insane the traffic was all along the way. Got home and made a big pot of chicken soup.
Saturday: Went to a drugstore for laundry detergent. Against my better judgment, I waded into the Christmas Eve crowd at Target so I could get a few other essentials. One of my fellow customers was a man who had a more joyous portion of the Christmas spirit than most, who allowed anyone with fewer items than he had to go ahead of him in line.
Aside from shopping, spent most of the day resting and letting my computer make kaleidoscopes. I was coughing much less by this point, but was very tired. Wasn't feeling up to going to a Christmas Eve service, unfortunately.
Sunday: Spent most of the morning sleeping. For much of Christmas day the weather reminded me of Greg Lake's "I Believed in Father Christmas," specifically the lines
'Kash had asked if people without other plans wanted to get together this weekend, so in the evening Rhianna, Rab, & 'Kash picked me up and we went off to have adventures (or at least dinner and a movie). Since good company is the best gift I could have asked for, it was a very good Christmas.
Finding an open restaurant with food for people on restricted diets was a minor challenge. First we tried a Mexican/Salvadoran restaurant, which looked promising. It might have been a good choice for us if there hadn't been live music involved at a volume which made my eardrums shriek. The others agreed to go to a different place, so we ended up at an "international buffet" which had enough variety for everybody. I had fun trying lots of different foods, concentrating on the ones I never have at home. The octopi didn't taste as interesting as they looked, but most of the food was tasty, particularly the stuffed crab. The others seemed to enjoy their meals as well, though Rab deeply regretted his beer. My fortune cookie read: "Hope is the most precious treasure to a person."
After dinner, we went out hunting for a movie theater in an area none of us really knew that well. After parking in a busy garage, we went--and it felt as if we were walking into some place, not outside--to a fog-shrouded street. With all the relatively clean, newish buildings there, it felt almost like walking in some haunted Disneyland. We found the movie theater at just the right time to catch the previews before Narnia. I've heard and read so many people saying that the movie was good but not great that maybe it was inevitable I'd agree. But it was very good. I was impressed by Aslan and all the lovely effects, I sniffled at the parts where everybody's expected to sniffle, and I really did enjoy it all.
Came home very happy to have had good company and a merry Christmukah night.
Monday: Mmm... a chance for more sleep. Some back and leg pain bothering me, but nothing I can't handle. Went out for some post-Christmas grocery shopping to buy things I had forgotten to buy earlier (honey), had refused to pay exorbitant prices for (natural peanut butter), or had used up since Friday (cheese and yogurt). It turned out to be one of those blessed occasions when the sale prices are actually good--2 pound containers of yogurt for ninety-nine cents! The sell-by date is January 1, but I can eat it all by then, oh yes. It was a jolt to hear the music playing in the store, though. After all these weeks of Christmas music, new popular music comes as something of a shock. Fortunately, I can still hear holiday music here at home if I like.
There was a small incident at the checkout line, however. In fairness to the customer involved, the clerk was perhaps not quite as professional as she should have been. The cashier expected to be treated with the respect due to all sentient beings, and reacted with some dismay when she was not so treated. This is a perfectly human reaction, but not a perfectly professional one. Still, while the cashier may have been too sensitive for her job, the customer was simply obnoxious, both to her and to those of us waiting in line. After some harsh words, the customer demanded the presence of a manager, saying to the clerk, "Do! Not! Touch! My! Food! Ever! Again!"
So we waited for a manager, and I couldn't help reacting my own way. I laughed. The man behind me laughed with me. I gleefully said to the others around that the customer's behavior was caused by "The Christmas spirit! The joyous holiday spirit!" The woman rolled her eyes, her elderly mother waited unsure of what exactly was going on, and the rest of us laughed. Perhaps my reaction was not the kindest one possible, but I do think the woman in front of me had chosen to be miserable and that laughter kept her from infecting the rest of us.
Eventually a manager came over, serenely rang up the customer's order, and then took the cashier aside, telling her kindly that she should expect craziness for the next few days and shouldn't take it personally.
Finally, my order was rung up and I could start to walk home. As I walked, I thought to myself that there are times when people should push themselves to their limits, and there are times when people shouldn't push themselves at all. I reluctantly admitted to myself that when a person is wheezing and has lungs full of gunk, it is probably one of the latter times. So I hopped onto a bus, discovered that it wasn't my usual route, and realized with relief that this route was just as good for me anyway. Passengers & driver sat comfortably chatting about how insane the traffic was all along the way. Got home and made a big pot of chicken soup.
Saturday: Went to a drugstore for laundry detergent. Against my better judgment, I waded into the Christmas Eve crowd at Target so I could get a few other essentials. One of my fellow customers was a man who had a more joyous portion of the Christmas spirit than most, who allowed anyone with fewer items than he had to go ahead of him in line.
Aside from shopping, spent most of the day resting and letting my computer make kaleidoscopes. I was coughing much less by this point, but was very tired. Wasn't feeling up to going to a Christmas Eve service, unfortunately.
Sunday: Spent most of the morning sleeping. For much of Christmas day the weather reminded me of Greg Lake's "I Believed in Father Christmas," specifically the lines
They said there'll be snow at Christmas,
They said there'll be peace on earth,
But instead it just kept on raining,
A veil of tears for the Virgin birth.
'Kash had asked if people without other plans wanted to get together this weekend, so in the evening Rhianna, Rab, & 'Kash picked me up and we went off to have adventures (or at least dinner and a movie). Since good company is the best gift I could have asked for, it was a very good Christmas.
Finding an open restaurant with food for people on restricted diets was a minor challenge. First we tried a Mexican/Salvadoran restaurant, which looked promising. It might have been a good choice for us if there hadn't been live music involved at a volume which made my eardrums shriek. The others agreed to go to a different place, so we ended up at an "international buffet" which had enough variety for everybody. I had fun trying lots of different foods, concentrating on the ones I never have at home. The octopi didn't taste as interesting as they looked, but most of the food was tasty, particularly the stuffed crab. The others seemed to enjoy their meals as well, though Rab deeply regretted his beer. My fortune cookie read: "Hope is the most precious treasure to a person."
After dinner, we went out hunting for a movie theater in an area none of us really knew that well. After parking in a busy garage, we went--and it felt as if we were walking into some place, not outside--to a fog-shrouded street. With all the relatively clean, newish buildings there, it felt almost like walking in some haunted Disneyland. We found the movie theater at just the right time to catch the previews before Narnia. I've heard and read so many people saying that the movie was good but not great that maybe it was inevitable I'd agree. But it was very good. I was impressed by Aslan and all the lovely effects, I sniffled at the parts where everybody's expected to sniffle, and I really did enjoy it all.
Came home very happy to have had good company and a merry Christmukah night.
Monday: Mmm... a chance for more sleep. Some back and leg pain bothering me, but nothing I can't handle. Went out for some post-Christmas grocery shopping to buy things I had forgotten to buy earlier (honey), had refused to pay exorbitant prices for (natural peanut butter), or had used up since Friday (cheese and yogurt). It turned out to be one of those blessed occasions when the sale prices are actually good--2 pound containers of yogurt for ninety-nine cents! The sell-by date is January 1, but I can eat it all by then, oh yes. It was a jolt to hear the music playing in the store, though. After all these weeks of Christmas music, new popular music comes as something of a shock. Fortunately, I can still hear holiday music here at home if I like.
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I think I figured out what it reminded me of: a snow globe but without the snow. It was like walking around in the middle of a snow globe, or maybe a rain/fog globe.:)
Anyway, glad you had a good time and it was great spending the holiday with you!
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Yes, that's a good description for it. :-)
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Well, you are.
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::blush::