My Morning So Far And Chicken Little Asks a Question

Ugh. I'm at work today. But I don't expect sympathy because apparently everyone else's life sucks more than mine. According to the comments on the status update I left on FB yesterday, anyway. I made the mistake of mildly complaining about the fact that I have to work on a Saturday and the sympathy was just overwhelming. Or not so much, akshully.

And don't you just hate that? When you're not really whining but not exactly happy about something and then everyone thinks it's just hillarious to tell you what a whiner you are for complaining because omigosh you're life could just be so much worse. You could have their lives!! :-O

Yeah. Me neither. Sometimes it's all about the perspective, people. And it's not like I was looking for sympathy. You know, it was mostly complaining in fun, if that makes any sense. But anyway, boo on them. Get over yourselves already.

Anyway, I got up early this morning to go grocery shopping, though not as early as I should have and you know who was waiting for me when I got to Wal-Mart? Murphy. As in Murphy's Law. Ya'll are familiar with him, right? Yeah. It's always a real pleasure to run into him. Gah.

Now, I know this isn't a major event. It isn't like, say, a tsunami or an earthquake. Both of which are really earthshattering for those whom it affects. (More on that later.) No, this isn't anything like that. And I probably shouldn't even mention it because really, what is it in the face of death, destruction and people who work longer hours than me? It's nothing.

Except to me, it's a bummer of an annoyance. A pebble in the shoe of what might have been a fairly tolerable day even though I am at work instead of out in the sunshine with my pup.

So anyway, yeah. Me and Murphy had a run-in at Wal-Mart.

You see, there were these lovely decorative lanterns that I'd been eyeing for months on clearance for $10. And they'd actually taken them away sometime back in October and I almost cried because I hadn't bought one before they took them away. But then, last Saturday I noticed that they'd brought them back out! And still on clearance. So, since I still had about $22 left on a Visa Gift card that my aunt had given me, I told myself, "If they're here next Saturday, I'm buying one."

Fast forward to this morning. I made a beeline for the clearance aisle and wonder of wonders, they still had quite a few left. Several in brushed nickle and one in black. I grabbed the one in black because I have an unhealthy love of black home decore. (It's a sickness, really. But that's a story for another day.) And since it was only $10, I went over to the kitchen tools section and picked out $10 worth of gadgets I'd been eyeing for a while to finish out my gift card. I was really excited because, you know, I like new toys. Who doesn't?

Anyway, I'd carefully calculated the total so I knew exactly how much it was going to be and would just be covered by the gift card. Meaning, Jana wouldn't have to spend a dime of her carefully budgeted grocery money.

So I went about my business, got my groceries and headed to check out. After I paid for my groceries I set my gift card purchases on the counter and when she rang them up, I nearly panicked. First of all, because the total was $10 more than I'd calculated and also because I knew from prior experience that the stupid Visa Gift cards won't "take" if the balance is less than the sale. So I had to scrape together some cash first and when I didn't have enough, I had to remove one of my items in order to get the Visa gift card to go through.

All the while, the check-out lady is getting seriously grumpy with me and I was getting seriously grumpy with myself. Mostly because I was so bumfuzzled as to how I'd miscalculated so much. But also because I was already running late getting home to get ready for work. But I finally got it figured out and slunk out to my car in utter humilation because I hate being that girl. You know, the one who causes a hold up at the check out line.

But when I got to my car, I pulled out my ticket to see what happened...should have done that before I left the store, probably, or had I been paying attention when she rang me up, I may have noticed. But I was in a hurry. Anyway, to slightly shorten an already long and boring story, the lantern ended up being twenty bucks instead of ten. Ugh. Apparently, only the brushed nickle lanterns were on clearance even though they were all grouped together.

Needless to say, that sucker's going back first chance I get. And also, Visa Gift cards are the biggest pain in the butt. If you want to torture someone and diguise it as a generous gift? Give them a Visa Gift card.

I got home, snarfed my breakfast (Micky D's chicken biscuit and nonfat hazelnut capp.--YUM!) and rushed around to get ready for work in time. The DP was not happy with me. We only had ten minutes of snuggle and kiss time. Srsly. She pouted.

And then I got to work thirty minutes early!! What the crap?? Gah... But I turned that mild annoyance into a positive and used the time to walk several laps in the stacks. It was great exercise, yes, but also a great stress reliever.  Nothing like a good brisk walk to work out the kinks of an annoying morning. :)

Ugh, but now I've got a patron all up in my grill. He's just...well, he came in the last time I worked a Saturday and I may or may not have tripped and accidentally flirted with him. And so now he's all chatty and I think he thinks I like him. And I really don't. Or I might could if he weren't a patron asking me for stuff and interrupting what could have been a quiet morning at work. But probably not, because he's kind of annoying with his "I'm in grad school and I know lots of crap and am brilliant" schtick. And isn't it just annoying as heck that I can flirt really awesomely with guys I'm not attracted to but can't think enough to speak coherantly, much less flirt with, men who really get my old heart rate up? I am such a dork.

Oh, and just for kicks, I decided to screw the dress code this morning and am wearing a camo t-shirt and jeans. And a "man watch." lol Nobody hardly ever comes in on Saturdays so I figured no one would ever know. But that stinkin' Murphy...dude's gunning for me today, apparently. Or maybe I've just become adept at shooting myself in the foot. Probably the latter. lol

Anyway...

Ya'll know my Chicken Little complex right? So, the Chicken Little in me is like, totally happy to see that the sky isn't falling, but...What the crap is UP with all these earthquakes and tsunamis?? Chili, Japan, Hawaii...all just this weekend. And then, of course there's the infamous Haiti which they're still working at recovery. And countless others in recent months/years. It seems every other time I turn the TV on or fire up the computer there's news of another natural disaster. And I don't know how many of ya'll are Christians, but my Paw-Paw H (retired Baptist minister) says it's all just a sign of the times. And by "the times" I mean, the time leading up to Christ's return. The Bible, you may or may not know, speaks of mass natural disasters, such as earthquakes, as one of the signs leading up to the call to Glory.

But who really knows? Only God, that's who. And I'm not worried, except in the sense of wondering how many of my friends and loved ones might be left behind, if, indeed, Jesus is coming within my lifetime. (Ever read that series of books? The Left Behind series? It'll scare Jesus right into you if He's not already there.)

It's just something I wonder about sometimes. Some folks say, "Oh, well, it just seems like natural disasters are more prevalent and frequent because we hear more about it through the media than we used to." But the media's been around for more than 50 years. And I certainly don't recall hearing about this degree and number of natural disasters in much of my first 30 years of life.

But heck, since this is me we're talking about, California might have dropped into the ocean and I wouldn't hear about it until three years later. lol

Anyway, I think I've probably bored ya'll enough for one post. And I've got, like, an hour and a half left of work. So ya'll behave, have fun and be safe!