Today's rambling: Teach meh!
Written on Wednesday, Jun. 25, 2003 at 10:24 p.m.
while feeling a bit

Going out to Walmart with Tiff last night has given me that itch to learn sewing again. I've just spent the past hour or so looking at sites that sell vintage clothing patterns, and there were sooooo many things that I would love to be able to make! Of course, if I wore half of those things, people would look at me and wonder if I have to do all of my shopping at thrift stores because I can't afford new clothes. :P Yet more proof that I should not have been born in the 80's. I would have had an overflowing closet if I'd lived through the 60's and 70's! Hehehe...But oh well. When I learn to sew, I'm going to make retro clothes anyway. Considering the way fashion has gone backward to the 60's, and then the 70's, it's only a matter of time before 80's stuff comes back again. Well heck, a lot of that stuff IS coming back already! I'll go as far as buying Care Bears, 'cause they're cute and a part of my childhood. But if you think for a minute that I'm going to start wearing big sweatshirts over stirrup pants, or acid-washed jeans, you're just out of your mind. The moment 80's clothes start becoming popular again, I'm going to scream wildly in terror and hide myself under the nearest rock until it's all over.

I am pathetically hungry. All we have are leftovers from last night, and I can't stand Hamburger Helper. Augh, it makes me cringe just to think of it. I'd like to have a nice crisp salad, with some tangy French dressing on it...*drools* Or how about some Indian food...Geoff said he'd take me to that Indian restaurant near his apartment, especially since the guy's really good friends with Geoff's brother and often gives him free food...

Speaking of Indian, though, our neighbor's mother and father rang our doorbell tonight. They are so wonderfully nice! They invited Mom and I over for some wine and food tonight, but I hadn't planned on going out anywhere and as a result my hair was all a mess and showing its thinness. I know that sounds ridiculously shallow, but it's my biggest problem. If I had beautiful, thick hair, I'd be able to go out in public with unbelievably higher confidence. I'd be able to go out with folks last minute because I wouldn't have to worry about putting that friggin' makeup on, and I'd be able to stay over at friends' houses without worrying about how long I'd have to take to get ready the next day...I can't even fully imagine how beautiful that would be. I can deal with being pudgy. I can't deal much longer with this lack-of-hair thing. It's getting to the point where, terrified as I am of any sort of surgery, I'd seriously consider some kind of transplant. Except I think they only do that with men. And with my luck, even if they DID do it for women, I'd end up looking like I had hair plugs. So there goes that idea...

I hope those guys didn't think I was being rude tonight, though. I was overcome with such shyness, I kept fidgeting and looking at Mom whenever they asked a question of me. I mean, whenever I spoke I was completely friendly, and I smiled a lot and everything, but my voice was terribly soft and, like I said, my gaze kept shifting. And then I said that I was going out in a bit, which was why I couldn't go over there with them. X_X I hope they invite us over again sometime when I'm better prepared, heh! Even though I'd probably have to fight laughter when I first saw their son (thinking of him there folding laundry whilst naked), I think it would be a really fun experience.

'Whilst' is such a great word. I like using it, hehe...

In an attempt to be as spoiler-less as possible, I would like to say that Safeway is very quickly turning into a corporate-version of a certain new character in the latest Harry Potter book. Mom was telling me today about how Norm got a written warning for giving out wilted flower bouquets to the employees. Dave had given permission for this aaaages ago, since the flowers would have to be thrown out anyway. I mean, they still look pretty nice, it's just that they're not as fresh as they once were and of course people wouldn't want to actually PAY for them. But the security woman, who apparently is a Nazi-esque bitch, said that that's not allowed. So alll those flowers are now going to have to be thrown out, instead of being given to people who might enjoy them for awhile.

There was a wet bar setup outside on the front sidewalk, with a counter and stools and such, but no one was buying it. It was $299 or some such, and back in the old days, we would have just discounted it to see if THAT would help it sell. Want to know what Safeway said we had to do? Throw it out. This wasn't a bunch of wilty flowers, which would at least turn to compost. This was a frickin' BAR COUNTER. No wonder this country is so damn wasteful, when there are people like Safeway who can't stand to discount something slightly! And I don't even GET it! I mean, I'd rather have ANY money than none at all! But no, they just want everything thrown out.

And the worst of it is, all these rules are just word-of-mouth things. Safeway has no handbook. So basically, they can just make their rules up as they go along, and it doesn't matter because they have no written documentation of their stupid random rules. Ohhh, it burns me up. If I have to go back to that place, and that security woman decides to get on my case because I left my purse somewhere it shouldn't be, I'll get up in her face. I mean it. Even my mother was afraid to let me work up at the bistro because she knew that if the manager (who's notorious for yelling) got in my face, I'd tell her where to stick it. This is quite something, considering that only a few years ago I would have taken the abuse. I won't anymore, especially not from such a sorry excuse as Safeway. The security woman told Ben to take his "lunch box" (which is just a small cooler) out of the dairy cooler, because that's against Safeway rules. I mean, oh my gosh! He could steal a half gallon of milk in that thing! Think of how much that would cost the company!!!! It's so much more of a loss than throwing out a $300 bar set, don't you think? And nevermind the fact that Ben's been bringing his lunch in that silly little cooler for YEARS. Today just might have been the day that his fingers itched to take one of those frosty beverages. Thankfully, Ben argued with her. I think he lost in the end, but I'd rather people fought than just accepted that Safeway doesn't know what in the hell it's doing.

Dave, by the way, was transferred to another store. Today was his last day, and in his place will be this guy Steve...who, funnily enough, was the guy who interviewed me when I first came to the company. He's an Elvis fanatic. He named his daughter and his dog something Elvis-related, but I can't remember exactly what they were named. I think his daughter is Presley...or maybe it's his dog. One of them has that name, but I swear it's his daughter, because I remember when he told me that I had to fight from staring at him in disbelief. I know there ARE girls out there with the name Presley, but...It just seems pretty silly to me.

Hehe...I just left a comment for Safeway to vent my anger. Don't worry, I know it was worthless and they won't even READ it, much less care what it says, but it makes me feel somewhat better. The stupid gits don't even have Pennsylvania in their list of states. There's a section that asks what store you shopped at, but under the state list they're all Western-ish states! Aughhhh, I wish they would have just stayed out west. At least people seem to like them for some unexplicable reason!

I'm going to go think of pleasanter things now...something other than imagining that, spontaneously, the entire Safeway headquarters would erupt into flame. If it ever did, though, I'd bring the marshmallows.

Actually, an added note...I was just looking at someone's layout (and it WAS good, but it just made me think), and I realized that when I read the HP books, I don't imagine Neville looking as he does in the movies. I imagine him as this little pudgy blond thing--cuter and more boyish than Dudley, of course--with innocent, almost shy features. Not really attractive, but cute. And I don't imagine him having those big teeth that movie-Neville has. Movie-Neville kinda bothers me, really. But I like book-Neville.

Of course, it's impossible to find people who look exactly like characters in a book. But I kinda wish movie-Neville wasn't so...ih. (Hehe...I couldn't think of a proper word, but that's the general reaction I gave.)