Today's rambling: What a tale!
Written on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003 at 3:39 a.m.
while feeling a bit

Come gather round, children. Auntie Berry is going to tell you a fine story, entitled "The Search For Perfume". Oddly enough, the lead character is a girl named Berry. Just a coincidence, I assure you.

Once upon a time, a man named Sir Geoffrey spirited away his fair Berry to far-off lands. Generously, he had offered to take her to find a certain kind of perfume for her mother. So, on his loyal steed (named Acura), they traveled first to the shire of Strawbridge's, where they discovered that this coveted perfume was $52 for the smallest bottle. Being but a peasant, Berry decided to seek out other merchants before settling on such a high price.

As they made their way out of this store, Sir Geoffrey amusedly remarked, "Well, this is the first time I've ever been through this part of the store before!"

Next, on a whim, they stopped by the kingdom of WalMart, but because there was a particular song that they wished to listen to, it was decided that they would travel to another kingdom (oddly, of the same name) so that they'd have time to listen to this song. Little did they know that the route Sir Geoffrey had chosen would be congested with other carriages, and it would take them over half an hour to travel a very short distance. When they finally reached the other kingdom, they found the denizens to be quite clueless and rude, and as the object they sought was nowhere to be found, they traveled on.

In a vast kingdom twice the size of these other places, they stopped in many small shires, all to no avail. Neither JCPenney's nor Sears had this perfume, and a small peddler's cart dubbed "Perfume Heaven", which just the other day had had this perfume for only $39, was today sold out. Berry had begun to despair, when they went across the way to a place called Macy's. The price they asked was $60, and so Berry had decided to go back to Strawbridge's after all...when behold! There was another small peddler's cart selling perfume! And the sought-after perfume was there! For $54, but Berry was so relieved to have finally found it that she paid the price anyway.

And so ends Auntie Berry's story. Now go away, you rotten little kids.

Actually, there's still more to tell, but not in fairytale form, hehe! It was really funny to have Geoff tagging along through the women's department...Always nice to have a friend that's willing to go places he wouldn't normally want to be seen at, don't you think? And all quite cheerfully, too! I felt terrible making him drive around so much (especially with that disgustingly long traffic jam), and then making him walk around that entire huge mall! It would be one thing if he'd had to get stuff, too, but the only thing he'd had to get was this silly toy thing from Toys R Us...and that was an errand he was running for Tim! So he was doing all this stuff for me, which of course I appreciated fully...but I still felt bad. :P

I also dragged him into Bath and Body Works (not realizing until just now how much he must've enjoyed that). Grabbed up a bottle of Coconut Lime Verbena lotion, and was thinking about buying it until I remembered that I'd told Mom awhile back that I wanted her to get it for me for Christmas. Not that I know if she remembered or not. Anyway, I'd put the bottle down and was thinking about how we could get out without all the salespeople accosting us, when Geoff picked up the bottle and said he'd buy it for me. And so he did. And now I own a bottle of some very yummy-smelling lotion.

Geoff's friend Mark made him this AWESOME mirror thing for Christmas. The frame of it used to be one of those half-circle windows (I guess you usually see them over doors or something), but they put a mirror where the glass would have been. Then he glued the little wooden 'spoke' things back onto the mirror, so it looks like there are 3 separate pieces of glass instead of just one whole thing. Underneath of it there's a small shelf that's painted white and then distressed to make it look older, and there are even two little brass hooks underneath where you can hang stuff. It looks awesome. I told Geoff that I was going to commission Mark to make me one, too.

My Christmas present from Geoff ended up being 3 CDs (Moody Blues' "A Question of Balance"--I now have all 7 of their 'good' albums, lol!--one by Rush, and one by ELP)...and as if that weren't enough, he ALSO bought me "The Pythons", which I'd been ogling the last time we were out. Even though I'm sure he got it with discounts (B. Dalton had a 20% sticker on the one we saw), the original price is still $60. It's not that I'm concerned with the prices of gifts, it's just that I can't imagine people not in my family spending so much money on me, lol! I know, I probably sound like I'm just making excuses to cover up the fact that I am, in fact, a money-grubbing wench. *grins* But I'm not. So there. :P

Pam started spouting propaganda about studying abroad in England for a semester during our senior year. I'd had a brief desire to study abroad in France, since Amanda had made it sound so poetically romantic, but I quickly gave up the idea when I realized that I'd never be able to survive in a country whose language I only partially understand. England, at least, would be speaking my language...but the first obstacle in this is money. In order to do this, I'd have to pay regular tuition plus $1,000...and then I'd have to supply my own way over there, my own money for food and such, and all that other extra stuff. If we did this our senior year, I reckon I could save up some money for it. I don't know. The university she was looking at apparently has a very good Comm program, and I guess it might be one of those things that looked good on a resume...maybe? Well hell, even if it didn't it would still be quite the experience!

Of course, you know what I'd be spending all my free time doing, right? Searching out the homes of all my rockstar idols, of course! The two places I would HAVE to go are Freddie Mercury's old home (assuming it's still there; I would get numerous pictures of myself in front of the wall!), and Wembley Stadium...which is a place I've wanted to go ever since I was younger, for very silly reasons. See, not only was Live Aid held there (well, the European part, anyway), but Queen had one of there very last concerts there! And the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was held there. When I traveled over to Belgium back in...'97, maybe, my biggest goal had been to get over to England so I could see Wembley. 'Course, I got homesick and went home before I ever set foot on English soil. And then I heard in the news awhile back that they were going to tear down Wembley, and I was heartbroken! I'd never get to see it! I still might not, for all I know!

Anyway, I suppose it would all be terribly fun and romantic. However, it would also be unbelievably strange and bewildering and scary. I've heard it said that American college students get spoon-fed. Would I find myself flunking over in some English university? Unfortunately, despite my variety of exotic friends, I don't have any in the UK who could give me an idea of their system!

Oh well, better not start thinking about all that. After all, I don't even know that I'd have the financial resources to do it anyway! Since my Dad's taking over payment of my tuition starting in January, I guess I'll have to talk it all over with him. That'll be interesting. He's always been very tight-handed with his money...

Good night (or 'morning'), Diary! :)