is it just me?

on Thursday I went to pick our babysitter for the basketball game. Unfortunately our sitter who can drive herself to our house appears to have fallen in love with a Frenchman and is now studying abroad for the second time in three semesters. Boo to that. Anyway, teh babysitters's mother says "Do you want to bring The Closer DVD?" and she replies "No, I'm bringing Vonnegut." hahaha. I love it. It is so classic college freshman cool I can hardly stand it. She goes to school in Montana and usually her sister babysits, but she is home on break and has a later weeknight curfew. Sure as shit, she was laying on the couch reading Vonnegut when we got home. Very busy being worldly and intellectual. Her sister is always doing homework when we come home, even on a Friday. I babysat A LOT as a younger person and I do not think I was ever doing homework when anyone came home. Ever. It's too bad none of them watch TV because that is our greatest amenity. We have HBO. We never have much of anything good to eat, but we do have entertainment. Our voyaging babysitter is always simultaneously watching some movie on cable and checking her email when we get home which is, frankly, as it should be. (This coming from the girl who loves American Gladiators, so perhaps a grain of salt is necessary.)

Speaking of American Gladiators, I know everyone is saying that it is what is wrong with TV with the writers strike, but I beg to differ. At least it is entertaining. Deal or No Deal...THAT is what is wrong with TV. That show is so boring it makes my eyes bleed. Basically it is a flashy class in basic probability, and never have I made it through more than 5 minutes, and that time I think I might actually have been temporarily paralyzed by boredom and distress and was unable to turn the TV off. I did feel kind of sad for the people that won Golden Globes last night and had to settle for having their names unceremoniously read by two people they picked up off the street. I know awards shows are kind of silly, but still. They won and people usually care that you win so you should get to win at a party instead of a press conference. And I will miss all the fashion police pictures and catty commentary. Boo.

Last night in the grocery store I thought I had lucked out because I found a checker with no line. Then I looked at her and thought maybe she was retarded, but then I reminded myself that usually those people are the baggers, so I proceeded. I was fishing out my bags (side note: I bring my own paper bags to the store. Grocery stores hate this. They do not want my old, wrinkled, mismatched bags, as they are not nearly as convenient to fill. However, they are not supposed to say anything so they just give you this look like "f'ing tree hugger" and begrudgingly give you your 10 cents off. Ha. I win.) and as I turn around I see she is smearing chapstick all over the backs of her hands. Ew. It's cold, and it's winter, and I am no stranger to skin revolting at the harsh conditions, but seriously. Chapstick? On your hands? While handling food? Ew. At this point I decided it was too late to tell her I did not want some waxy freak filling my well loved bags, so I just went ahead. Unfortunately, she was also slow as molasses. Rather than just scan all the items through and then bag, she would pick and choose the next item based on what she wanted to put in the bag. Do you have any idea how long this takes? About 4o times as long as normal. Seriously. And she was totally grouchy. As an impulse purchase (and I am not necessarily proud about this) I had gotten some malted milk balls from the bulk food. This proved to be highly erroneous. First she reported she had no idea what the code was for "malted milk or whatever this was" and rather than, say, look it up, she just put them back on the belt. Like magically the problem would solve itself. Finally some other employee went to check, but by the end of the whole debacle I was seriously regretting my purchase. So I ate them all on the way home and pretended it never happened. That gave me the energy I needed to de-chapstickify my remaining purchases.

happy monday.