Black Friday Blues

Kristi is not here. Kristi got up at 5 in the morning to go out and hit all the early-bird post-Thanksgiving mega-sales. Kristi does this every year. Kristi is obviously taking some drug that I don't know about, and she isn't sharing. She should be fine, though, as long as she remembered her cell phone and her can of mace. You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din.

Thanksgiving went about as well as could be expected. Work was its usual holiday-miserable self, but there were relatively few "fun" customers. (I'm defining "fun customers" here as anyone for whom the temptation to drop-kick my job by telling them to bite my crank before sending them to Phone Call Purgatory borders on overwhelming.) Colleen was there for a while, which helped; she's working the overnight shifts, so nobody ever gets to see her anymore. She, Sully and I played the radio version of "What's the Painfully Mediocre Sports Bar Cover Band Going to Play Next?" because the station in question seemed to have the exact repertoire of any Thursday night act at Sandy's Clam Bar. I kept being off by just that much: yes, they played Bachman Turner Overdrive, but not "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet;" the Rush selection turned out to be "Limelight" instead of "Tom Sawyer"... You get the idea. (I am so pissed that I didn't think of "Rock and Roll Hoochie-Coo.")

Then it was home for dinner. (Woohoo! *drool*) I literally walked in the door and said, "Skip the formalities, and GIVE ME FOOD." Everyone had started eating (I don't blame them), but they were all still doing so when I came in, which was cool. Mom-in-law created another masterpiece of a meal, which I'm salivating over just thinking about, which means I'll probably have to cut this short and score myself some leftovers. I missed the stuffed-mushroom appetizers, but at least I was around for Kristi's pumpkin bread pudding for dessert, which was nothing short of exquisite. Pardon me while I sigh contentedly...

The good news is, today is my "floating holiday" (Verizon lets you take Martin Luther King Day, President's Day, or the day after Thanksgiving as a paid holiday, your choice). The bad news is, they scheduled me to work anyway. I'll get holiday rates for it, but c'mon, people. A little slack would be nice. (So would a little snack, for that matter. The Tupperware is calling me...)

And I didn't even have a fine going (yet)

An unusually good haul at Crandall Public Library, all new or almost-new acquisitions:

1) A huge book on hearth and open-fire cooking: In the vain hopes that we can actually talk the in-laws into cranking up the fireplace this winter.
2) Stupid White Men: Somebody's been Bogarting this for months. I read one chapter at work, and already I know I'll soon be joining the American Civil Liberties Union. My ass needs a solid kicking once in a while.
3) A definitive biography of Jethro Tull: I haven't been a major fan in a decade or so, but there's still that latent streak in me. Now my credibility is shot to hell.
4) Amelie on DVD: They've had it for a while, but I've never been able to simultaneously coordinate (a) it being on the shelf and (b) me not having $20 + in fines until now. Woohoo!
5) Nosferatu, also on DVD: I find that watching silent European films from the 10's and 20's helps me remain pompous and irritating.

Of course, as of 9 a.m., the videotapes of The Juniper Tree and Belle de Jour I got last week will be overdue, which means I'll be coughing $2 a day per tape for movies that I haven't even watched. Again. Gads, my life really is a downward spiral. Sigh...