Random Bits

Grocery shopping tonight turned out to be an experience (of course I would forget to get the ONE item I absolutely positively NEEDED, but I digress). My supermarket has self checkout. More then that it has scan-as-you-go shopping. When you are a scan-as-you-go shopper, you can check out at the self checkout and just scan your store card and it pulls up your already scanned order and you pay, and are out the door really really quickly.

So I did my shopping and got to the bottom of my list (I didn't realize I forgot that ONE IMPORTANT ITEM until I got home. Bygones.). I got in line for the self checkout as normal. Only two self checkout lanes were open, one with three guys in line, one with a couple of girls checking out and one other guy also in line with a very small cart of stuff (he had maybe six items in his cart. Maybe.).

I got in line behind him. The girls are about seventeen, obviously new to the whole checkout thing, but I am okay to wait - holidays y'know. The other lines had more people. The girls are having trouble with the concept of weighing their produce on the scale - they kept taking it off the scale before it was completely finished and erroring the system. Which called the guy who handles all the self checkout lanes over to void and re-ring. The girls were obviously getting things Mom (and/or Dad - whoever the adult is who cooks and shops) had forgotten (I don't know two teenage girls who would get three large bunches of asparagus).

Finally the young man who worked there came and rang in the last of their cart, and left them to pay (via credit card). One girl finished bagging while the other was trying to navigate the payment process. It told her to sign the signature pad next to the scanner. She couldn't figure out where the "pen" to sign was. She got that point, and then tried signing the wrong signature pad. She got more and more upset until I realized she wasn't following the directions and didn't know what to do.

Then I found myself saying something I've never even heard my mother say. I ducked around the guy in front of me and said "here, honey, sign right there and press done" pointing at the signature pad that is right under her hand (in her defense she was faced with three different electronic pads and the signature one is the smallest and least obvious).

I called her "honey" wtf? When did I get all maternal and shit? That is just Not Right.

The guy and I exchange good-natured eyerolls as if to say kids! as the girls leave giggling. He checks out in good time (he had about five or six bags of bread rolls and that was it), and then so do I. All I had to do was scan my store card and pay - so even with groceries for the next week it took about three minutes for me to check out.

Of course I would pick the shortest line that took the most time. I seem to have a knack for it. Oy!

My not-quite-nine year old niece is learning how to play the string bass (how cool is that?). It is bigger than she is.

My six and a half year old niece is going to start piano lessons in the next couple of weeks.

My brother is still working on the addition to their house to try to get the upstairs live-able. He just has to complete installing the bathrooms, cut a door into the new part of the house, and move the girls into their new rooms. B is a little anxious to have her own room. We pointed it out (gently, of course) that her Papa said he was hoping to have it done this fall, and Fall is only a couple of days old, so he's got until after Thanksgiving, at least. But I guess she's been hounding her mother. She is one of those people who is still after instant gratification, instantly. Her older sister is far more patient, and able to see the bigger picture. Always has been.

This past weekend was incredibly busy - I helped backstage for a brand new theatre company trying to get off the ground - their very first production was "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum..." which I'd never seen before. Sure, I know the music - "Comedy Tonight" is a classic, as is "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" and "Pretty Little Picture." Less well-known, but still pretty standard are "Lovely," "Impossible," and "Free."

But, as the cast tells us in the opening number ""No royal curse, no Trojan horse, and a happy ending, of course!" it is a pretty mad-cap musical that is never PC, and kinda dated, but still damned funny. It seemed as if the audiences ate it up and laughed for two hours. Two sold out shows, and a third that was nearly three-quarters full. Not bad for a show that is almost fifty years old!

The costumer, who I enjoyed working with very much, is one of those people who you know for two days and are already old pals. I've known her for less than two weeks, and yet, she is completely awesome, talented, and knows a heck of a lot about many different subjects. And she is one of the sweetest, most genuine people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. I told her I want to be her when I grow up.

Today, back to the grind stone.

So how unfair is it that I am in California for the week and the weather here isn't as nice as back home? Damn it! I am missing really nice weather!

The new company is *still* made of all kinds of awesome.

Sadly, I missed Patriot's Day and the running of the Boston Marathon - but I had the Web open so I could see the results come in. I remember being off school for the monday of the Boston marathon, and riding my bike down to Wellesley to watch the runners go by. Years and years of watching the runners go by - and it wasn't so much about the runners of the marathon, but the carnival/event excited feeling that was so much a part of the spectators. When I was working retail, the storefront was on the route, and we could watch from the doorway as the runners went by.

Three more days and I am coming home... I know it is only 9pm here but man, it's midnight at home and I am *ready* for *bed*!

G'night all!