Thursday, July 22, 2010

Starting Balanced, Ending Off-Center

I awoke to the nicest weather we've had in months. It was sunny, but the haze had vanished, revealing a robin's-egg-blue sky. It couldn't have been above the mid-80s, and there wasn't a smidge of humidity. It was perfect weather for July in southern New Jersey, and a great start for this week's yoga class.

Today's class was medium-sized, 13 people counting my friend Pattie and the teacher Karin. We had plenty of room to work on heart-openers and back-bends. I've gotten so much better at the bridge pose! I can now do it without trouble. I still can't do full wheel, but I'll keep trying.

Next stop was the thrift shop. I found American Graffiti and West Side Story on DVD and a vintage Tom and Jerry Golden book called Tom and Jerry's Party. Erica also gave me the good news that, as of now, the thrift shop will be open until at least November. (I wouldn't be surprised if they kept it open even longer than that. It's just too popular to close.)

The Collingswood Library was next on my to-do list. They'd attempted to fix the poorly-organized children's DVDs by moving them to the new releases shelves. It just made things look worse. There isn't enough room. I put everything away as best I could, then suggested to FA, the librarian on duty, that they completely overhaul their DVD shelves. They have these beautiful shelves and a wonderful DVD collection, but they're so badly done, you'd never know it.

First of all, they can remove the classics section all together and mix those in with the other DVDs. What makes a classic? Just because a movie is older than 1970 doesn't automatically make it a "classic." I pulled at least seven movies from elsewhere that I knew were musicals, and one that was a foreign film. And sorry, but there isn't much anyone can do about the kids' DVDs. They either need to find a better shelf for that, or just admit that kids will be kids and they're going to have to organize that a lot.

Went straight home after that. It was so nice out, I made Peach-Blueberry Muffins, then had one with yogurt and blackberries for lunch. I went briefly online to confirm something Erica said about it getting up to 100 here by Saturday. It says upper 90s - 100 is probably for the metro Philly area. As long as it's not humid, I don't care. I'm off Saturday as of this second anyway. If it gets really bad, I can hide in the air conditioning or Dad's pool.

Work wasn't anywhere near as pleasant as the morning. I don't know why, but people were really rude and ignorant today. One old lady got angry when her coupons didn't come off. She didn't buy the brands the coupons were for! Instead of saying, "Oops, silly me, I read those wrong. Can you get the right items, or maybe I'll do it?", she threw a fit and blamed me and the store for getting everything wrong!

(I discovered during break when I was reading the flyer for next week that she wouldn't have been able to use the coupons anyway, even if she'd had the right items. The coupons were for the sales that start tomorrow. She must have gotten the flyer today and been confused...though that was still no excuse for rudeness.)

Another lady shoved a nearly-perfect loaf of bread under my nose and said, "Take it off, it's smashed. The lady I'm buying for doesn't like smashed bread." The loaf had two slices that were very slightly smushed. She eventually kept it and said she'd eat the two "smushed" slices herself. She was rude and fussy in general, too, muttering and whining about how she had to hurry because, oh, she was trying to impress such important people and everything just HAD to be right. Impressing people is also not an excuse for rudeness. Even the lady behind her said she was being rude.

I was very upset and angry when I got home. I called Mom to calm down and because I haven't heard from her in a while. She was working on a new scarf for her sister Terri and trying to help my brother, who is making a shadow box for his girlfriend Vicki. Speaking of Aunt Terri, her son Adam's wedding seems to have gone very well last week, despite a lot of guests not coming.

Oh, and I confirmed my vacation with them. I'll be in Erma between August 1st and 3rd.

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