Apple Products (And What People Do For Them)

At the moment, I'm totally sitting in a laundromat doing laundry. Next door is a Subway, from which I'm filching my internet access. :D

I was going to start out by saying that life has been fairly uneventful for the last couple of weeks, but then I realized just how untrue that is. It isn't uneventful; I've just kinda been too lazy to write anything! So, a quick catch-up, then.

The other night, I was sitting outside the Apple store at the Kansas City Plaza. The Plaza is this really cool downtown area that kinda reminds me of "Historic Downtown Branson," in it's own quaint little way. Anyway, the temperature was probably thirty degrees, and I was sitting there at about 1:30 in the morning. Why was I sitting there at 1:30 in the morning, you ask? Well, that's a pretty good question, and it has a pretty good answer. The iPad2 has recently been released, and while I hold no personal need for Apple products (probably because I've never owned one; I'm told when you buy one Apple product, though, you become addicted to the company, so it must be good), somebody pretty close to me absolutely needed one, and I, being the kind, generous person that I am, decided it would be fun to go freeze with him.

Freeze, we did. It was so cold. I had on a pair of jeans, two shirts, a jacket and a coat, and I was still cold. There was this wind that just wouldn't die. Skyler was wearing pajama bottoms under his jeans, two shirts and a pretty heavy jacket (definitely not a coat) and I don't understand how he didn't become a Skyler-cicle, because he's always colder than me.

Until about 3:30, there was only one other person there. He was this sleepy old Chinese guy who was propped up in the corner, sitting on a large black bag. Every so often, you'd hear a sigh and he would stir a little in his sleep. The sigh, unfortunately, was always followed by what can only be politely described as a case of very bad flatulence. :/ Ew. At 3:30, a bouncer from one of the local bars arrived with a Red Bull, which I kinda stared at with the desire that the Chinese man would have used to stare at a bottle of Beano.

More people finally started showing up around 6, after we had already been there for four and a half hours. The store opened at 8 (two hours early, thankfully), and they had only SIX iPads. Six. But Skyler and I were in second place, which made it totally okay. So he got his iPad (which I played with, and yes, it was really cool, and probably worth waiting for six and a half hours in the freezing cold for), and I got a sore throat and a case of the sniffles and fifteen minutes of sleep before work. But it's okay, because it was fun, if not a bit irresponsible. :D

Creepers Be All Up On Me, Yo

I'm trying so hard not to be mundane and run out of exciting things to talk about. That's not working out so well, because life seems to be at a bit of a standstill.

OH! But I do have one story to share!

Okay, so, I got the job working as a cashier, because I've totally worked with at least five different cash registers in four years and I have great people skills. This was also due in part to Aunt, who manages one of the branches.

One of the requirements for the uniform is a white, button-down, collared shirt. I have turquoise, green, and orange...but no white. So I was all, "Omg I love thrift storessss" and hunted one down yesterday. It's not in a shady area of town, per se. It's in one of those bizarre locations, though, where people drives Mercedes' on one side of the street, and people walk on the other. Y'know, like...this side of the road is lovely, and that side is creepy. Thrift Shop is, surprisingly, on the lovely side.

So, I go into Thrift Shop, and immediately locate men's clothing. They do have a lot of nice shirts, but none of them are white. They had a really nice red one that I loved, but I resisted. "I'm not buying aaaanything but a white shirt," I said to myself. ...my resolve fell apart, by the way, the instant I saw a collection of Shakespeare's work on the discount bookshelf, but that can be expected.

Anyway, I left Thrift Shop without the shirt (but with five plays), and decided it was time to find a Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate one immediately. Fortunately, there was a K-Mart right there. Unfortunately, it was on the creepy side. I, however, was not observant enough to realize that this was so until I was in the store (henceforth know at Ghetto K-Mart).

I go into Ghetto K-Mart, feeling rather terrified, because I'm a small guy in an unfamiliar area of town in a Ghetto K-Mart. I find the shirt I need, buy it, and head out the door.

As I'm crossing the parking lot, I hear someone shout, "Hey, guy! Guy! ...girl?" At this point, I realized he was talking to me. Not because he said girl, mind you, but because when I turned around, he switched back to "guy."

He gets out of a big white creeper van about six parking spots away from where I'm parked. I'm just thinking "Whaaat does he want? ..." He crosses over talking about trying to find a Wal-Mart, but getting lost. Apparently, Ghetto K-Mart is the mecca for people who can't find Wal-Mart. I told him I didn't know where one was, but I could find out via GPS. I opened my car door, and safely placed myself between the door and the car, where I could duck away quickly. I'm not stupid...I do have some inkling of street smarts, thank you very much. I can also hold my own pretty well, but it didn't seem necessary.

I couldn't find Wal-Mart on the GPS, so I suggested maybe asking someone who was more familiar with the area. He didn't seem to interested in finding Wal-Mart. He was eyeing me and my car. He asked if I had a phone he could use, and I quickly changed the subject. "I'm sorry, I don't let creepers use my phone. I'm low on minutes, sorry." Then he starts talking about my car. I realized, at this point, that he was moving dangerously close to me, and kept talking, really fast. When he got too close for personal comfort with a complete stranger who drives a creeper van and kinda looks like he might be a serial killer, I played the "I'm sorry, I've got a job interview in a few minutes, so I need to go," at which point he backed off really fast, said his good-bye and watched me leave. ...creepily.

So, basically, yesterday, I almost got carjacked/kidnapped/raped/murdered/possibly-all-of-the-above. And I'm surprsingly amused by it. As I pulled out, I kinda laughed a little bit, like, "That totally just happened." And then I was like "o.O omgthattotallyjusthappened*shudder*" and went on with my day. Thank goodness for smooth talking and handling situations carefully, right? Right.

Jobs, Jesus and Hair (A Bizarre Combination)

Last night was ugly. I had a headache that simply wouldn't die and got kinda lonely and really depressed. Moving is stressful, and apparently it's a bit of an adjustment, which I was prepared for, so that's okay.

But today...today has been fantastic. "How fantastic?" I'm sooo glad you asked. Let me put it this way. Imagine you just landed on the moon (wearing the proper equipment, so you can breath and not die while you're on that giant space rock). Now, imagine that the moon really is made of cheese. No. Better yet, imagine that the moon is made of cheesecake. And you have a fork. That is how fantastic today has been!

For starters, I had my secondary job interview today, and they called me less than five minutes after I left to let me know I got the job! I start training tomorrow, and I'm just a little bit totally pumped. The pay is fifty-cents-an-hour more than most people who come in on entry level, because I have experience in cashier/customer service stuff. Who know working at Save-a-Lot for two years would have been such a huge blessing!? :)

Also, I'm pretty sure I found a church today, too, which got me all giddy inside. I checked it out this afternoon. It's Life Church, and the people there are great! I checked out their website, too, and they seem to be a really good, Bible-based church, so I'm really happy! I'll be checking out their Saturday night service on...well, on Saturday, I guess!

I have a hair appointment tomorrow, too. It's getting a bit bushy up there, so I'm gonna have to have something done with it, for sure. Hopefully it'll look fine; I usually have a terrible week after getting a haircut because it always looks a little bit ridiculous at first. We'll see!

ETA: Ozarks Christian News just published an article I wrote, by the way. It'll be on page 19 of the upcoming March edition, and you can check that out at their website!

ETA: Oh, and apartment shopping tonight. I have a good feeling about this one, just because today has been so spectacular.