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Afterthoughts : This Past Month
The next to last month of the year has felt like nothingness. It went in a flash. November isn't my favorite month by a long shot. In my house we never really celebrated Thanksgiving. One year we went out on Thanksgiving, thinking we would find a restaurant to eat. We found one. We were the only people that walked through the door that day. I had fish and chips for Thanksgiving that year. Five years ago my Grandmother, perhaps sensing she didn't have much longer to live, suggested we go out for Thanksgiving dinner. We went to the Valley Inn. The food was good, but a cloud hung over the dinner. Little did I realize it would be her last three months on Earth. Three years ago my Father died on Thanksgiving day. So yeah, me and Thanksgiving don't have a rich history together.
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Morning meetings suck, but they give me an excuse to go to Disneyland for a few hours on November 10th. Here are a few pictures that I took with my iPhone and an app called Plastiq that affects the photos with a slight tint and other effects.
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On day 105 of our relationship (Nov. 11th) someone at work found my journal and learns that Megan and I are indeed in a relationship. Megan and I have been keeping our relationship a secret from our co-workers for reasons I'm not ready to state here. Suffice to say it's not really anyone's business, but learning that someone at work found us out because I wrote about it here did shock me when I first discovered that our little secret wasn't so secret any more. This isn't to say that everyone at work knows. I'm pretty sure most people know simply because Megan and I are always hanging out together, and we're always flirty. I never expected to be in the situation I'm in right now. I hate it when someone says "it just happened," but that's exactly how it went down. I didn't plan on this, it did "just happen." I know how that sounds, but it's the truth. I suppose I could have pushed Megan away the first time she kissed me, but I didn't. For that I am responsible. The loneliness I felt was beginning to crush my spirit before Megan came into my life. I'm not making excuses, because no one wants to hear them. I'm simply stating what I felt at the time. Anyways, the situation is what it is. I do love Megan, but I guess I shouldn't have said it in an open forum such as my journal. But, I did because I wanted to shout my love for her to the world.
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My Father on his deathbed
My Father died November 22nd, 2007. It was Thanksgiving day that year. I ate "Thanksgiving" dinner at a Bakersfield Jack-in-the-box. His body was taken away and his common-law wife told me to get something to eat because I hadn't had anything to eat the entire day. That was my only meal of the day. It's strange to say but I haven't missed my Father in the three years since he passed. We weren't close at the end. He tried to bridge the gap between us, but I didn't feel like doing the same. It is what it is. I can't change that, nor do I cry myself to sleep, or live with regret over the circumstances of our relationship. I'm not going to sit here and be a hypocrite, after the preamble of how I don't miss him, and tell you that I loved him. I did at one time, but not when he died. He helped me out, that I can't deny. But emotionally he just wasn't there. OK, I'll stop the bashing. Suffice to say, here it is three years later and I've yet to shed a single tear for the man. I am sorry that he died. He had a new family that loved him very much. I feel for them because I know how they feel now that he's gone.
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Thanksgiving dinner at Clifton's
Thanksgiving has never been a big deal in my house. Late Wednesday night my aunt said she was going to visit my Godmother on Thanksgiving day, to check in on her and to invite her to get something to eat. I piggybacked on that idea and told her that I'd like to take them both to Clifton's for Thanksgiving dinner. I had the bright idea a day before when thinking about possible plans. Nothing really popped out at me, because everything I considered was too expensive in my current economic state. Clifton's seemed like a perfect choice though. My aunt thought it was a good idea too. Megan visited me in the morning and then I set off on my own to downtown to join up with my aunt and Godmother for dinner. I had turkey, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, and a roll for dinner (as pictured above). I thought of going for pie, but I was too stuffed. I took some pictures with my new fisheye lens, and my aunt and I walked my godmother to her bus stop. She got on the bus and we took the red line back to Universal, where I parked the car. It was a really good Thanksgiving. No mess, no fuss, good company, and good eats. I think Clifton's for Thanksgiving dinner is going to become an annual tradition from now on.
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On the last day of November I was called sweet for keeping a running tally of how many days Megan and I have been together. :) What can I say, I'm sentimental. On to December!
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Editorial : Waiting in Line
check-out lines
Ever since Target added more groceries to their stores I have been doing more shopping there. I do like Target, but I don't get the concept behind their checkout lines (pictured above). The checkout stands are on double rows, one in front of the other. Access is often limited to a register in the front if there are a lot of people in the back registers. I really don't get the logic in double stacking the registers unless one line feeds both registers. But then how can people rely on having two registers in one line, supposedly for speed, when items are already placed on the conveyor belt?
I really hate shopping at a place that feels like the little things haven't been thought out, like in a store like Costco. When I go to Ikea there's one line per register. The store is laid out in a certain way, that leads people one day towards their purchases. Costco is a clusterfuck when it comes to store layout. Nothing feels like it's thought out in anyway. It's just, here's the stuff, here's a bunch of registers, have at it. People don't flow at Costco, they jam up, they meander and clot. Target is in between. The stores are nicely laid out when it comes to merchandise, but not when it comes to paying. I try to shop when I know fewer people will show up because I know that there will be fewer cashiers on duty. More means more of a chance that both front and back registers will be open in any given line. Somehow I always end up in the slow line.
The best kind of line, I feel, is the snake line. A snake line consists of one line for everyone, each waiting for the next available cashier to finish their transaction and move on to another. The snake line harnesses the power of multiple cashiers to the maximum. If one cashier is slow, or is dealing with a problem that will take a long time it doesn't matter, because the other cashiers will make up the difference. No one is stuck having to wait in the slow line, or the line where the person is writing out a check. Because there's only one line that feeds all cashiers. It's a great solution that I wish more stores adopted. Alas, this plea will fall on deaf ears and I'll have to continue to suffer waiting in line to pay for my stuff.
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