Day Sixty-One: Oh, Walmart...

To me, Walmart is one of those places I always associated with terrible, horrible things. When the first one opened up in my town when I was still a wee youngin', my mom and I went to check it out, and were amazed and shocked by the sheer size of the place. And then, as others found out about it, it became not only the most crowded retail location in the entire town, but also became a hang out and haven for the strangest and most unsavory of characters within a ten-mile radius. Keep in mind, I do not live in the Boondocks -- I live about forty minutes outside of a city center, where it is uncommon for us to raise pigs, and we definitely do not eat rabbit. But regardless, Walmart became a loathesome, brain-damaging place.

But every once in awhile, as years passed, by my mother's suggestion, we would venture out to one of the three Walmarts in the area to either look for something we think they might sell, or something my mom needed that the Giant Warehouse of Doom carried at a heinously cheap and annoying Rollback Price. But with a shudder and a sense of hope and slight optimism, I would accompany her to Walmart. But as predicted, after fifteen minutes of navigating around families of ten who left mammoth shopping carts in main thoroughfare aisles without care, and bargain-seeking, resourceful immigrants yelling loudly to each other across my path in languages I couldn't comprehend, I got claustrophobic and ran from the store in a panicked frenzy, swearing never to return. And finally, after about six months ago, I finally squeezed the last ounce of hope that Walmart experiences would get better out of my person, and hadn't been there since...

...until today.

After hours and days of looking for bedding for my new apartment that I liked enough to spend too much money on, I finally found the perfect set -- at Walmart. As the website stated it was only available online, I breathed a sigh of relief, and enjoyed the fact that I would be getting an entire set, including sheets, for forty-five dollars. I was ecstatic. That is, I was ecstatic until it was never in stock, EVER, because 10,000 other people were just as ecstatic as me. And then, magically, as if a gift from God, a nearby Walmart carried my bedding. I didn't think twice about venturing into the terrible hurricane of consumerism to get my coveted comforter.

But where I ended up was not just a Walmart. It was a twenty-four hour SUPER Walmart. It had a full grocery store, plenty of space, lots of neat organization, and aisles and aisles of cheap. And better yet, because it was open all the time it was NOT CROWDED. I could have spent hours in there, easily buying item after item without ruining my newly required budget. I have actually, for some strange reason, become enthralled by a Walmart. I feel slightly lower-class, but still excited.

I could spend HOURS and HOURS in this particular Walmart. I could go at 2 AM on a Saturday, when there was no one there, and go grocery shopping. It's a glorious concept. And while I'm still terrified of Walmarts, this Walmart is my friend. I am actually, dare I say it, looking forward to going back to a Walmart.

Who have I become? Or has someone, SOMEWHERE, actually improved a Walmart?

Day Forty: Snowed In

It's amazing what we turn to for entertainment when we become snowed in and our options for entertainment become dangerously limited to a stir-crazy proportion. Given that I was snowed in most of last weekend, I don't know how much more of staying barricaded inside a cozy dwelling away from the elements I can take. It's much better than the alternative, but myself and many other people (most of whom in South Jersey, undoubtedly), are getting really sick of snow. And it certainly doesn't help that our little winter snowfall is being dubbed "the storm of the season" with states and counties declaring states of emergency and actually fining people for leaving their houses. God help us all.

Therefore, even before the first flurries fell, any possibility of plans I may have had for the weekend were quickly dashed. Knowing I would be confined to my house for the evening, I began to undertake the task of making a neat little list of all the furniture and furnishing items I would need to purchase when I eventually move, which will hopefully be soonish. I began thinking this could be a fun little project that would be both productive, and take a considerable amount of my evening. I would get a nice sense of accomplishment and entertain myself in the process, fending off cabin fever for at least the first day of this winter storm.

But what it turned into was a three-hour online search for a comforter. My mother got frustrated, I hated everything, and we both ended up exhausted and laughing at horribly ugly carribbean themed bedding with flamingos and sunsets. Needless to say, it got a little out of hand. While we were pretty entertained, what started as a nice little task ended as a debacle immensely picky proportions. I'm already feeling a little stir-crazy after staring at a screen for the better part of my day today. So tomorrow, it will be cake baking and decorating, and hopefully that will ward off the fear of being locked inside for yet another weekend.

So as I'm sitting here, watching feet of snow build up around me, I'm wondering what other people are doing to keep themselves occupied over the snowy weekend. A lot of people (myself not included) have the social and economic embarassment that is the Super Bowl on Sunday to occupy themselves, so I'm sure that helps. If you're in the Northwestern U.S., what are you doing to keep yourself occupied? Hopefully, you have a bottle of something strong and a friend with you to help the process.