Butting in

Something happened to me today at Borders that I thought was kinda weird. So I decided to share.

I've been stalking a Patty Griffin cd there for some time--it was already priced really well, but I wanted to wait until I had a coupon. Today, they sent out at 40% off any one item coupon, so I printed it off and went to use it.

In line in front of me was a woman and her son. He was maybe ten or eleven, and he was absolutely the rudest kid I've ever seen. He was pouting because she had refused to buy him a book, and kept making snide comments every time she spoke to him. Finally, when they reached the register he turned and walked out of the store while she paid for the things she had in her basket.

She started talking to the cashier and I learned that her son had wanted a Star Wars book that cost $40, and that he was upset that she wouldn't buy it for him. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She had five things in her basket, but they were all final clearance gift sets that I could tell she was buying for presents--maybe Christmas. There was also a buy 4, get the 5th free deal that she was taking advantage of.

She seemed really upset, so I made a split second decision and told her that if she signed up for a membership card, she could get a 40% off coupon (the same one I was using). She was really happy to hear that, and when she left I could tell she was talking to her son.

My dilemma was that I didn't want to tell her, because I didn't want her son to be able to get the book after all. Kids like that really just tick me off, because they seem so ungrateful--he was spoiled and rude and didn't care who knew about it. In the end, I was pretty sure that she would end up buying the book for him no matter what because she wanted him to be happy. So I figured I'd rather give her the opportunity to spend $24 instead of $40 if she was going to give in anyway.

I still feel bad about it. I completely wanted to just grab her kid and give him a good shake. Ugh. I hate it when things happen in real life that keep lingering in my mind. I'm still not sure I did the right thing by enabling that boy to get the book he wanted. Sigh.

Gorgeous, talented women [that I don't personally know]

Recently I have been using Pandora for its real purpose (instead of just listening to bad pop music on regurgitation) and have discovered that I *love* the female, alt-folk-country-bluegrass crooner. I've always had a thing for Mary Chapin Carpenter, obviously (as of this past week I have accumulated her entire studio collection), Joni Mitchell, Alison Krauss, etc. However, I have acquired a number of other musical soulmates:
-Emmylou Harris
-Dolly Parton
-Lucinda Williams
-Neko Case

Um, HOLY TOLEDO. I can't get enough of this stuff. Dolly Parton is on repeat in my car and dear LORD, Lucinda and Neko with their trembly, husky, smooth voices and their songs in minor keys and their poetry-as-lyrics have gotten me all swoony. I'm using up some of my hard-earned Lexis points to try and get some of their CDs, since all the stores I've looked in have them selling at over $15 a pop. I may love music, but I don't love music enough yet to be using the money I'd normally spend on food to buy some CDs. But dang, are they good CDs.

Check it out though. Could Neko be any more beautiful and talented? I don't think so.

Turning to the parts of my life that don't revolve around endlessly thumb-upping songs on Pandora, I have some job applications that are taking up a lot of my time. Hopefully something will come down the pipeline soon and the work I'm putting into this will pay off. Also, the wedding wheels turn slowly, but surely. The next step is getting together a decent guest list, so that we can continue with the other five hundred and thirty seven things left to do.