Outside Your Door

I reckon I can rate today as being a good day. Last night, we watched Leon: The Professional. It was a good movie; Natalie Portman is kinda creepy though. Well, maybe it's more the fact that she's a twelve year old girl hitting on a thirty something man. Maybe he's in his forties, but whatever. The point remains that it's creepy when a little girl (who's fairly cute) is hitting on a guy.

I lazied out of waking up until 1:30pm, but we were up 'til 4:30am. I had sandwiches for "breakfast" and then we headed to the theater. We were hoping to catch the 2:45 Harry Potter, but that was sold out. So we bought tickets for the 3:30 and meandered around the mall for a short bit. While Chill was buying the tickets, I was waiting at Sears Automotive to get a work order for an oil change. I figured I could ditch the car there while we watched the movie, and then pick it up when we were done. It took a while to get the work order filled out, but since we were an hour early, I had time. I noticed that the sales associate (actually a manager, but I didn't know this at the time) had written the "Will be done by:" time as 6pm. I figured that was pretty late, but then again, it could just be the latest possible time. Thus meaning, the auto center probably closes at 6pm on Saturdays.

So we went over to the Sears store in the mall to get Del a copy of the apartment key, since Chill and I will be gone next weekend. Apparently Sears got rid of their key copy corner, so that didn't work out. And then we headed over to get seats (our theater is right next to the mall).

I reminded Chill to put his phone on silent, but I neglected to double check my phone. I was expecting the auto center to call me, but I thought I had the phone on silent. Well, at 4:15 I was mistaken. Luckily, something eventful was happening in the movie and the sound effects were going. Chill and I might have been the only ones who heard it. Chill suggested that I just turn the phone off and I obliged.

There must have been a mentally handicapped person sitting behind us, because we kept hearing moans. It might have just been some child making odd noises, I'm not sure. It didn't really bother me too much, but it seemed to annoy Chill.

Around 5pm, I was getting pretty worried. The movie looked like it still had a long way to go, and I had that feeling that the auto center closes at 6pm. And at that part in the movie, I really couldn't just get up and leave. I'd be missing half an hour of the movie. So I sat there wondering if I would just be using Chill's keys to drive home and then return on Monday to pay them or what. (I'm not sure if they're open on Sundays.) Well, the more I thought about it, the worse I felt. It clearly couldn't be legal.

Luckily, the movie was fairly wrapped up at 6pm, so I bolted early. And when I say bolted, I mean bolted! I'll admit that sandals aren't meant for running, and they aren't meant for wet ground. I didn't slip, but running there wasn't easy. The parking lot lights were off when I got there and I caught one of the auto guys walking out to his car. I asked him if there was anyone else left in there, because I still needed to pay. He said that a garage door should still be open and I could ask someone inside. I felt kinda awkward just walking into the garage since I know that most automotive stores don't like customers in there. I had seen a guy in a white lab coat in the store, but I thought he might work there ... for some reason. But I asked a mechanic in the garage, and he said that the manager (Leon) should be inside still. That's when I realized that the sales associate I thought I talked to earlier was actually a manager.

So I went around the store again, back to the front. I knocked on the door, and the man in the lab coat turned to me. He didn't really look like he was going to open the door, so I tried the handle. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that it was unlocked the entire time. I waited with the lab specialist and some other guy in the store for a sales associate/manager. The other guy was apparently in the middle of checking out and a manager had walked to the back room for some reason. The lab specialist was also in the middle of checking out, but he was paying by check ... I think. Luckily, Leon came out and got me all taken care off. He was a bit worried that I wouldn't be making it and that he'd have to pull the car into the garage. I apologized for being late (but I suppose I wasn't too sincere). I paid credit which was good because they'd already pulled the drawers and couldn't handle a cash transaction. The lab guy was sent to pay over at the Sears store since they were still open.

Needless to say, I don't think I'll ever be leaving my car at the auto center when my movie starts at 3:30. My heart was ready to burst through my throat when I was done.

Afterwards, we ate supper in the food court and checked out a few stores. Chill was looking around EB Games, and I went to Barnes & Noble. I was hoping to pick up Terry Goodkind's Chainfire, but apparently I was 10 days early. It might be a good thing, otherwise I'd need a new book for my flight to Seattle.

***
Del bought a wireless router so he can play Mario Kart DS online. The added benefit is that now I'm not tethered to the living room. So I've rearranged my bedroom to better suit my freedom. See, after the hurricane, my twin mattress was in the middle of the floor. The twin boxspring was right next to it leaning against the desk (protecting the valuables underneath the desk). My full size mattress and boxspring were leaning against the wall opposite the desk. And next to my bed was a rolled out blanket and some pillows, just in case I felt like sleeping on the floor.

Chill's brother will be moving in with us in January, and we aren't sure what all furniture he intends to bring with him. (We will be getting a 3 bedroom apartment for the 4 of us.) But I don't know if one of my beds will be going to him. The full size bed was given to us by our neighbor who was moving out. But I brought my twin size bed from IL, so I have certain emotional ties to it. On one hand, I like the full size bed because of its size (15" wider); on the other hand, I don't want anyone else sleeping on my beloved twin. So I don't know if I should get used to sleeping on the twin size bed or the full size or both. (At one time, I had them side by side, and I could sprawl out across them.)

Now I have the full size boxspring and mattress set up in the corner of the room, with the twin mattress on top of them. The twin boxspring is lying between my mound and the wall. Atop all of this, a dozen pillows are scattered. So ... I'm content with my bed now. (Note: the full size bed doesn't have a frame, and the twin frame sucks. Thus, I don't use frames.)

You may notice that I like to rearrange my furniture every so often. I think that's the only change I really enjoy in my life.

***
I'm not sure if I mentioned my laptop's display problem, but it has gotten worse. Not only does half the screen have skewed colors, but the entire screen will flash once in a while. While I was playing CoV last night, the screen flashed a bright white. And it would do so every time my character jumped. So I restarted the program, but it happened again. Only, it didn't happen so often. Tonight, it has flashed twice in the past three hours. I think I can get away with using it until Wednesday. I'm not sure if I should send it to HP again or ask if I can have it done at Laptops Plus. See, I won't be home next weekend, so I wouldn't be able to pick it up from Laptops Plus. However, HP will probably take two weeks. I doubt they'll work through Thanksgiving, so that's why I expect a delay. Plus, Laptops Plus won't try to send it back with DHL. Stupid DHL. Chill got his laptop back with no problems, but not me. No sir, they have to suck bad for me. Jerks. Anyway, I don't know if Laptops Plus will let me leave it there the entire weekend. I hope so. My parents really want to see me on Wednesday night, and I'll probably be leaving their place Saturday night / Sunday morning. I doubt they're open on Sundays, but I'd be able to pick it up before class on Monday.

***
You know who it sucks to be? Chill. His parents strong-armed him into going home for Thanksgiving. He'll be hoping on a plane Wednesday night (ditching an hour of class); will be there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; and will be back Sunday morning. I think his tickets cost him $240 (but I don't really know). That equates to $80/day. Screw that. Though, his dad bought the plane tickets and Chill only has to pay the $50 to get the flight plan changed. See, Chill said the teacher said he got out this past Friday, thus giving him a week with his family. This apparently wasn't the case, so Chill was wrong about when he got out of school. But still, someone is paying $80/day for Chill to be home. *sigh* I suppose when you have money, you don't care. But since I don't have money, I try not to spend it. (Somehow, I really seemed to have failed at this, but whatever.)

***
So, it's about midnight now, and I'm not sure if I'll be jumping on CoV. Hmm ... I think I hit level 23 right before the game crashed, so I'm pretty tempted to get on.