Wednesday, August 18, 2010

A few different things wrapped up in one post-casserole

On my parents:
My Ps came to stay over the weekend. They'd driven from Atlanta to the west coast, north to Canada, back to the US, and over to me. It was actually delightful except for the part where it was a million degrees and there was nothing to do. Luckily, the Planet Earth BBC series and drinking and napping have all been invented, and we were saved. Mostly the trip was delightful because there was very little discussion of politics (only some jokes about violence befalling our commander in chief because of his incompetence) and no one told me that I was really old and should either have my kids now or freeze my eggs. So that was nice. Also we had tacos.

I love my parents. They gave me everything I needed and lots of things I wanted and sent me to school and taught me to be a self-reliant person. But you know how when you're an adult and they come to visit and you regress to your stupid kid-self and that part doesn't feel so great. Luckily, they are also nice and friendly and supportive and they enjoy giving hugs. It was good.

On Craigslist:
I've sort of been on a kick with buying used/cheap furniture (or plucking it from the trash after nightfall) and re-purposing it. Now, this means that I've spent a lot of time on Craigslist searching through literally thousands of entries, hungrily searching for just the right thing. Even though I don't need anything I don't think this is a big deal because out of the thousands of items I've browsed I've purchased maybe three. So, what has struck me about Craigslist that has compelled me to write about it is that the descriptions people use and the poor grammar and spelling and weird pictures just KILL ME. Here are some examples of what I mean:

Nice Dresser, 9 draws, $100

Cute end table, wonderful painted white! $65 (I checked the picture and the end table is not painted, so I guess that "wonderful painted white" is a suggestion? Who can tell?)

Eames chair $195 (When I checked the description, it indicated Eames-style chair. That's an important distinction...)

Beautiful couch! Must see! $475 (no picture, just phone number...)

@@@@It's a STEAL!@@@@ $20 (I had to look because I like a steal as much as the next girl. It was an old Caboodles-type of plastic case)

Really, Craigslist people? I'm all for re-using, and I don't mind paying for quality, but COME ON?

A story like someone else's story:
I read Finslippy this morning. She's kind of a hero of mine... Anyway, she wrote about a very unpleasant encounter with a stranger, and I wanted to add a story of a unpleasant encounter I had with a stranger. Because I'm a copier. Who copies. Here you go-
I was living near Reading, PA at the time. I was on my way to donate a bunch of books to the library (more to get them out of the house than to be altruistic, but still) in the early afternoon.
I parked about 2.5 blocks away and I gathered up the 57+ books (some of them textbooks! which are really heavy!) from my car and made my way to the library steps, which had a giant drop box. On the way, I spied a giant homeless man (Let's call him Bruce) on the other side of the street whistling and smoking and staring. But, is that weird? No. If I was homeless, I might be bored; I might turn to smoking and staring. I can't whistle worth a damn but I might learn if I was homeless. Or I might be too busy looking for food and shelter, I'm sorry I just don't know.
In any case, I struggled with my large load of donatables but did make it to the drop box without dropping anything and I was able to release all of that knowledge into someone else's hands and someone else's shelves. I was pleased.
I started walking back to my car when I noticed Bruce was on my side of the street. He'd come over for a visit while I was pushing books through the slot. Chemistry 102. A Tale of Two Cities. Two extra copies of Little Women... And there he was. This wouldn't have been a problem for me, except that when I made eye-contact, he started yelling:

"You bitch! Don't you look at me!"

No, Bruce, I was looking past you. Perhaps you have me confused with someone else. I'm just...

"BITCH!"

So I started walking away. Fast. Back to the car. He followed.

"Don't walk away from me! I will call you!"

Well, that would be weird because I don't think you have my name or my number. I thought this, but I didn't say it because I was reserving all of my energy for RUNNING AWAY.

"I told you, bitch!"

And... back to the car. Luckily, it looked like Bruce was slowed down by years of hard-living. Or possibly being crazy. Again, I don't know. I just know it was... unpleasant.



Hmm. So this is kind of a weird place to end, but I don't have anything else. Maybe next time I'll write about a really NICE experience I had with a stranger. How would that be?

EDITED TO ADD:
I just saw this on Craigslist-
MATTRESS CLEARENSE - $129

Really.

EDITED TO ADD 2:
Well now it's like I can't stop. From a Craigslist ad for a sleigh bed:
Beautiful wood sleigh bed...eight years old....The headboard is 52 inches high, that's four feet two inches.
It's in great shape...my girlfriend moved in, so we are going to use her bed.
$400
Thanks!

4 comments:

The Perfect Space said...

Bad grammar AND poor math skills. Ahhhhh!!!

Wonderland said...

9 draws!!!! hahahaha!

The Perfect Space said...

Think about it. If you grew up here, you would never know that "draws" is wrong!

die Frau said...

This is true.

As per Bruce, this is why I now have a self-defense weapon on my keychain. It looks fairly innocuous...but it's not.