Burrth-day Sneakers

School approaches, and I'm finding that time is really getting short for the many tasks that I still have left to complete. The least of these projects includes cleaning my house, and on the opposite scale, planning a trip to California with my girlfriend. Somewhere in between I need to finishing reading a text that my grad. school instructors want me to have read over the summer, and clearing my desk at work of the continually mounting pile of projects that need almost immediate attention. The small silver lining to all of this work is that I've gotten a better handle on dealing with constant low-level stress that does not include long naps during the day.

The whole last week was spent at my girlfriend's apartment moving her across town in Big City. Not only did I move the heavy furniture on the day of the move, but I almost singlehandedly did all of the packing the week before. One of the more surreal episodes during this period was the one that occured at the small convenience store/market where I decided to buy well-deserved soda to cool down. As I made a purchase at the counter, a relatively attractive young woman suddenly put her things next to mine on the counter, which included a snickers bar, and loudly announced: "I am buy-ying these sneakers because it is my burrr-thday!" Imagine a voice that sounded like a cross between Chewbacca, an angry bull frog, and a chainsaw, and you get the idea. I probably should have said something like "Happy Birthday," but instead, being really creeped out, I gave a sympathetic, startled smile, and got the hell out of there.