from north to a little less north

Sunday night and I just got done singing and reading Keaton off to sleep.  Well, at least I hope I did; we’ll see if she ultimately stays in bed.

It’s our last evening here in Oregon with Grammy and Grandpa, and we took the opportunity to go out to dinner with my brother Frank and his girlfriend.  A place up here does a free-dinner Sunday for all veterans prior to the Tuesday holiday in their honor, so my dad and brother wanted to take advantage of that.  Was a nice meal together as a family, and Keaton was as well-behaved as ever.  So, a good evening.

Tomorrow we have to head home, catching a morning flight back to California from which I’ll go right into work (hitting my desk sometime after lunch, I suspect).  I’m not very excited about the prospect of waking up at 5am to catch the train to the airport where we’ll catch a plane to California where I’ll drive myself to work.  Sounds like an early rise-time for what amounts to a drawn-out frustrating commute to work.  Hey – nothing to complain about though, was a good trip and we enjoyed the mini weekend-vacation thing.  We even got to check out a local church up here this time, which is something we’ve been wanting to do when we come here (yeah, we got our Lord on).

Today, Sharaun somehow convinced me to accompany her to the mall for some recreational no-purchase shopping.  Normally, this is an activity up with which I will not put, and I avoid it at all costs.  Today, however, I was suffering from a mild case of cabin fever and agreed to tag along.  Now, when I do this, I know before we’ve even left that I’ve made a mistake, have erred in judgment.  But, I try to put a positive spin on things and at least find small ways to keep myself entertained as crap dance music plays way too loudly in my ears and she paws through racks of clothes.

Today, I took comfort in laughing at the clothing of others.  Most of these were girls, and most were teenagers.  I just love the time and effort you can see in the things they wear, purposefully chosen to look different and edgy and to make them “stand out” from every other girl in skinny jeans and fuzzy ankle-boots.  I got a kick out of imagining their primping process, getting every accessory just right: The gold bangle bracelets and retro-60s beaded necklaces; the wide hair-bands and multicolor knit scarves; the overly-spritzed perfume and overly-thick makeup; so premeditated, such perfection.

As we wandered stores that felt more like clubs inside, me straggling behind in a daze half-expecting to to stumble onto a bar somewhere in the dark maze of Kanye-styled plaid sweaters and $30 80s-colored tees, an idea struck me: Why not build a “mall for men?”  A man’s mall.  Not that women would be forbidden, heavens no, just a mall targeted at the male demographic.

Think about it, you could have electronics, hardware, books, a movie theater, a food court with beer, sporting goods, music and movies, gadgets, tobacco-products; the list goes on and on.  Oh, and there would be clothing – but only male clothing.  No female clothing stores, no candles, no salons, no soaps or lotions, no jewelry or sunglasses, no knick-knacks, no baby stores, no make up or belt stores or purse stores or shoe stores (aside from sneakers and other male-centric footwear).  Each store would have a minimum of ten always-staffed registers so there’d never be a line, and strategically-placed recliners and TVs showing sports would provide quick access to a moment’s rest.

I wonder if that would tank… being that men typically dislike shopping anyway and, as I’ve noted above, tend to look at chicks the whole time they’re at malls anyway… maybe a dude-centric mall wouldn’t go over so well after all.  Ahh well, it was a thought.

Well folks, I think I’m outta here for the night… love ya and I’ll chat ya up tomorrow if blogging goes as planned.  Goodnight.

Also written on this day...

• plasma-nuked by bleepblorkians (an iraq exit strategy) - 2006
• a lot of words, nothing to say - 2005
• facing northeast - 2004
• i'm a jerk - 2003