A Shitty Day

Monday. Started out as usual, but after two weeks of being lazy, I decided to get back into a routine. It has been working.

Woke up, fed the dog, exercised after drinking a protein drink, (here’s the kicker) grabbed my planner and started to fill it out, and started writing. I wrote about Belle (and will put it up somewhere soon. Thought it was going to be a single sitting, but as I got further into it, there was more to tell. Lily interrupted me, so I had to take care of her. Got her back in the house and continued writing. She interrupted me again. This was all good, but the writing got longer, and I kept getting distracted by her. I got a good two hours in, overall.

Once I decided I was done for the moment (turns out for the day), I decided to fix something that was bugging me for quite some time. I don’t know what it is about my dog, and I really don’t know how to stop it when I am being lazy, but my dog eats shit. Her own. I haven’t seen her eat other dogs. I’m sure if she was near cats’, she would eat theirs, and that’s common enough, but she has a fancy for her own. I typically let her run in the front yard and play on her own to get some energy out. She does her business and I leave it there because it should be good for the ground as fertilizer. When left to her own devices, though, she tends to eat what is left there. She is a fan of sticks as well. I guess as it hardens, they could seem the same. Reminds me of a joke… What’s brown and sticky? A stick.

She tends to do a bit of cleanup in the yard and it bothers me. When I’m out there and play with her, when avoiding the landmines, she likes to play keep away. That includes both types of sticks (see joke above). When I finally catch up to her, or she comes into the house after playing on her own, she has a distinct smell. I like to say she is shit-faced, but it really isn’t that funny. Shitty habit and all.

What is one to do? So I got off my ass and decided to clean. I scoured the yard and collected as much as I could find. This took up two grocery bags of dung. (Another joke… What’s brown and sounds like a bell? Dung.) This left to stepping in a pile. Of course, I didn’t realize this until I tracked it through my house. I had Crocs on so it was all good as far as the shoe situation went. I cleaned the shoes and floor, and for the first time, did not need to clean the dog. OK, it wasn’t the first time, thankfully, but it was the best time I had with her out there. I have checked her mouth for the last three days and she has been clean.

Leaving that shit behind me, I decided it was time for me to go out and get something I have needed for a while. Recently, I went to a place off OBT and discovered it had moved, but I needed this pretty bad and was determined to get it. Before you get dragged in the gutter further because the locals understand where I’m leading you, I needed batteries for my electric lawn mower and there was a local store that sold them at a discount. The previous location, off OBT, moved, as it turned out (and I surmised as they were not there when I went a few weeks ago). I checked Google and discovered that they were now located in the outlet mall past Disney. My first trip was quite far, but closer to it than going from home, but I had other things to do that day, so I wasn’t going then. Monday, though, I planned the rest of my day to make that trip.

I knew I needed gas, as I was out from my last couple of journeys and decided to go to the place I tend to hit before going anywhere. The local gas station that had a reward system. Figure I could double up rewards as my credit card give me double points at gas stations and this place has their reward system as well. People think I’m tech savvy, but I’ll admit when in public, I tend to lose all my wits. I get nervous and don’t like being in public because I’m afraid of being judged. Specifically, for this reason. Kind of ironic. It’s like erythrophobia, or the fear of blushing, where you blush when embarrassed but you fear blushing and then it makes you blush which leads to the fear and so on. I mention this because I still suffer from it every occasionally.

So the gas rewards is a simple system. Place card under scanner so it can read the barcode and you get rewards. Not that day. I saw something I had never seen before. The video screen read OUT OF SERVICE. Did that mean the video/reward system was out of service or the gas pumps? I played with it for about a minute and then one of the other patrons came by and said it was the pump system, including inside. The good news, he said it would only be a few minutes, per the attendant. I figured I could wait. A minute passed and another attendant went to one of the pumps with a bag saying the gas was out of service. Upon asking, she said they were down. Queue the exit music and the gas left in the car check. I had 57 miles on my gauge and 60 something miles round trip per the GPS. Something told me, I would not be returning there today.

On the way to the store, I decided to text a friend that was en route to see if they wanted to go with and as expected, no reply. So I get to the mall while driving behind one of the many lost people. I didn’t know where I was going either, but I can keep up with traffic and not ride my brake. No further comments on that until later. I’m looked around and couldn’t see the place, but I had my GPS on and it pointed me to the furthest corner of the mall. I finally saw the sign and a great parking spot. Hopped out of my car and noticed the place was a bit dark. I got closer and noticed there were empty light fixtures… and that was it. The place was empty. I checked Google and it said I was in the right place, the store was opened at the time, and there were positive reviews. There was even a review from two months prior. I checked the store’s website and they had that location listed as opened as well. While I had a minute, I posted a negative review. I mean, how great can a store be if it isn’t opened?

While there, I decided to pick up some warmer clothes for travels a little later this year and then my friend texted me back. I decided to visit her on the way back from this trip and headed back in the direction of home. Hit up another gas station with the same rewards program, that also didn’t work. This location did not have a scanner on their pump and the card reader wasn’t working. It also took me into a prime tourist area.

Here’s my issue… If you do not know where you are going and are guided by a GPS, why do you not go into the lane that it is suggesting before the turn? I see so many people make that last-minute turn like they were not prepared for it. The device is telling you for some time where you need to go. And for the love of all drivers out there, use your turn signals, but make sure they are the correct ones. I was behind someone yesterday that was in the center lane with their right signal on. They were driving slow so I wanted to pass on the left, as one should. A car was speeding on that side, so I wanted the right, but that’s where they were turning according to their signal. No, they weren’t. Eventually, after I passed them, they went into the right lane. IF YOU ARE IN THE LEFT LANE, DRIVE FASTER THAN THE PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT.

See, shitty day.

Lates. . .
Ph:)