Meanderings: August 24, 1999

Tuesday,
August 24, 1999

Oh, God, I love California shopping malls.

Of course, some of this may be just be a reaction to a dearth of large malls in Europe. Now, admittedly Sweden is not without its malls -- there's a nice one at Skårholmen, and we have a small but cute one at Mörby Centrum (and a much bigger one at Täby, which I will be able to access easily once we get a fukaktah car. But I digress).

But. But. There is something so nice, so easeful, about wandering around a proper North American mall. Seeing the staples like the Body Shop, Sears, and assorted boutique stores. Experiencing the regional specialities like Nordstrom's or Macy's (and for some reason, there's a Macy's out here -- quite bizarre). And just having a CHOICE of things -- should I get an air mattress from Sear's, or should I go to the Air Bed store and pick one there? And the neat shit shops -- there are a virtual plethora of them in malls now. PBS-associated shops, museum stores, little weird places where you can get electronics, the Sharper Image -- the list goes on and on.

And I sound like the capitalist from hell, don't I? Singing paens to shopping malls. What can I say -- I'm shallow.

In any case, today was spent exploring La Jolla's collection of large and beauteous shopping malls while Janis was at work. When she came home, however, all bets were off, and San Diego stood in mortal danger of us. Tonight, we went out to Aesop's Tables and had faaaaaaabulous Greek food, sketched on the paper tabletops with crayons provided by the management, and Janis almost made me rupture my bladder laughing at her description of "Sith Academy Life Lessons," a collection of stories that detail Darth Maul's training in jobs such as tech support, telemarketing, and fast food service that help him foster the rage and hate he needs to become a Sith Lord. The rest of the diners were amused by us, I'm sure, especially as I howled, pounded the table and turned geranium in my struggle not to die laughing. Afterwards we made a pilgrimage to Michael's the best crafts chain in the world, and I stocked up on enough yarn to make this beautiful Victorian-style afgan, and we went back to the apartment to have a stitch 'n' bitch session.

Have I adequately described how wonderful today was? Oh, God, it was so nice just going OUT for dinner, laughing myself silly, then walking into a stupendous crafts store and being staggered once again by the sheer selection. Did I mention that San Diego is beautiful? Did I mention that I could really deal with living here?

Tomorrow -- more dinner, and Liam-directed lust. Hee, hee, hee. . .

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