Shopping.

So... I went Christmas shopping today. Not my favorite pastime in the world. Shopping. That's why I try to do the majority of it online ahead of time. Unfortunatley, that didn't entirely work out this year and I had face this truly hated task.

I especially hate it if I’m going by myself like I did today. I’d waited till this late hour to do my shopping because I thought Riley could take me but he’s unbelievably busy. He’s in town for so short a time that I’d feel terrible to make him spend a great portion of it with me trailing behind telling him what to find for me. So, he was kind enough to drop Shadow and I at the mall where we spent several long and monotonous hours.

Shopping is tedious!

First off, it’s just boring. Really boring. Since I can’t see the products these stores are selling and I can’t force some unfortunate employee to list everything a given store has for sale (and the price, and the appearance, and the details etcetera) I have to make up my mind what to buy ahead of time. And I’m just not a decisive fellow.

Second, it’s positively overwhelming. The crowds in this city at Christmas-time terrify me. Shadow’s awesome but it still unnerves me to have to follow him through a jostling crowd, hoping we’ll find someone official to help us, and feeling nervous knowing that the employees are going to be so busy and stressed they’re sure to be groaning when they see me approach.

During typical, non-busy times of the year, I’m going to be asked “How can I help you?” as soon as I approach. Today I stood at this one place for what seemed like several minutes wondering if Shadow had made some sort of mistake and whether to try asking for help and see if anyone was paying attention enough to answer. They might have been ignoring me. I did consider that.

So, I started to wonder if I was standing too far away. I mean, employees aren’t that rude are they? There’s got to be some reason. Well thankfully at that point a nice old lady appeared asking me if I was lost and if I needed help with anything. I guessed that she was only a fellow-shopper soon enough that at least I didn’t embarrass myself and her by asking her to help me shop, haha! She drew me to the employee’s attention, they were super-polite, I was assigned an unlucky young fellow to help me shop, apologized for taking their time, and all was well.

But yeah. Lots of fun. :)

I found everything I was looking for, though, so I’m thankful for that. I paid some awesome fellow at the mall to wrap everything for me. I’m relieved to have all that Christmas shopping behind me; I’d been dreading it for a while.

Now I can look forward to Christmas. :)

God bless!
Jason