I know I said that I would be posting the next bit of our trip to Lake Tahoe, but some things took an unexpected turn. So instead of wallowing in my own self pity and shame, I’ll write why I wasn’t able to post that installment.
“What are you saying Kanmani, aren’t you going to write half a page about how sorry you are and how busy you are even though you probably weren’t and than shower us with a bunch of empty apologies?”
Okay, first of all, my apologies aren’t empty, second of all, no blogger is always consistent and perfectly coordinated with everything. And finally, I’m not going to spend a perfectly good post apologizing, that isn’t gonna do anything now is it? No! Not today, because instead of going along with what I originally planned, we’re gonna splurge a little and take a detour. What is this post gonna consist of you ask?
Harry Potter, Dumbo, Packages, Banks, Power Tools, and Trolleys of Mass Destruction!
Confused? Yeah well you won’t be for long. Trust me.
9:00 am July 13 (Today)
I woke up tangled in my fuzzy grey bed sheets, the sun streaming through the window, I was struggling to keep my eyes open for more than a few seconds, since I had gone to sleep so late the other night due to some late night Harry Potter binge reading. I curled up into a fetal position. tempted to throw something at whatever decided to cross the imaginary boundary between my bedroom and the open hallway. But then my mom poked her head through my bedroom doorway, technically crossing that “boundary” but I can’t throw pillows at my mom, because, she’s my mom.
Then she said something along the lines of “wake up” and “book sale.” I was exactly paying attention due to my sleepy stupor but the words book sale caught my attention and I immediately started up and out of my bed. You see, for the past few days, I had been looking forward to the next premium book sale that our library was having, and since I had gotten a five dollar certificate to use in said book sales, and I was completely intent on using them. So I reluctantly got up, untangled myself from the sheets, and started towards the bathroom to brush my teeth and take a shower.
When it comes to book sales, I usually don’t have my lazy, go-with-the-flow-whatever-idk demeanor. Instead, I’m alert and everything takes a turn to commando, I get ready faster than you can say “Les Miserables” Most people would think that’s selfish, but really I’m just stuck on the fact that I could get almost all the books I could want, for just a couple dollars(depending on the amount of books I intend on buying)and I wouldn’t have to spend a ridiculous amount of money in a popular and expensive book store.
10:00 am
I was dressed and ready to go, sitting on the couch with a tote bag, my wallet, and my phone in my pocket. My dad looked at me and said “Aren’t you coming to the gym?”
what.
I wasn’t aware of this information mind you, so I gave my dad my classic poker face; which led him to go off on me about how he had told me this morning that we would go to the gym and then go to the book sale. I furrowed my eyebrows and was tempted to pout and stomp my foot like a conceited brat. So I did the mature thing(haha yeah right)and retorted right back, which led to my father staring me down like he wanted to the couch to spontaneously combust into a million bits. But he eventually managed to wave it off like it was nothing.
See, in the morning, like the moment I wake, I’m not the best person to hold a conversation with. Unless of course you let me sleep in, barging in at seven or eight in the morning and then try to get chummy with me is going to result with someone complaining that they got hit in the face with a pillow. I’m not a morning person, and you can’t expect me of all people not to misinterpret anything, absolutely anything the moment I wake up. You could tell me that an orca just became the prime minister of Switzerland and I would go back to bed and start dreaming about killer whales in formal attire eating a platter of assorted cheese.
Moral of the story, if you’re one of those people who think “Sleep is for the weak” and all that foolish expression, than you might as well count me as the weak cause, sleep and I have a pretty good friendship thank you very much.
11:30 am
My dad and I buckled our seat belts in the car and drove to the library. Upon entering, my dad stayed back to read something posted near the library entrance and willed me to go ahead. I obliged wholeheartedly and started towards the back of the library, where a lot of the children and teens books were.
I started looking for a book for my brother before looking for some books for me. There were a lot of books for toddlers and ranged up to teenagers, but I needed to find something in between since my brother is only eight years old. Then a thick red book embossed large gold font caught my eye. And I couldn’t believe my luck, because it just so happened to be “The Dangerous Book for Boys” I plucked it off it’s respectable display and tucked it into my tote bag.
I looked around some more, for a book or two that would serve my tastes. I looked around some more, before I found that there weren’t really any “teen” books that I hadn’t already read or took a liking to. But then I found a Harry Potter book tucked away, to be more specific, it was the last one in the entire series.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is one of my favorite books out of the whole series, besides The Goblet of Fire, or The Half Blood Prince. Sure it was a book I already had read loads of times, I tucked that into my bag of books waiting to be purchased. I honestly didn’t really regret that decision, mostly because that book itself has a lot of nostalgia behind it for me, and it was high time I had at least one Harry Potter book in our household.
Afterwards, I headed outside, where the had adult fiction, mysteries, biographies, and loads of other books. My dad and I weaved through the number of categories, I settled on a book on how to give good presentations like Steve Jobs. Since I intend to improve on my presentation skills, and Steve Jobs is one of my inspirations, I could see nothing wrong in educating myself, so why not. My main goal was to find a Japanese basics language book, with like vocab and stuff, for basic conversation. I’ve learned a few words and phrases so far, but I wanna be able to speak it fluently, more or less. Or at least know at least the same amount of Japanese as I do Spanish.
I searched up and down the small bi literacy section, I found French, Tagalog, and Spanish, but alas, no Japanese. I was a little disappointed, but it’d didn’t get the better of me, since there are plenty of options online with just as much quality and variety. I walked back towards the inside of the library, but instead, I found a shady corner with a table set up with three boxes, which were large sets of books for different subjects, I was interested with the box in the center, which held all kinds of books about space exploration, the universe, and a vast array of the space sciences, which is my favorite branch of scientific study. I tugged my dad over to the little area and showed it to him, though I was a little bit hesitant and I kinda of losing interest quickly, since my dad was giving me the look, before asking “Where you gonna put it?”
My mind went point blank, I didn’t think about where I would put such a massive quantity of books. My interest started degrading so I tried telling my dad, multiple times that he didn’t have to be it. And since it was so quiet outside with so little people, I seriously didn’t want other people thinking there was a daddy-daughter brawl going on in the middle of a peaceful little book sale. This ended with my dad misinterpreting my intentions, purchasing the books for ten dollars(which actually wasn’t too bad considering the amount of books in the box)and then ridiculing me later on in the evening when we are home. But we’ll get to that later.
Don’t think I’ll forget, dad.
11: something o’clock because I can’t keep track of time.
My dad said we had to run a few errands and go to a couple stores, so I assumed we probably wouldn’t be home for one or two hours.
BUT I DIDN’T THINK WE WOULD BE GOING TO SEVEN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS IN THAT TIME SPAN DAD.
But we did, so here we go:
First: Red box
We went to pick a the movie Dumbo so we could watch it later at home, so that was done. Not much excitement there, sorry fam.
Second: UPS
My dad had to return a package or something(I forge the details cause I don’t even know the details)so that wasn’t a pending errand anymore.
Third: Chase Bank
My dad had some business to take care of in the bank, which consisted of him an I standing around a little screen while my dad touched the screen and printed a thing and then put in a thing and I don’t even know, he was doing adult things that I probably would get confused asking about in the first place.
Fourth: Harbor Freights Tools
So my dad had to get some tools from this tool shop because we need to fix some things up in the house. Now I personally haven’t gone to many tool stores or anything, but my policy is all the same.
N O T O U C H Y
When I go to tool stores or something I get bored sometimes, but I also chide myself because when it comes to being at least two feet near power tools, I’d rather be bored than get my fingers clocked off. My dad pointed things out to me that were really cool, like lifts for cars when you have to replace or fix tires. I also saw really, odd things. Like drill bits in every colour of the rainbow, or a dust collector the size of a baby panda, or a concrete mixer that could be the best bird bath ever for any winged creature.
We also passed by this aisle that literally was just a wall with axes, sledgehammers, and other items that smelled of mortal destruction. And it didn’t help my jitteriness every time my dad would point out these insane “tools” that looked weaponry forged by a tame dragon. But it was still cool to see so many robust things that are used normally by construction workers, designers, or just regular ol’ joes who wanna improve their own homes.
My interest however was also quickly deteriorating, seeing as there was nothing I could really explore, without getting some part of my body sawed off, scratched, or worse. And running my hands on every non-sharp object in sight could only do so much to amuse me.
Eventually, my dad and I finally stalked off to the cashier to purchase whatever my dad had decided to buy, and then we headed back to the car and our next destination.
Fifth: Costco
We made it to the entrance of Costco and my dad pushed a cart into my hands, and I instantly knew that this shopping trip was going to be a struggle on my end. You see, from my height and stature, the shopping carts are twice as wide as me, and the handles almost . reach above my sternum. And for obvious reasons, it will get more difficult to steer once it has a number of different items stowed into it. And it didn’t help that my dad was walking twice as fast as he usually would, and I was wearing sandals that were a little loose on me.
My mom said we had to get fruits, popsicles, bread, a few vegetables, and string cheese. And I knew that the crowded store wouldn’t be in my favor since it was a Saturday and eeeeeveryone thinks it’s a great idea to shop on a Saturday. By the time we reached the fruit area, we already had a majority of the cart filled, with me being the person pushing said cart.
On multiple occasions before we went to the fruits area, I would find myself pushing the cart as fast as I could so I was able to catch up with my dad who would usually be, I don’t know, about two aisles away, give or take. And mind you those Costco aisles, equal to like, two to four of a regular aisle in any other store.
I was extremely tempted to send him a quick little text message on the spot, something along the lines of, “Please take into consideration my tiny legs and the massive cart that I am pushing which is heavy with a considerable amount of produce items, and also the fact that there are at least eight or nine other people with equally large carts, in which I am in the midst of. It would be greatly appreciated if your walking speed was at a slower velocity, than it is currently. ”
I stood waiting, with the cart in my grasp, as my dad bent down to pick and examine a watermelon, when an older man and my father started talking.
About watermelons.
Now I don’t know how these two men launched into Watermelon Philosophy 101, but I’m pretty sure that fateful encounter had made my dad a watermelon enthusiast. But I had my own chance meeting just as my dad and Mr. Watermelon Man were talking about direct lighting on watermelons.
An elderly women was pushing a cart, while a Costco employee was helping direct her to wherever she needed to go, I made my best attempt to fold myself and the cart against the watermelon crates so they could pass through, and when the did, the guy who was helping the women took a glance at my watch and said
“Man, I love that watch, it’s beautiful!”
I was wearing a Timex watch that my dad had just gotten me a few months before, it had a retro kinda style to it, and its got a clean, professional look to it, so I wear it alot. So when he said that I was taken aback, because I didn’t expect a compliment launched at my watch at such an unexpected time. But it made me really happy, nonetheless, I thanked him as he turned around and walked away, the elderly women giving me a sweet smile which I returned, before she turned around too.
I turned back around, continuing to wait for my dad, but now with a smile on my face. I told my dad once his watermelon philosophy lesson was over and we were walking towards the kiwis an grapes my encounter. And he just said with a a little bit of hubris “See, my tastes are being appreciated.”
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well, that’s my dad for you, but that didn’t do anything to dampen or pursuit for fruits and vegetables.
After we had payed for all our items, we waited in line to exit, and I was trying to slowly so I wouldn’t run over someone in front of me. But all the odds were against, and I felt a faint bump from the front of the trolley.
Sweet cheese and crackers I’m screwed.
I immediately stopped and a horrified feeling washed over me as I saw my dad glare at me with a murderous look on his face, and a really tall guy in front of me looking slightly uncomfortable. You see, I couldn’t see over the trolley I was pushing, due to my impractical height(or the fact that I’m blind and stupid)and even with such a slow pace, I still managed to minorly injure someone in the process. I said sorry multiple times and I felt my face burn with embarrassment as the guy waved me off and said it was okay. I really didn’t mean to and I felt really really bad.
But I couldn’t do much about it anyway, except deal with my dad’s lecture about how I should be less reckless(which I wasn’t)and listen to him(which I was).
Sixth: Food Maxx
My dad said we had to make a quick run to Food Maxx to get banana leaves, since we would be having guests the next day. Finding the banana leaves wasn’t a problem, purchasing them however, well, I think this daddy-daughter duo needed a lil’ help.
My dad went to those self check-out machine things and things were going smoothly, all was well, the banana leaves had already accepted it’s fate as a soon-to-be-used disposable utensil. But then, when my dad slid his card onto the monitor-machine-whatever it is, it didn’t accept it, or it kept denying him, saying it couldn’t be purchased or something. My dad tried again and again, until he gave up and slid in a couple bucks into the monitor and it finally accepted it.
For me personally, it was slightly amusing to see my dad like that, all upset and stuff, even though it wasn’t his fault, because I find myself in situations like that all the time, my little Costco experience was a good example of my little oopsies going a little too far. So to see my dad going through that situation made me realize that everyone one of us goes through those little everyday mistakes and obstacles, that frustrate us, or they’re just flat out embarrassing. But in all senses, experiences like that are also fun to account later, and it’s just hilarious to share with other people.
Just as long as you don’t have a serious grudge against self check-out machines or produce trolleys. Yeah I think you’ll be fine.
Welp, this is the short replacement to what I was supposed to be posting on Saturday, but wasn’t able to, due to
A L L O F T H I S
But, after staying with my dad for the majority of that day, I realized just how much he does in one day, that including a couple hours of work doing his actual job. I was exhausted after going to everyone one of those places, but he does that most of the time, after work, plus goes to tennis and the gym with ~ yours truly ~ and I’m coming to appreciate him even more. Plus it was fun being dragged to different spots all over the place and hang out with my dad.