epic

I suppose it's time to write a new entry. Moderately interesting things have been occuring, but I haven't been able to find the writing mood. Not to mention that everytime I sit to compose e-mail, I wind up regretting it (somehow my e-interactions have been taking place in a brain space where intellect and humor used to sit). No mail is better than bad mail. Ditto when it comes to composing an entry.

I received a credit card. I applied for it because my prior "in case of emergency" option is illegal in most states. I've been doing nothing but paying down debts since last summer, which wound up helping my case considerably. They sent me notification of approval in advance of the card, saying the card itself would arrive a week later. After two and a half weeks, I started worrying. Maybe someone else received the card, and was currently financing a trip to Mexico with it! (Mexico, Maine, that is. No one would ever give me THAT much credit.) I figured I should call the company to make sure it had been sent, or to see if they changed their minds at the last minute, having realized that giving me credit is generally a bad idea. But the paperwork was nowhere. Turns out, Jeremy thinks he might have thrown it away. He has no memory of it, but says he frequently throws away mail that looks junky. I searched the apartment, just in case, and turned up nothing. So the new plan was to hope that the credit card would magically appear in the mailbox. After a few days of nothing, I gave up. I decided to sift through our old mail again, which generally gets stashed in the breadbox. I threw away old utility bills, outdated statements, saved a few necessary items. In the middle of the stack (sandwiched by a few March bills) was a blank envelope with my name on it. Unopened. Just for the hell of it, I opened it. It was MY CREDIT CARD! I never did find the old paperwork, but that's not important. It arrived! It felt like a miracle. We couldn't stop laughing about it.

With credit card in hand, Jeremy and I decided that getting a TV stand and maybe a bigger TV would be good...something to spruce up the place a bit, give it something resembling character (something other than the character of an ancient 19" sitting on top of a tupperware bin). So Saturday we headed to Target in Brunswick (because it's closer and better than the one in South Portland). They had a poor selection of TVs, and no stands that were worth the price they were asking. We thought maybe we'd each find a few necessities there, to warrant the trip. Not so much. Their clothes were nothing that would look humane on me, and Jeremy could find nothing he wanted. We settled on a stack of washcloths (very autumnal washcloths) and Desk Set on DVD. We went to Bookland from there, and left empty-handed. When did I become so fiscally responsible?? Jeremy treated for dinner at Ruby Tuesday afterward, then we headed home.

Sunday we went to Portland. "Maybe South Portland's Target will have a better TV selection," we said. "And we can check Best Buy!" We had an impossibly difficult day, in part because the weather was rainy and miserable. Of course, everyone has to go to the mall when it rains. Seriously, you'd think it was the weekend after Thanksgiving, it was so congested. Absolutely everyone in the mall was an asshole. It didn't help that Jeremy and I have become accustomed to a certain calm relaxity (I made it up, and I like it!) that comes with small town living. It made dealing with the mall that much worse. We quickly left, hoping that the closer it got to 6:00, the less insane it would get. We went to Burger King for lunch, where I can only guess that three people had called out. They had one girl on register, two people in drive-thru, and one person assembling the burgers. I'm sure they couldn't have predicted how busy it was going to be. We were in line for half an hour. I was never mad though, because anyone who's worked at a fast food establishment could feel this girl's pain. Not to mention, people in front of and behind us were loudly displeased. She was going to require the kindness and patience that we planned to give. From there we went to Target, to find nothing. Not much differentiation, it turns out. We quickly left, made a coffee pit stop, and ventured back to the mall. It still sucked, but significantly less. We entered Best Buy modestly. Something a little bigger, and something to put it on. There were a few moderately-priced items that weren't awful. But they looked really heavy. Clearly, we decided, there's no way that would fit in the car. Even if it did, we couldn't possibly get it into the apartment! So for funzies' sake, we looked at flat screen TVs. So light! Pretty, too. Sure, it's over twice as much as we planned to spend, but it comes in a box that looks like a briefcase! I could lift this with one hand! Juggle it! Living within our means only makes sense half the time! Suck it up, and buy something nice that'll last awhile. Think to the future! So we bought it. And a TV stand that would accommodate it. With Jeremy promising I wouldn't have to look at the first credit card statement, I charged the hell out of it. And you know what? It's awesome. Turns out, part of the cable that the cable company doesn't know we have includes high-definition channels (because in case it wasn't assumed, it's a high-def TV). We watched the rainforest in high-def, parts of Sin City, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Ladyhawke (??!?) in high-def. We were riveted by PBS in high-def's documentary on Tupperware. And there's a show about beavers on Friday that will have to be watched. After we went to bed, all we could talk about was how beautiful the TV was, and the beautiful crap we watched on it. You could actually live in our living room now. I'd say it's worth every penny. After we pay it off, we're thinking we should get a bed.