Eric's OTHER Musings
Friday, September 26, 2003
I had a few errands to run today. I love doing errands. Especially the ones that you don't really HAVE to do. The kind of things that you can do at any given time when you aren't in any hurry.
My first stop was to get a haircut. Now, interesting story behind the haircuts. Up until last spring, I had gone to the same lady for about 15 years. She knew exactly what to do when I went into the salon. No questions asked. However, she began to charge a pretty penny. Actually it was more like a pretty dollar. Twenty-four of them to be exact. That's a lot for a short haircut every few weeks. I also had to make appointments and travel through 21 traffic lights between home and the salon. Time consuming, gas guzzling, 10 minutes in the chair and out.
This was probably my fifth visit to Supercuts since spring. No appointment, no need for driving too far, you're in, you're out, badda bing badda boom! You don't really get that same personal attention as you get from an exclusive salon stylist, but you do get a good haircut for about half the price. Who can go wrong?
From there, it was on to the mall. Need some new clothes, but I don't really feel like going through that exercise. You know, find the clothes that look nice, try the pants on and make sure they don't look too trendy. I felt like avoiding Kauf...what's this? "Destination Relaxation?" Looks like a sensory deprivation tank. Ok, so it's a small kiosk just outside of one of the anchor stores in the mall. The massage tables were covered with huge tanks of pulsating water that would shoot on top of you.
"Do you have any questions sir?" asks the young, thin, very attractive girl manning the kiosk.
"Am I likely to fall asleep in that thing if I lie inside there?" I ask.
"Most people fall asleep if they are in there for 20 minutes," she says.
I decide to give it a shot. She opens up the table and asks me to remove my shoes and lie on my stomach on the vinyl massage table. She hands me a button to control where I wanted the jets to focus on and lowers the top onto me. She sets the timer for 10 minutes and off we go. Mind you, my body is protected from the water by a poly vinyl cover. There is no way I will be getting wet here. The jets run up and down my body, lightly at first and then increasing in pressure with each pass. This is just beginning to get good when, "BING" it's all finished. I get out of the table (or is that tank?) and put my shoes on and pay for the services. Would I do it again? Well who knows.
After roaming the mall and getting increasingly annoyed by the fact that I was a single guy and many of the others were not, I headed for Applebee's. Have you ever had their Chicken Fried Chicken? It's so delicious and the portion is enough for a royal family! But my question is "How do you fry chicken in chicken?" How is something "chicken fried?" Wait, nevermind, don't answer that please! Just know that it's a delicious dish served with dill mashed potatoes and some mixed vegetables.
From there I went to Blockbuster to pick up a movie. The place is half the size it used to be, but it still has a decent selection. I'll be watching "Brassed Off" within the next few evenings. I think I'll wait for this program called "Monk" that everyone says I should watch.
What a day.