The San Diego Weekly Reader had an essay contest, so I tried this essay shtick for fun (and 100 bucks). Unfortunately, chores needed to be done so yeah.
Enjoy my bitching.
And so there we were in the early days of September, in the Wal-Mart electronics section; me and my Mom. No, she wasn’t there to pick me up and go home since I usually head off to the electronics section of Wal-Mart to keep myself busy and to not get in the way. No no, she was there shopping with me for a change.
“Hailey (my little sister’s name) likes pokemon, doesn’t she?” my Mom would ask me as we stood in front of the Game Boy games behind the locked glass containers that Wal-Mart and every other large convenience store chain always had to have.
“Of course, every kid loves them,” I, a 7th grader at the time, said to her rather truthfully. And so she brought over the sales clerk and asked her to open the glass container so she could get the game, aptly called Pokemon Trading Card Game. The odd thing about this was the fact that all we had was a Sega Genesis (or just Sega as everyone likes to call them), so I was beaming.
We’re getting a Game Boy, I thought oh so happily. Right on time for Hailey’s birthday, which lay smack dab in the middle of the month (on the 13th, no less. And yes, she was born on a Friday). So I waited for Mom to take care of things over by the N64 section where I played whatever game demo they had, but something was odd on that faithful birthday. No Game Boy nor game was in sight. Hailey got some Barbie dolls and accessories for them, some clothes and other things that have escaped my aged mind, but I clearly remember; no Game Boy.
And so, my head was riddled with questions. Where did it go? Did Mom buy it for someone else? Of course not, she asked me for Hailey’s opinion, so it had to be for her. Is she saving it for a bigger occasion? What could be bigger than one’s birthday to a person? She’s not saving it for Christmas, is she? Of course not, we haven’t even thought about turkeys or costumes yet.
And so, the days passed. School went on, Halloween came and went and Thanksgiving had us sleeping rather early from the tryptophan for days. The thought of the Game Boy slipped out of my mind by then.
Time passed, the sound of bells ringing, foil wrappings crunching, glass ornaments shattering and rain softly hitting the San Diego pavement filled the air. We had one of those red and green construction paper chains with gold foil ring at the end of it to countdown to Christmas and when all that was left was the golden loop, oh boy.
Wrapping paper flew all over the place. New games for the Sega, the newest Hot Wheels for me and the best Barbie stuff that on the market for my sis.
And then there was the ‘Present from Santa’ to both me and Hailey. My parents always had the biggest, most baddest (as in hardcore bad, not terrible bad) present say ‘From: Santa’ as to build up tension.
“We put in a really good word for you two this year, so Santa got you guys something special,” our parents said. We unwrapped it and there it was, the Purple Transparent Game Boy Color every kid in the city wanted was now ours, along with the Pokemon game my Mom got plus a Zelda game I’ve never heard of that came with the sacred item. And so, me and my little sis played with it for a very long time that day. A very, very long time. So long, that New Year’s Eve was upon us rather quickly.
On New Year’s Eve, I was watching the news with Mom, and the news reporter was at a Wal-Mart parking lot because they were having an end-of-the-year sale. Many of the things being bought were Christmas presents that were too expensive when they were going to buy them, things they wanted for a long time but had to wait for until prices go down and random knick knacks (one mom even bought groceries cause they were so cheap). But what really got me was when the reporter went up to one mom and asked her what she bought.
“I have Barbies, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, clothes, shoes, wrapping paper…”
That’s when I stopped listening. Wrapping paper? Isn’t it a little late for presents? The only excuse would be for Kwanzaa, but they were white, so yeah…
Apparently, the broadcaster felt the same way too.
“Wrapping paper? Isn’t it a little late for presents?” he asked the woman, as if he were emulating my very thoughts.
“Oh, it’s for next year!” she exclaimed.
That’s when I thought that she was dropped as a child and her children need to be taken away from her and put in the hands of someone more competent than that, really quickly. I could tell that the reporter felt the same way, but he had a smile stuck on his face just like every other day.
So yeah, talk about weird. I just thought that you celebrated each holiday as it came around the corner, not to prepare months (or in this wonky woman’s case, a YEAR) in advance just so it won’t be a failure, but apparently I was wrong.
I do my Christmas shopping in between December 1st and 23rd, as to avoid big crowds. You want to know why I can avoid those crowds? Because everyone’s done their Christmas shopping before they even carved pumpkins and cut holes in sheets so your son can see while he gets candy from neighbors he‘s never seen before.
Either that, or they waited until Black Friday to do their shopping. Now on Thanksgiving evening, I am not up and about. I am knocked out by the turkey’s little side effect and planning to sleep in until noon, if appropriate. Unfortunately, many companies decide to slash prices like The Bride from Kill Bill cuts up people and only does that in the wee hours in the morning. Not like the small window of opportunity will stop anyone.
Oh no.
People will be waiting outside in the freezing snow with lawn chairs, tents, sleeping bags and hot plates from the day before just so they can hopefully get that wide screen TV for 60% off; note the keyword hopefully. Once the doors to Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart or whatever other store is selling big that morning, people will stampede into the store as fast as possible as rush for the stuff they want. If a little 5 year old trips and loses her mommy, she will be in the offices of the store with the mom’s name being blared on the intercom to come pick up her daughter, and that’s if she lives from either the trampling throng or her mom scolding her from tearing her apart from shopping.
Oh, and you thought the guy getting killed when the Playstation 3 was released was a little much. HA.
This should hopefully be a sign to people that they should probably make sure that they get their sense of time correct and celebrate a certain holiday with the appropriate rituals. Otherwise, you’ll end up going door to door, saying “Happy Thanksgiving!” to the neighbors in a Santa suit and expect people to give you candy while you play the national anthem on a tape deck you carry around, hiding chocolate eggs everywhere as fireworks shoot up into the sky.
If this actually starts to happen, God help me (which is saying something since I‘m Atheist), I’m moving to Canada in a heartbeat.
Criticism is appreciated. :3
Enjoy my bitching.
And so there we were in the early days of September, in the Wal-Mart electronics section; me and my Mom. No, she wasn’t there to pick me up and go home since I usually head off to the electronics section of Wal-Mart to keep myself busy and to not get in the way. No no, she was there shopping with me for a change.
“Hailey (my little sister’s name) likes pokemon, doesn’t she?” my Mom would ask me as we stood in front of the Game Boy games behind the locked glass containers that Wal-Mart and every other large convenience store chain always had to have.
“Of course, every kid loves them,” I, a 7th grader at the time, said to her rather truthfully. And so she brought over the sales clerk and asked her to open the glass container so she could get the game, aptly called Pokemon Trading Card Game. The odd thing about this was the fact that all we had was a Sega Genesis (or just Sega as everyone likes to call them), so I was beaming.
We’re getting a Game Boy, I thought oh so happily. Right on time for Hailey’s birthday, which lay smack dab in the middle of the month (on the 13th, no less. And yes, she was born on a Friday). So I waited for Mom to take care of things over by the N64 section where I played whatever game demo they had, but something was odd on that faithful birthday. No Game Boy nor game was in sight. Hailey got some Barbie dolls and accessories for them, some clothes and other things that have escaped my aged mind, but I clearly remember; no Game Boy.
And so, my head was riddled with questions. Where did it go? Did Mom buy it for someone else? Of course not, she asked me for Hailey’s opinion, so it had to be for her. Is she saving it for a bigger occasion? What could be bigger than one’s birthday to a person? She’s not saving it for Christmas, is she? Of course not, we haven’t even thought about turkeys or costumes yet.
And so, the days passed. School went on, Halloween came and went and Thanksgiving had us sleeping rather early from the tryptophan for days. The thought of the Game Boy slipped out of my mind by then.
Time passed, the sound of bells ringing, foil wrappings crunching, glass ornaments shattering and rain softly hitting the San Diego pavement filled the air. We had one of those red and green construction paper chains with gold foil ring at the end of it to countdown to Christmas and when all that was left was the golden loop, oh boy.
Wrapping paper flew all over the place. New games for the Sega, the newest Hot Wheels for me and the best Barbie stuff that on the market for my sis.
And then there was the ‘Present from Santa’ to both me and Hailey. My parents always had the biggest, most baddest (as in hardcore bad, not terrible bad) present say ‘From: Santa’ as to build up tension.
“We put in a really good word for you two this year, so Santa got you guys something special,” our parents said. We unwrapped it and there it was, the Purple Transparent Game Boy Color every kid in the city wanted was now ours, along with the Pokemon game my Mom got plus a Zelda game I’ve never heard of that came with the sacred item. And so, me and my little sis played with it for a very long time that day. A very, very long time. So long, that New Year’s Eve was upon us rather quickly.
On New Year’s Eve, I was watching the news with Mom, and the news reporter was at a Wal-Mart parking lot because they were having an end-of-the-year sale. Many of the things being bought were Christmas presents that were too expensive when they were going to buy them, things they wanted for a long time but had to wait for until prices go down and random knick knacks (one mom even bought groceries cause they were so cheap). But what really got me was when the reporter went up to one mom and asked her what she bought.
“I have Barbies, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, clothes, shoes, wrapping paper…”
That’s when I stopped listening. Wrapping paper? Isn’t it a little late for presents? The only excuse would be for Kwanzaa, but they were white, so yeah…
Apparently, the broadcaster felt the same way too.
“Wrapping paper? Isn’t it a little late for presents?” he asked the woman, as if he were emulating my very thoughts.
“Oh, it’s for next year!” she exclaimed.
That’s when I thought that she was dropped as a child and her children need to be taken away from her and put in the hands of someone more competent than that, really quickly. I could tell that the reporter felt the same way, but he had a smile stuck on his face just like every other day.
So yeah, talk about weird. I just thought that you celebrated each holiday as it came around the corner, not to prepare months (or in this wonky woman’s case, a YEAR) in advance just so it won’t be a failure, but apparently I was wrong.
I do my Christmas shopping in between December 1st and 23rd, as to avoid big crowds. You want to know why I can avoid those crowds? Because everyone’s done their Christmas shopping before they even carved pumpkins and cut holes in sheets so your son can see while he gets candy from neighbors he‘s never seen before.
Either that, or they waited until Black Friday to do their shopping. Now on Thanksgiving evening, I am not up and about. I am knocked out by the turkey’s little side effect and planning to sleep in until noon, if appropriate. Unfortunately, many companies decide to slash prices like The Bride from Kill Bill cuts up people and only does that in the wee hours in the morning. Not like the small window of opportunity will stop anyone.
Oh no.
People will be waiting outside in the freezing snow with lawn chairs, tents, sleeping bags and hot plates from the day before just so they can hopefully get that wide screen TV for 60% off; note the keyword hopefully. Once the doors to Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart or whatever other store is selling big that morning, people will stampede into the store as fast as possible as rush for the stuff they want. If a little 5 year old trips and loses her mommy, she will be in the offices of the store with the mom’s name being blared on the intercom to come pick up her daughter, and that’s if she lives from either the trampling throng or her mom scolding her from tearing her apart from shopping.
Oh, and you thought the guy getting killed when the Playstation 3 was released was a little much. HA.
This should hopefully be a sign to people that they should probably make sure that they get their sense of time correct and celebrate a certain holiday with the appropriate rituals. Otherwise, you’ll end up going door to door, saying “Happy Thanksgiving!” to the neighbors in a Santa suit and expect people to give you candy while you play the national anthem on a tape deck you carry around, hiding chocolate eggs everywhere as fireworks shoot up into the sky.
If this actually starts to happen, God help me (which is saying something since I‘m Atheist), I’m moving to Canada in a heartbeat.
Criticism is appreciated. :3
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