So, today was a bit slow and a tad depressing, but kind of productive in a “holy crap, why does this stuff happen?” manner. I found some fine additions to the game and film library earlier, so that’s the good news today. The not so good news was found out while doing some shopping at a formerly reliable discount store that seems to be going through a really rough patch. As in it may be shutting down soon. This is bizarre because of the nice deals there and the fact that it’s generally pretty packed on weekends with people clearing out their freezer of nicely priced frozen goodies that range from healthy to terminal artery-cloggers to surprising gourmet randomness. When the fun cheap place to shop is in trouble, you know something’s just not right…

Today, the place just looked something like brightly lit ghost supermarket at about 11am. I think there were maybe a dozen people inside while I was there pushing around carts and looking as hollow-eyed as most of the shop was barren. I felt sorry for that last can of coffee I picked up as I pushed a mostly empty cart around watching one bored-looking guy restock a freezer with what looked like a few bags of frozen chicken parts. I didn’t want to ask him about the store possibly shutting because bugging some guy who’s about to lose a job isn’t something one wants to do on a gloomy Sunday morning. Hell, I’d probably end up in a few pieces in bags in that freezer marked down to five bucks each. Speaking of deals, I ended buying a few necessities like toothpaste and some cleaning supplies, but I think that gallon of vinegar for a buck was the best deal. I’ll find something to do with it, folks. Maybe a homemade barbecue sauce/salad dressing/foot soak combination? Who knows?

As I cycled back into the aisle where I picked up that can of coffee to give the sad spice section a final once over, some old woman was hunching over looking for something on a low shelf. I rolled up and asked if she needed any help and she asked me if I cold see if there was a can of coffee left, eyeballing the can I’d picked up a few minutes earlier. “It’s the only thing I buy when I come here, along with the soft oatmeal cookies, she noted. I looked in her cart and sure enough, she had cleaned out the remaining packages of cookies, with about seven or eight in her own cart. I knew there wasn’t any more coffee left, so I reached into my cart, took the can and handed it to her.

Eh, I can pick up a couple of bricks of that super-strong Spanish espresso blend that’s always on sale at one of the supermarkets closer by. It’s actually a better value anyway because I end up using less to make a bigger pot and anything left over gets put in a pitcher for iced coffee later. I don’t think I’d sleep right if some old lady was wistfully staring at a bunch of cookies while drinking some crappy instant store brand brew spooned from a tiny jar. Between this and the movie theaters all drying up and blowing away, sometimes I think this place is dying a way too slow and needless death…

Okay, back to livelier matters…