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Jun. 14th, 2004 12:05 pmJustin and I took his grandmother up to Lorain on Saturday. She has a friend there who is a beautician and gives her perms really cheap. But she won't drive herself there. She has a fear of breaking down on the turnpike. Like things will be a whole lot better if I break down on the turnpike. Well, whatever, she's an old lady and my car's in pretty good shape. So I take her. Justin doesn't normally come along, but I asked him to because he had the day off and I get really bored.
Lorain, Ohio makes me sad. It had a population boom about 50-70 years ago when the steel mills were still open. You can see how nice the city once was. It sits right on Lake Erie and has a huge, beautiful beach with dozens of volleyball courts and an ice cream "hut" the size of CHS's auxiliary gym. It has several huge, beautiful parks. One of which has a gigantic fountain complete with light show. But the steel mills went out of business a decade or so ago and the population's been dwindling ever since. Stores have gone out of business leaving entire shopping plazas empty, their windows boarded up and their parking lots growing weeds. The beaches aren't as well tended and the fountain only has three working colors now. The houses get more and more rundown every year.
Justin and I dropped Tena off at her friend's house and went to the mall to wait out the 3 hours it would take for her to get her hair done. Midway Mall is one of the largest malls I've been in. We missed a whole wing even though we were there for over two hours. The first thing I have to do when I go there is make fun of the Airbrush Wizzards store. They specialize in airbrushed t-shirts and they misspelled "Wizards" on their sign. Who wears airbrushed t-shirts anyway? They must be doing fairly well, they have one of the biggest boutiques in the mall.
We walked past a knife store. They had all kinds of pocket knives, swords, and even some armor. I saw the look on Justin's face that said, "I WANNA SEE!!!" so we popped in to take a look at the knives. I'm not a fan of weaponry. I mean, it just doesn't hold my interest. And I certainly don't want a suit of armor in my hallway. Justin was looking for a replacement for his Sog. He'd broken the tip off. The man behind the counter took a look at his old one and said that his other store could put the blade back on it, no problem. So Justin folded it up and put it back in his pocket. Then started asking to see other knives. He'd hand it to me and ask how I liked it. Well, I liked it fine, but I have no use for a pocket knife. I mean, I could use one I suppose, but it would probably just sit at the bottom of my purse forever and never be used. The man behind the counter said I could use it for self defense. I told him that I was a wimp and that I find curling up in a ball was all the defense I needed. He wasn't amused. Justin was pointing out other models. "What about that pink one?" He said. Yes, very nice. Moving on... We left the store with him saying, "You really do need a pocket knife."
We went to a music/video store. I saw several DVD Box sets for Buffy and Justin said, "Isn't that the season you like?" Yes it is, but it's not the one I'm looking for. The lady asked us if we needed help and I said no. Then Justin, in his annoyed voice, says, "I worked 58 hours last week...I have money." OH! He's trying to buy me something! Sweet. :)
We went to Bath & Body Works where they were having their 75% off sale. I find it amusing how Justin can't stand to wear fragrances, but will sniff every single product in a Bath & Body Works boutique. He settled on a bottle of hand soap and two glycerin soaps and bought them for me. Now my hands smell like mandarin mango soap. Which is very nice. And cheap because the soaps were only $1 each.
We went to the food court where we ate Bourbon chicken and jambalaya. Not bad for mall food. Justin insists the owners of the restaurant are Indian, but I say Puerto Rican.
They have an arcade at Midway that has DDR. There was a family playing it when we got there. It was fun to watch. One boy was sooo good! He was very fun to watch. His brother wasn't so good, but didn't suck. Their mom was terrible! But she was nice and we chatted while her sons played. When they left, Justin treated me to a game of DDR. I'd never played on a metal stage before. It's very different than my game mat at home. Like I have to step further to activate the right places on the metal stage. Then I found I was overcompensating and missing the step entirely.
Justin bought himself a video game. Something Tactics. But when he tried to play it it caused the motor to sound awful, so he called the store and said something didn't work. They asked if the game had a blue backing and it did. Then they said that our PS2 was dying. Apparently the games with the blue backing spin faster than the other kind and our PS2 can't handle it. Justin woke me up from my nap to tell me he had to buy a new PS2. If I'd been a little more awake I would've been furious that he would buy a new one so close to the wedding date. When I finally did wake up I went to talk to him. He had decided not to buy it. Good for him. :)
Lorain, Ohio makes me sad. It had a population boom about 50-70 years ago when the steel mills were still open. You can see how nice the city once was. It sits right on Lake Erie and has a huge, beautiful beach with dozens of volleyball courts and an ice cream "hut" the size of CHS's auxiliary gym. It has several huge, beautiful parks. One of which has a gigantic fountain complete with light show. But the steel mills went out of business a decade or so ago and the population's been dwindling ever since. Stores have gone out of business leaving entire shopping plazas empty, their windows boarded up and their parking lots growing weeds. The beaches aren't as well tended and the fountain only has three working colors now. The houses get more and more rundown every year.
Justin and I dropped Tena off at her friend's house and went to the mall to wait out the 3 hours it would take for her to get her hair done. Midway Mall is one of the largest malls I've been in. We missed a whole wing even though we were there for over two hours. The first thing I have to do when I go there is make fun of the Airbrush Wizzards store. They specialize in airbrushed t-shirts and they misspelled "Wizards" on their sign. Who wears airbrushed t-shirts anyway? They must be doing fairly well, they have one of the biggest boutiques in the mall.
We walked past a knife store. They had all kinds of pocket knives, swords, and even some armor. I saw the look on Justin's face that said, "I WANNA SEE!!!" so we popped in to take a look at the knives. I'm not a fan of weaponry. I mean, it just doesn't hold my interest. And I certainly don't want a suit of armor in my hallway. Justin was looking for a replacement for his Sog. He'd broken the tip off. The man behind the counter took a look at his old one and said that his other store could put the blade back on it, no problem. So Justin folded it up and put it back in his pocket. Then started asking to see other knives. He'd hand it to me and ask how I liked it. Well, I liked it fine, but I have no use for a pocket knife. I mean, I could use one I suppose, but it would probably just sit at the bottom of my purse forever and never be used. The man behind the counter said I could use it for self defense. I told him that I was a wimp and that I find curling up in a ball was all the defense I needed. He wasn't amused. Justin was pointing out other models. "What about that pink one?" He said. Yes, very nice. Moving on... We left the store with him saying, "You really do need a pocket knife."
We went to a music/video store. I saw several DVD Box sets for Buffy and Justin said, "Isn't that the season you like?" Yes it is, but it's not the one I'm looking for. The lady asked us if we needed help and I said no. Then Justin, in his annoyed voice, says, "I worked 58 hours last week...I have money." OH! He's trying to buy me something! Sweet. :)
We went to Bath & Body Works where they were having their 75% off sale. I find it amusing how Justin can't stand to wear fragrances, but will sniff every single product in a Bath & Body Works boutique. He settled on a bottle of hand soap and two glycerin soaps and bought them for me. Now my hands smell like mandarin mango soap. Which is very nice. And cheap because the soaps were only $1 each.
We went to the food court where we ate Bourbon chicken and jambalaya. Not bad for mall food. Justin insists the owners of the restaurant are Indian, but I say Puerto Rican.
They have an arcade at Midway that has DDR. There was a family playing it when we got there. It was fun to watch. One boy was sooo good! He was very fun to watch. His brother wasn't so good, but didn't suck. Their mom was terrible! But she was nice and we chatted while her sons played. When they left, Justin treated me to a game of DDR. I'd never played on a metal stage before. It's very different than my game mat at home. Like I have to step further to activate the right places on the metal stage. Then I found I was overcompensating and missing the step entirely.
Justin bought himself a video game. Something Tactics. But when he tried to play it it caused the motor to sound awful, so he called the store and said something didn't work. They asked if the game had a blue backing and it did. Then they said that our PS2 was dying. Apparently the games with the blue backing spin faster than the other kind and our PS2 can't handle it. Justin woke me up from my nap to tell me he had to buy a new PS2. If I'd been a little more awake I would've been furious that he would buy a new one so close to the wedding date. When I finally did wake up I went to talk to him. He had decided not to buy it. Good for him. :)