A pair of hopalong boots and a toy gun that shoots is the wish of Barney and Ben...

Why is it that whenever you PLAN a day of studying you do everything BUT study?! I should be studying now really but honestly I'm just too tired. I began this morning and I did reread my notes for this exam, but I know the stuff already, it's the sort of thing that just gets written in your soul more than anything else. Anyways, early morning cram session tomorrow so that should straighten me out pretty well. For Espanol a brief review beforehand should suffice. Y'know it's amazing, people don't get the importance of tipping. Working in the service sector (yes coffee production is the service sector) it really shows you how a well-placed tip can serve SOOO well. For instance, today. My mom drags me along (no we didn't go to Ikea :() to get a Christmas tree. So we go to this little lot near the house which she's been going to for the past few years. It's freezing cold outside. I don't just mean frigid, I mean the kind of cold that makes even the leather of your watchstrap and wallet turn gangrenous (no, I didn't amputate). Anywhee, the good-hearted Christmas tree man (since the tree is a German symbol, i'll just call him Herr Green from now on), spends like 25 mins in the midst of the chill with my kind but picky mother. Tree after tree after tree.... after about the 8th tree, I said to myself screw this, I'm going to wait in the car. So I did, eventually she finds the tree she loves, it's tied to the top of the car and we drive away. She tells me that Herr Green told her how he's selling trees from his Nephew's farm and how she told him all about her loyalty to his little tree stand in the parking lot. I then say, "are you planning on going back to him next year?" she responds with "Yes". "Did you ask him to save you a tree?" "No, not really." "Well, did you at least tip the guy?" "Hrm. No, I probably should eh?" So of course, I politely begin a rant on the importance of tippage and how it really creates personalized service, it's one of the last outpost of any sort of real personal HUMAN relationship a customer can have with the vendor. So we drive back around, she tipped him 5 bucks and he took her number to save her a tree for next year. I mean, ok. Maybe the tipping wasnt NECESSARY, but it's just the classy thing to do. I guess I was somewhat impressed by the way C+C demanded service this summer in Vegas and L.A. by leaving tips where you usually wouldn't. Anyhey, in other news, some (most) of my xmas shopping is done (whee!). Though, in the bodyshop I did run into this attractive girl, with which there was definitively some eye flirtation going on.... then when I came back she was there again and we talked a bit. Didn't lead to anything, but it's like the tipping thing, and involuntary smile when you look someone directly in the eyes, is kind of like a surprise tip. Doens't really mean anything and it's only a token, but it's those little tokens that can turn the hell of shopping and consumerism into a really cool quest of interpersonal discoveries. The ironic thing is, on the way home I realized that girl was my sister's ex-friend, also she was the younger sister of a girl I had a huge crush on in grade 8. Go figure. Ok, I understand that Old people should be allowed independence but my neighbor is creepy. Almost every night before going to bed she opens the light on her porch, opens her blind and looks out. From her window she can see into the kitchen where I usually sit and type and work and such. Creepy. Just plain creepy. *Shudder* I have more to rant about, but I must cut tonight's post short since bed calls owing to the fact that i'm up at 10 to 5 tomorrow for an early morning cram session. Gluck (not the composer, but then again, maybe the composer...) on exams to all, and to all a groot nacht.