Hello Tiffy!

I want to know what moron decided neon sunglasses are back in fashion. All I see at the pool anymore are these hideous neon generic sunglasses like the ones that came with promotions in the late 80s. Like these:

Oh wait…. I think I know the culprit. Only his are, sometimes, even less practical than just neon shades.

Yeah, definitely to blame.

Today I had a day off for the first time in a while. I started supporting a new MMO @ work which has me swamped. It was really, really nice. I got more done before noon than I usually do in a week so that was nice. I didn’t even really sleep in, but I assume that is because I am just used to waking up on weekdays but..oh yeah…J woke up for work which woke me up too of course. I started cleaning the bathtub but it is so filthy after about 10 minutes of elbow grease, realized this was not what I was going to spend my time doing today. After that, I decided to kill some time, I would go hit up a bunch of thirft stores I have been meaning to check out for the last year. So I did that, and that was an adventure in itself, but more on that later.

After that I grabbed a corn dog and a diet cherry limeade at Sonic, which was a great pre-pool snack (my main focus going into today’s luxury day off). Went to the pool and enjoyed some sun and talked to some cool people. My friend Monica invited me out to the bar so I went and met a friend of hers, which happens to be a mutual friend of many friends of mine. We had a great time chatting and drinking for a few hours then I made it home. It was definitely a dun and relaxing day. So..back to the thrift store madness….

GoodWill Outlet stores. Yes. They exist. They are called “Blue Hanger”. And seriously? They are frightening!

So You may have visited a thrift store before. Yes they are people’s throw-aways, hand-me-downs, whatever you want to call them. Sometimes you can find some neat, random, sometimes brand-new stuff you feel is more valuable than the used price tag. That is most of the fun of thrift stores. Then there are stores where people throw heaps of used, sometimes urine soaked crap into large plastic bins and everyone goes face first into the bins rummaging through looking for god-knows what kind of random “treasures”.

Anyway, all I know is, I saw some seriously crazy shit today. So I get to the Good Will Blue Hanger and I see a warehouse full of blue plastic tubs lined up on long tables. The smell of the place immediately reminds me of grandma’s house. Musty, musky, moth-bally. I see a few random people digging around. This place is freaking me out slightly, but I continue on my journey. I start rummaging and right away I see 2 books in a bin that I swear I was just considering buying at Target not even 2 weeks ago. I realize there is no price on anything, and I see an older lady across from me, rummaging in another bin, and I ask “Hey, how do you know how much stuff is?”. She becomes my GoodWill guru, and fills me in.

“It depends on who you ask.” “If you ask that guy, (motions to a staff member) it is probably 50 cents but if you ask *her* (another staff member) it will probably be a buck.” “No biggie though, everything is real cheap, and be careful, this gets addicting.”

No worries there…

Ok so anyway I start to rummage around, and I find I am so not willing to rummage. People around me are just throwing shit everywhere, getting to the bottoms of the bins. I am so not interested in getting that down and dirty in what to me looks like other peoples garbage. I want to make a note I am not above shopping thrift… I actually love it, usually. When shit is sorted out and the books are in an area, shoes are in an area, toys…etc. This place had everything EVERYWHERE. In any given bin I could find one right children’s shoe mixed in with some pogs from the 90s, mixed in with a high school trophy for adam sanderson, jv football captain from the Austin bobcats (92-93). It was a bit much for me. then the nice helpful lady a few minutes ago comes running at me with her cart full of crap. I see her bolting at me and stop and look. She leans into me as if she has something very important to tell me.

“Hey, one more thing!”
“Oh, hi, ya?”
“You see those staff members filling up those bins in that aisle?” (motions to the farthest aisle)
“Yeah?”
“When they are done filling them up, stay out of the way. People will come running over and knock over everything! Those are the latest items! Everyone is waiting for those!”
“oh…ok”
“Yeah people camp out here all day waiting for those new bins. People stop at nothing to be first to see what there is…this is the last stop for all this stuff, before it goes to the dump.”

I start to look around this huge warehouse of crap and I realize how sad it is that all this crap is totally going into a landfill any day now. It is concerning but at the same time, really nothing one can do about it, other than save it. Suddenly, these weirdos around me, salvaging rotting toys and drinking glasses from McDonalds promotions in the 70s are not as bad as I thought. I mean yes, seeing how people can have a cart full of complete crap is sad on one hand, but these people are enjoying their day, and I could tell they were happy. AND it was less crap to go into a landfill.

As for me, I made it out of there with a few Hello Kitty items that would be perfect for my desk. I left my finds in the car but I will post pics tomorrow. I mean seriously, I got a hello kitty pencil holder, a hello kitty pez lunch box and an adult hello kitty watch with little crystals in it (and practically brand new looking), and a pink organizational basket for $3.25. If anything, it was definitely entertainment… although seeing people line up for rummaging through urine-soaked items (at times) was a little bit freaky.

I am sure I will be back…