Christmas in August

I'm heading out to Trader Joe's with a $50 gift card I just found (payment for cat/dog/bird sitting earlier in the summer, from Bo and Martha. Totally forgot about it. It's like Christmas in August!), and I have only three things on my shopping list:

1. Kitty litter
2. Bottled water
3. Chicken pot pies

Wonder how many chicken pot pies I can get with $50... I need an intern.

...

Items I actually purchased:

1. Kitty litter
2. Bottled water
3. Chicken pot pies (delicious!)
4. Navel oranges
5. Apples
6. Kitty treats that look suspiciously new age-y
7. All kinds and colors of pre-made salads
8. Something else I'm sure I've forgotten

...

So by now I'm sure everyone has heard my complaints about the poorly designed parking lots of the world. What? No? Well, let me tell you: parking lots suck. I've been, and I'm sure you have too, almost hit, rammed by errant and homicidal shopping carts, cut off by folks in wheel chairs, riding shopping carts, and those crazy Rascal things, and in general, harassed and irritated.

Patrick is sick of hearing about it, so I mostly keep my mouth shut, but what I wonder is, how can parking lots be so damn badly planned? I mean, yes, you need a place to park... but does no one think beyond the actual parking of the car? Who decided that having cars pull in and then back out of a space where people have to walk was a good idea? All I'm saying is, parking lot designers of the world, have a little consideration for the people on foot. The people with children, strollers, carts. And plant some more goddamn trees.

Okay, so anyway, I was alone when I went to Trader Joe's, and honestly, I was thinking about how tight my fucking pants are right now, not the parking lot. And truth be told, I think the Trader Joe's parking lot by my house is one of the best parking lots for a Trader Joe's I've ever been in. Anybody remember the old TJ's in Culver City (before Culver City was cool? Like, when I lived there?)? Or the Santa Monica TJ's? Or the one on National? Anyway, there's also a Target, a post office, a Rite Aid, a Big Lots, and various other no-name stores in this little shopping center, and lots of spaces - it's no big deal. But as I was walking up to the store, walking around various parkers/de-parkers, wannabe parkers, this man walking to my left turned around and said,

"Walking through this parking lot is kind of like playing a game of Frogger!"

And for some reason that cracked me. Made me feel a million years old, yes, but dude was way older than me, so shut up, okay?