Tarantino - blah!

Going backwards through yesterday I figured out why I had a big day. I waxed and polished hardwood floors upstairs to start the day – the old fashioned way ... with elbow grease. Richard came by and I told him I am thinking of doing some mudding and taping at Penbrooke and did he have any tips for me. He said if I were ready in one hour I could go with him and watch him doing a coat of mudding over the taping at a bathroom he is helping his friend with. I asked him if he could see why my router and modem are so slow. He asked me if I could give him some clean-up help in his house in exchange. I was laughing so hard about the job exchange. He even sat down to make a list on one page of his book, a new page called Jobs Arta Want Me To Do.

He called Shaw to get the deal going on the router. Just a 20 minutes wait, twice, for once he was on the road when they called back. Then he negotiated a deal and a new machine will arrive at my house in 3 to 5 days. Nice. I shortened my job list. He headed out to Costco. I tidied up on the jobs that were near completion for me.

By the time I got home from the mudding and taping I was looking at the clock and wondering how much of the time left in the day I could use up looking for a new coat for Trell. No hope in Brentwood for they have the smallest Marks Work Wearhouse in the world, the clerk told me. Go to Chinook or Sunridge he said. I headed up to Eddie Bauer at Market Mall, but was soon remembering that I don’t walk that Mall at all. Two trips from the north end to the south end and I still couldn’t find Eddie Bauer. Then another trip down the mall to find the information centre. I was trying to walk tall and remember that all of those steps counts as exercise for the day.

At 6 pm, I still had text books in my car to return to the University Bookstore – books for classes I am not taking. The woman wanted the credit card from me that I had used to buy the books. Seven credit cards later she and I were even. Why isn’t the card on top, if I used it last, I thought to myself.

The thrill of the day was entering the parking lot at the university. A week ago, I went to Parking Services to pick up a free parking pass – for retirees. For $30 I could also invest in a returnable unit that opens the Art Parkade entry automatically. The unit gets attached to the front window just behind the rear view mirror there. On my death, would someone please remember to take that back and get the refund?

Serendipity struck when I saw that it was 6:30 pm, time for the Cinemania to start at Science Theatre 140. I looked at the posters: Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds, neither of which I had seen, a double feature at 6:30 and 9 pm, a Quentin Tarantino night. Spending a relaxing evening at the movies and watching Tarantino is an oxymoron, but I took the task on. In the name of parody Tarantino moves through every set of politically incorrect traditions – putting them right in the viewer’s face. Painful.

The university sidewalks are well lit, but eerily empty at 11:45 pm. I was a little hungry for I had forgotten to eat but the food court was closed down. Also on my mind was my full complement of Tylenol, which was back at home – so I headed in that direction. The last movie hadn’t been well attended. And my training is to watch the credits rollright to the last screen; so I was the last one in the theatre. I was alone on the sidewalks, too, except for some revellers from the Den ahead of me, on their way back to residence. The weather was beautiful – the last day of the warm weather we are to have. Calgary isn’t going back to the deep-freeze, just into a good stretch of minus ten. I decided to enjoy the walk to the parkade in the dying throes of the last of good weather. And though it it not open yet, I stopped to admire the new Taylor Digital Library with its beautiful glass window facade.

Retirement is the best job in the world.

Arta