.

Driving around unknown parts of the metroplex was fruitful this evening, and not cause I found places to apply, no. What happened was, as I was making a u-turn in this one shopping center I saw these words, bright and glowing and sparkly: NICKEL MANIA!
It appears to be sort of a Chuck-E-Cheese thing but you don't have to be a child. There were adults in there, playing. Lots of video games! And pizza! And this has been there all along. When I see things like this, that's when it really hits home that I'm not involved enough in society.

Also, on the way back, I noticed what appeared to be a very well-organized, color-coded and slow moving traffic jam over to the left, and I thought, what highway is that? (it was dark.) And then I looked again and realized, it was an airport. And then it hit me! That's the airport my mom used to drop us off at in the summertime to see movies, roller skate, AND ice skate. All 3 in one, and I'm for real. We used to go back and forth from rink to rink for hours on end. But I also happen to have a really bad memory of that place. It involves a horror movie.

One time my mom said to us, when she was dropping us off, "Have fun and whatever you do, don't sneak in the adult movies." So naturally we did. And of course, it was right in time for one of the worst visuals I have ever witnessed. All I saw was maybe 10 seconds of this flick but it was enough to scar me for life. I remember seeing a woman in the woods who was watching some kind of horrible ritual sacrifice thing. It disturbed me for months, but not as bad as the after-effect of being made to watch The Excorcist one evening with my family. I remember my parents fighting, my mom saying, No they're too young! And my dad saying, Don't baby them! It's good for them to see scary things! And so like any other good wholesome family evening, we all sat together on the couch under blankets and watched The Excorcist together. I was about 7 years old. To this day I cannot look at anything to do with scenes from that movie.

I called my grandmother today to wish her a happy birthday and also to get on to her for giving my mom's work number out to a complete stranger. Here is the official transcript of our conversation:

(gramma) Hello?

(me) Hi Gramma it's Amy, Happy Birthday!!!

(gramma) Oh hello Dear, did you hear the news? What I did for you? How I called that woman
in the newspaper and told her all about you?

(me) Yes Gramma I heard. But I really don't want my information given out to people
I don't know, ok? As in, phone numbers.

(gramma) Oh Honey I didn't give out YOUR number. I gave out your mother's.

(me) Yeah I know. I'm not mad but please in the future just run it past me first, ok? Or
next time maybe you can just call me and let me know you saw something of
interest, and if I want to make contact, I will?

(gramma) Now Honey, this is what I did. I told her how tired you are and so I asked her if she
knew of any work opportunities for you.

(silence, me processing this.)

(me) Work opportunities? What, seeing if she knew of places that made a point to hire
tired people?

(gramma) Now Honey I did the right thing. I know how tired you get. I.....

(me) GRAMMA! I'm all better and my slow-moving job hunt has nothing to do with
being tired! I'm just fine! So if you don't mind, in the future, please don't give out
my information!

(gramma) .....I didn't give out your information.
I gave out your mother's.

(more silence)

(me) Ok that's fine, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

And then I was able to change the subject but I could tell she still didn't get why that offended me so much. She not only called this poor woman but she told her all of my details, my name, everything, and made it sound like I was in a horrible position in life, with my mother as my caretaker. I feel.... VIOLATED. Don't know how else to describe it.

My mom is still amazed that she did it. She said that my grandmother is the "Boundariless Wonder".