And in the "Real" world

[intertext]

Spent a pleasant interlude having lunch and shopping with lidocafe yesterday. We went to The Lotus Pond on my recommendation, but I had forgotten that she dislikes mushrooms and didn't know that she dislikes tofu, so a vegan Chinese restaurant was not perhaps the best choice. I think I enjoyed it more than she.

However, we wandered around the increasingly gentrified shops in lower Johnson St and Chinatown, went to MEC for water bottles for work and daughter's school respectively, and tried on shoes. It turns out that we have the same size feet, though I think mine are fatter (they're fatter than almost everyone's). Ultimately I bought myself a new pair of sandals so as to have something less clunky than the ones I've been wearing. These will probably not be useful for much longer this year, but it will be good to have nice ones to look forward to next spring/summer. We also went to Silk Road and sniffed all the teas and sampled a lovely iced green tea mixed with lime-aid.

Before meeting lidocafe, I visited the downtown produce market, and also Eddie Bauer, where I spent too much money, not even on things for work, or at least not entirely: one three-quarter length polo shirt suitable for work and two pairs of jeans, the second one only because it was half price and I got partly flattered into it, although I did need some new jeans and the "primary" pair are grey, which I really like. The downtown Eddie Bauer is staffed by a little flotilla of gay young men, who can be very persuasive. I like buying clothes from gay young men, because if I can say this without lapsing into stereotype, they exude a kind of bright cheeriness and are usually much more helpful about whether something looks good or not than young women. Young women either lie insincerely because they want the sale, or look at you pityingly and suggest a size 14. Eddie Bauer now has those ridiculous sizes for people who need to feel good about pretending they really wear a size 4 - you know, the ones that start at zero? I mean, for heavens sake, size zero?? When we got to the checkout, the young man yawned hugely and said to his co-worker "I hardly got any sleep last night." I said "That sounds interesting" and he shot me a sharp, amused look - really seeing me for the first time as potentially a person and not just a middle-aged woman in a shop catering to middle-aged women.

Afterwards, I stopped in at the Market on Yates but they didn't have the Oolong tea that I wanted, although I did get a couple of boxes of organic creamy carrot soup which I can't get anywhere else. Then it was home to take doggies for a walk, supper and some of Smallville which I'm watching because I couldn't get Deadwood or Rome.

This morning, I'm feeling definitely as if I'm coming down with that cold that's going around. Drat. However, I have lots of fresh fruit in the house and some nice teas bought yesterday, including a very lemony one, which should be sovereign. I'll also dose myself with Cold FX and echinacea, so we'll see. Later, I'm meeting dr for a walk and then dinner. I hope. If she doesn't bail at the last minute, which she often does. Stay tuned.

Comments

[marri.livejournal.com]

I like buying clothes from gay young men, because if I can say this without lapsing into stereotype, they exude a kind of bright cheeriness and are usually much more helpful about whether something looks good or not than young women. Young women either lie insincerely because they want the sale, or look at you pityingly and suggest a size 14.

You said it, sister. I'd rather get my hair cut by a gay man than a woman, too, for the same sort of reason. Gay men just somehow feel...more genuine, even when they're perky. That's a skill.

[lidocafe.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's because there's no hint of either competition or attraction.