jamelah.net

Friday, November 01, 2002

halloween, the belated story

last night, my department was sponsoring a halloween party for middle school kids. and since we in the recreation department are all about procrastination (read: waiting until the last minute to ask jamelah to go running around to find all the necessary elements for that day's event) yesterday was quite an adventure.

okay, so at approximately 3:30 p.m., i get a phone call from my boss. he asks in such an innocent way, "hey, do you think if you went to someplace like best buy, you would be able to find a cd for a limbo contest?"

i thought for a second, then replied, "rodney, are you asking me to go to best buy and find a cd for a limbo contest?"

"uhhh... yes."

"anything else?"

"you need to find a movie for the kids to watch. it can't be more than pg-13. bring it to my house when you're done."

"right, ok."

so i get in my little car and drive 20 minutes to jackson (as my town sucks and doesn't have a music store) and find a premium parking space at best buy. that's all very well and good... but as i'm walking through the aisles of their music section, (looking for polka music, as kate and i decided earlier that polka would be peppy enough for limbo), i realize that i am on an impossible mission. i ask the salesgirl: "hey, i'm trying to find something for limbo."

salesgirl acts like she knows exactly what i'm looking for, and walks over to the world music section. she picks up the "buena vista social club" cd. now, i have that cd and i like it, but it's not gonna do much for limbo. i pull my cell phone out of my pocket and call my boss and ask what he thinks i should get. and he goes, "oh, you know... calypso." so i tell the girl i need calypso music. she just gives me this blank look and says, "who would do calypso?" and of course, the only album i can think of that fits within the calypso genre is "harry belafonte: live at carnegie hall", which, yes, i listened to repeatedly when i was a child. i tell her, "harry belafonte. you know."

she goes, "who's harry belafonte?"

i realize that i am in hell somewhere around this point, and i tell her, "eh, nevermind... i'll just look around." she looks relieved and wanders off. i spy a gipsy kings cd and pick that up. i sorta like the gipsy kings, so i figure that'll be okay. i go get in line. it is about 90 miles long. i am annoyed. one guy has credit card trouble. the next guy doesn't get the discount he's supposed to get. blabbity blabbity. and after much waiting and disgruntlement, i finally get to pay for the cd and leave. hooray.

but the fun doesn't end there, folks. oh no.

so i get back in my car and drive in heinous traffic back toward home. i go to the video store, thinking, "okay, what's scary but still suitable to show to 11 year old kids? rated pg-13 or less?" so i finally break down and ask for help (i have issues with asking for help) and the video store guy (who is dressed like a ninja. this is so funny i want to die laughing, but i have to hold it together.) helps me locate a movie starring christopher lloyd, entitled "when good ghouls go bad."

fabulous.

so i get in my car and call my boss and say, "hey i've got a cd and a movie. where are you?" because this party is supposed to be happening at 6 p.m. and it's about 5:40 at that point.

"i'm still at my house. jamelah, my tire is flat. i had to call triple a. you come over and i'll give you the keys to the school so you can start getting things set up."

i hung up, slightly troubled. see, i wasn't supposed to work at this halloween party. i was supposed to have the night off. now, i didn't have any fabulous or fun plans, since i am a geek, and i was just pumped about the idea of not having to work on a thursday night for once. so i went to his house, and we talked about the party... i got kicked in the shin by his four-year-old, eric (who was dressed as batman), and then we went to the middle school.

i got someone to volunteer to call my cell phone pretending to be my mother telling me that i was desperately needed at home... but then...

rodney told me to go to the grocery store to buy some potato chips. yeah, okay. so when does my volunteer call me? while i'm in my car, that's right.

i bought the chips, then i went back to the party and told rodney that i had to go home and type the agenda for the next morning's meeting. he said "oh. okay."

and that was that.

the thing is, i feel guilty. i mean, i don't know when my boss sleeps... he has absolutely dedicated his life to the children in this town. and me? i get pissed because i get asked to help out and i don't feel like it.

yeah, i'm selfish.





posted by jamelah
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