I have defied all odds and survived the weekend. It has been interesting and unique in a Marquis de Sade kind of way too. From my "nuclear family" model going nuclear; to self-important turds who insist that, as customers, they are always right and we sales grunts are always responsible for the policies our Head Office dictates; to the shift-skipping employee and hordes of wandering customers who prevented me from getting done any of what I actually wanted to get done; to sheer exhaustion and discovering what it's like to hear one of those really large Buddhist temple gongs ringing incessantly in my head (yeah, it was a throbbing headache, but this analogy sounds better), I think it's safe to say I've had better days. And better weekends.

The last 2 days have seen an inordinate number of idiots and assholes parading around before me, and for the most part I have been helpless to do anything to stop them from continuing to pee in the human gene pool with their sad little antics. It may sound cynical, and it may sound cruel and scarcastic. More than likely because at this moment I'm feeling rather cynical, cruel and sarcastic.

A few little bits of nowhere ago, I mentioned my belief that Purgatory will be one giant retail store where rude people have to be stuck as sales associates, enduring the rudeness from all the other customers coming in. After this weekend, I realize that Purgatory's going to need a bigger store. Or else a bigger retail chain. Maybe that's why there are so many levels in Purgatory: different stores for different pissy attitudes.

And yet, despite this haggard and pity-party infested rant, there have been great silver linings in the dark & gloomy cloud that was this weekend. I watched Resident Evil 2 and saw what it would be like to go at Toronto's city hall with an attack chopper. Mel spent an hour giving me a back massage, after which I had to be scooped up into a bucket. (I swear, those things are my Achilles Heel. I'll agree to almost anything if I'm getting my back massaged...as Servo has already exploited.)

Plus, I've got a good start on writing Anime North 2005's Confic. Happiness is Sailormoon, self-insertion and all things silly. There will be singing, there will be panties, and there will be Neko-Kyo. Much rejoicing.

Despite it all, I remain optimistic about this coming week. There will be days off to recouperate. There will be mostly day shifts where I won't be stuck closing the store all the time. And (most wonderfully of all) the odds are very good that the overall traffic in the store will die down to a minimal. I could really use that, especially Monday night, where I'm stuck all alone with myself...and Athlete's World playing that damned Hillary & Hailey Duff song over and over.

Is it just me, or does it seem inherently wrong that these teeny-booper singers end their video with the both of them play-fighting while waist-deep in soap suds?

Today's Lesson: while all good things may one day come to an end, thankfully so do all bad things. May all your 'bad things' meet their demise sooner rather than later.