Don't Tell Me to Smile

Listen up. If you're a smarmy little asshole Ave rat who thinks that just because you think it's funny, you're entitled to bother passers-by who aren't obviously in the same jovial state of mood you're in, fuck you.

I just wanted some fucking dinner. I'm in the middle of shit, and sure, my day? Isn't horrible. In fact, it's pretty all right. But you know, I wasn't smiling. Something could have been deeply troubling me. You just don't. Fucking. Know what's going on with someone you've never met who's walking past you on the street. So don't do this:

"Ma'am. You dropped something, ma'am."

[silence]

"Ma'am, you dropped something here!"

[looking back]

"Your smile."

[shooting a dirty look]

And the little bastards whimpered and laughed. Aww, look at the bitchy white lady, she don't wanna smile.

I don't fucking have to smile. I'll smile when I damn well feel like smiling, which isn't now.

I found this more annoying than these guys (and Becky will remember), Hare Krishna guys standing outside Bumbershoot trying to "fine" you $5 for "not smiling" so you'd give them money for dorky cult stickers. Of course, Becky was friends with some HK dudes in Florida at the time and later struck up a conversation with one of them on our way back from QFC and bought a Bhagavad Gita.

On the other hand, some guys don't completely piss me off.

The guy selling Real Change outside Trader Joe's always half sings his pitch and smiles and looks at you hopefully. It's his sad little jingle, and it always gets me. I just hadn't ever bought from him until today because usually someone already bought a copy.

Those guys know if you want people to be nice, you can't be a presumptuous ass.

...

I picked up a story request today that will be way frickin' easy to do this weekend, and I talked to a C&C network securty guy Julie hooked me up with, so I've mostly written a pretty techy story about the Blaster worm/Windows exploits on campus. That story is totally good to go as soon as another source that my prof told me to contact gets back to me with answers to questions so my story is more well-rounded.

It kind of sucks that Claritin-D is now available OTC because I can't get a prescription for it and, therefore, I can't get insurance to pay for most of it. I miss $10 copays for 30 pills. I just paid $12 for 10 24-hour release caplets this weekend because my allergies are starting to attack.

I need to get a local physician. It's nearing annual checkup time. Lots of things the doc otter look at for me. (I'm healthy, really. Just, checkups are good so long as I can get them, y'know? Speaking of, it's also lame not to have dental insurance.) Yeah. I want allergy meds, girlie-bit consolations, the works.

And I want there not to be people doing noisy shit in the street at 7 a.m.