I am a Man on a Mission!
No, not a Fool's Errand!
A mission, I tell you!
But, just like any mission plans can go awry when you least expect it. ;-D
10am.
I no sooner get on the bus than an old Hispanic woman goes to the African American woman driver, waving a paper, and speaking Spanish, and English street names. ;-D
After a couple of minutes of looking at the paper, and trying to explain something to the passenger, driver looks back at the passengers in a plea for help.
I take a look at the paper, which turns out to be a map with directions to a doctor office, and immediately recognize the problem, and where the woman needs to go.
I turn to look at the bus full of Hispanic looking passengers, and, grinning, ask: "Anyone spreckin' zee Spanish?"
When no-one responds I say" "Spanish, can anyone help translate? "Not one of you?" Grinning, "Come on, people! That's no way to Represent La Raza!"
That gets some laughs, and rouses a 30's-something man to get up, and help me out. ;-D
We set the old woman straight, we hope, and send her on her way so the driver can finally get us moving again.
Now, as I was saying....
I'm on a mission!
To boldly go clothes shopping all by my lonesome!
For someone not a regular Mall Crawler sometimes the best way to approach such places often is from the backside, where they don't see you coming.
It's what they least expect. ;-D
If a mall doesn't have a bookstore, a movie theater, some eateries, or some other establishment of interest to me which I can afford to visit, then I tend to avoid these monstrosities like the plague. ;-D
What I didn't expect was the the shops I went to The Block of Orange to visit were no longer there!
After walking around this outdoor shopping venue, from one end to the other, and settling for a $5 case for my glasses, so i could honorably retire the old one I was using, I left for what i hoped would be better pickings elsewhere.
Since I was going going to have to pass my apartment complex again I made a stop at Target, and dropped my purchases off at home before continuing on my quest.
By 1pm my Cat, Nikita (Litter), and my kitchen table (Place Mats) had made out better that I had by a $21 to $16 (The Glasses case, and Hanes Briefs) score, not counting my $6 for breakfast. ;-D
130pm at Main Place Mall, Santa Ana.
No way was I gonna sneak in the back way here!
A frontal assault was the only option.
I swear!
My plans for the day had included, first, stops at places where i could buys something a freind had encouraged me to buy as part of my Clothing Hunt and, By God, at the 1st 2 malls I went to, the stores I had found online were no longer where they were supposed to be!
An omen? With 1 more option I was not yet prepared to say.
Wandering around the mall I found it too high end for my tastes.
2 Macys, for cryin' out loud, bookended a nordstroms, and there were such strange venues as Eddie Bore (Sale on pants, but only jeans were in my size.), a store that caters apparently to Zoo Mice owners, or something, and an Ambers Mommy Will have a Fit store that, when I walked thru it I could certainly understand why, hee, hee! ;-D
Just about everything in sight had the company logo, numbers, images of animals, or some such, andall sorts of jeans I had no interest in wearing.
After an hour of this it was time to move on to the next mall.
3pm at Southcoast Plaza, in Costa Mesa:
This vast, Multi-floor, complex is actually spread thru two buildings, across the street from each other, that can be reached via a long Bridge to No...., um, well it's a bridge, and it DOES go somewhere since it connects the two parts of the mall. ;-D
Its warren of corridors, stairs, and escalators, takes the eager, and even the unwary, shooper, with money to spend, on many journies, but I was only going to venture into one, and then I planned to venture to land's End, deep in the bowels of Sears.
First things first, though!
I had to carefully scope out my approach to the place, across a vast concrete landscape, populated by stationary, and moving vehicles of all shapes, and sizes, with no guarantee that I would survive the attempt!
Things weren't looking good when I discovered that, not only was Ambers place here, too, but so were two macys, and a Nordstroms!
Things got even stranger, and even more expensive, too, the deeper inside this place I penetrated.
Peas in Pods, Republican Bananas, a place that caters to Eagles, an establishment that caters to Purple Dinosaurs from New York, a place that encourages a return to the 19th century crime of Claim Jumping, a place that sells Everything but Water, a place that wants to put an end to games, a place run by the boss of some character named Hugo, a place that is very limited in whatever it was they were peddling, a cafe promoting something called the "Pacific Way", a place selling pens supposedly from Paradise, a place catering to Puma owners, a cafe in a rainforest setting (To lure environmentalists, I guwss.), a hardware restorer, an apparent Adult Store promoting the practice of "5th Ave. Sex", a Starbucks, two places to help people better walk (One on the Stride specifically.), a place that dabbles in theory (No merchandise, apparently, just theory.), a dangerous place, you might not want to take the kids, only identified as a "Tinder Box", two places claiming to know Victoria's Secrets (One concerning beauty only), and wanting to share them with you...for a price (With or without her permission, is unclear.), a place catering to owners of Wet Seals, and a couple of places to drop off the kids so you can shop in peace (Jeans - one "Where every baby can have a fit", and one "Where every kid can have a fit.").
I figured all this out by taking a quick look thru the 23 page Store Directory, not by actually visiting the stores to see for myself. ;-D
I only went to 4 places in the whole complex. ;-D
My first stop saw me foiled in my "Special Quest", yet again, but when I saw a 60% off sign in the window of an establishment run by some brothers named Brooks I made a bee-line for it, took a look around and, as the color drained from my face at the prices, made a bee-line right back out the door. ;-D
Maybe I'll return whe I win the Lotto, um, hee, hee! ;-D
Journeys being a bust I headed for Land's End.
After three hours wandering around looking for 1 item, but scoping out sales in Sears, Macys, and Nordstrom, and finding what was on offer not to my liking, I headed out to do what comes naturally in such dismal circumstances...drown my sorrows in an evening meal at a nearby Jack-in-the Box!
On my way, though, I passed one final store and, looking in the window, spotted what I'd spent all day looking for.
It was the right color, but not quite the right size, but since it was returnable I bought it with plans to look online for a better alternative which, if found would, no doubt, mean untold damage to the self-esteem of my current purchase, when I returned it. ;-D
Wandering these three malls I was reminded, once again, why I so rarely pay these places a visit.
Each venue had very few places of business that appeal to me, or to my wallet.
Anyway, it's just after midnight as I post this, and a huge sale at Kohls awaits me 9 hours from now. ;-D
As the old song says...Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow is only a day away! ;-D
Continue on to the exciting conclusion! = How I Shopped Til I Dropped Without Dropping!
Better luck at Kohls. I hate the mall.
Posted by: MeezerMomMary | August 12, 2009 at 10:52 AM