Foo - Are people who frequent the Mall a subspecies ? or is it ..gasp...America ???

holy moly I just strolled through the Mall to see what it is like lately....and it is like a freakin carnival where barkers try to get you to buy something. I mean, I had no chance t' just browse around without some doof interrupting my contemplation.

And the freakin people walking around ?

The Emo kids

The Hollister/Abercrombie ******s

The eightymillion different scents and oils from forbidden trees

And all the stores with useless crap no one will ever need, but boy o boy people are buying.

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:mad:

Welcome to the 6-8 week SEASON they call Christmas. :mad:

Why punish yourself by going to the mall during x-mas shopping season? People are WAY to focused on buying absolutely useless garbage that no one really needs, or for the most part wants. This is the first year in a long time that I have the positive Christmas vibe and I'm sure it's because I have avoided going shopping. People have to stop commercializing the crap out of every holiday that comes along. I'm quite certain that our friends and family will still love us without having to buy their love with presents (btw, kid's presents are exempt from my rant :) ).

Why punish yourself by going to the mall during x-mas shopping season? People are WAY to focused on buying absolutely useless garbage that no one really needs, or for the most part wants. This is the first year in a long time that I have the positive Christmas vibe and I'm sure it's because I have avoided going shopping. People have to stop commercializing the crap out of every holiday that comes along. I'm quite certain that our friends and family will still love us without having to buy their love with presents (btw, kid's presents are exempt from my rant :) ).

Ok, but tell me this....
how did you trap king termite in a christmas ornament?

Ok, but tell me this....
how did you trap king termite in a christmas ornament?

I'm a Termite....I was coming in for the kill (trying to eat his Christmas tree). He got lucky having the camera out at the time.

Ok, but tell me this....
how did you trap king termite in a christmas ornament?

His vanity got the best of him. He checks himself out in anything that has a reflection.

His vanity got the best of him. He checks himself out in anything that has a reflection.

LiaR!! LiaR!!

http://www.stpixels.com/images/l2_46730.jpg

LiaR!! LiaR!!

http://www.stpixels.com/images/l2_46730.jpg

Hey, that was uncalled for. I would never be caught wearing those pants. :eek:

Hey, that was uncalled for. I would never be caught wearing those pants. :eek:

I assumed that was why you burned them. Duh!!

I just sold the house I had purchased with my ex-husband and mother (it was a double) where we live for many years --- moved upstairs with Mom a couple years ago to save money and rent out my apartment (I'm not going out with anyone so that wasn't a problem - plus Mom and I get along well too - anything goes - she's cool) - --- and then the house, freak, was put on the market kind of as a test - kinda looking towards Spring as a jump --- and the stupid thing sold in 3 days, even at our high price and with a bonus $$ to get the hell out of the house in a month.

ugh.

So I'm living with a very long time friend and his wayyyy too busy house and Mom is living with one of her friends. And the houses out there are not what we want, or what she wants - as I'm thinking of just sectioning off here - as it is a good time - but then she's 73 and relys a lot on my presence - feels safe and has this freaking energy that I do NOT know it comes from - and she MAKES me do things. darn woman. And I also don't mind being there as I've seen her do a couple of odd things in the past couple of months ( like hit someone in a parking lot) that she DOES NOT Do. eh. Ugh. and Ugh again.

So I'll probably go with her and the house - maybel

Anyway - where I'm going with this ... MOM's freaking bored. bored, bored, and freaking bored. And she loves to shop.

We moved out of the house mid Sept -and every weekend thereafter - if not one day or, <SOB!> both days - we've been at the mall!!!


OMG - I do NOT need to see the mall map for three malls around me!!! I don't have to think twice as to where the bathrooms are located - anywheres - in any store or food court!

I do not also need to memorize the parking lot Lot G, Line 8 - at all - it's all just another day to me.

This is SOOOO FREAKIN AWFUL! I mean - I'm actually able to say hi to certain people at the cash registers - while Mom asks them about how the family is doing and if the baby was born yet.

<sob> I've become ... an elderly Mall Rat ... :(

Tude, how many steps does it take to get from one end of the mall to the other?

With Mom, one does not measure in steps - it's hours.

Usually our excursions run from 5 - 7 hours.

Not fibbing at all either.

And the weekend before fiasco - GRRRRRR - Mom was mulling (there are NO quick decisions when on these excursions - afterall - what would we be doing if we weren't here??? - that's her thought anyway hehe) over whether or not to buy ... a Christmas ornement that she will not be able to use this year.

Hmmm.

I left her. Oh freaking @#%%@#$ - went and tried on a couple of coats for the hell of it (hey it was Macy's) and I reinforced I have some pretty dam good taste! White coat was either $350 or $450, but the beaute was a long black coat with a fur collar that was $650. Finally sat down, cleaned off the cell - got up - NO MOM.

WTF. Looked around, did the whole floor upstairs, several times - was kinda muttering under my breath and finally took out the cell and called her as I was on the escalator going downstairs as I was pissed cause she wasn't upstairs and ..... and

ring, ring ... "Hi!" "MOM - WHERE ARE YOU!"

"I'm looking at you."

She was on her way UP the opposite escalator as I was heading downstairs.

She laughed as she looked at me as we actually passed each other on the freaking escalators talking to each other on the cell phones.

Ohhhhhhh, I've talked about this one a couple of times. INFAMY!!

hehe, AND there shall be NO shopping trips this weekend either!!!

:D

I don't know if you have noticed but it seems that enclosed malls are falling out of favor with retailers. We are seeing more freestanding stores than ever before and the malls around here have a lot of empty stores.

Olebiker - I remember reading some where that men do not like enclosed malls - ever see a Home Depot in a enclosed mall ? - retailers know this and are going freestanding to get the dude $$$ -
I can proudly say I haven't been to the mall in years - Shopping is NOT a recreational activity

Shopping is NOT a recreational activity

Amen.


Malls make me upchuck.

I don't know if you have noticed but it seems that enclosed malls are falling out of favor with retailers. We are seeing more freestanding stores than ever before and the malls around here have a lot of empty stores.

as a mountain biker who is losing trails to big box stores, this is called 'ass-raping the planet'

This is the first year in a long time that I have the positive Christmas vibe and I'm sure it's because I have avoided going shopping.

I learned this one quite a while ago, and my Christmases have been much more enjoyable ever since. If it can't be bought online and at a reasonable price, you ain't getting it from me. I have a set amount of money set aside for a few gifts for a few people. No going over the budget and no adding to the list after it's made.

I don't mind walking the mall to browse.... don't like the crazy season though.

My girl tells them "no thanks" when asked a question by the "barkers"... I simply avoid eye contact and keep talking to my girl.

It's not busy yet.... when it is... she'll be making Solo trips.

My wife loves the madness. She goes just for it most of the time she is window shopping and helping someone else with their stuff. Her favorite shopping days are the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas. I stay home. 50% of the next years ChristX is bought the week after ChristX. The rest is bought throughout the year. I have not owned a credit card in 5 years now. We only buy the kids 3 presents each and a big stocking. We get each other something small but not junk and we try to consolidate funds from siblings to get the parents something useful. Holidays are only stressful if you make them that way. One of my favorite gifts to give is to go into a restaurant and at random pick out a family and pay for their meal. Have the waitress to put Merry Christmas on the ticket and remain anonymous.

as a mountain biker who is losing trails to big box stores, this is called 'ass-raping the planet'

+100000000, although this is just one example of many I'm afraid.

holy moly I just strolled through the Mall to see what it is like lately....and it is like a freakin carnival where barkers try to get you to buy something. I mean, I had no chance t' just browse around without some doof interrupting my contemplation.

And the freakin people walking around ?

The Emo kids

The Hollister/Abercrombie ******s

The eightymillion different scents and oils from forbidden trees

And all the stores with useless crap no one will ever need, but boy o boy people are buying.

Funny. What's an Emo kid?

Funny. What's an Emo kid?
There are some in Ames. They're typically decked out in black, with dyed black hair hanging over their eyes, mopey... you get the picture.

people who frequent malls are a subspecies to me. I don't go in them. bad vibes.

Funny. What's an Emo kid?

Here's an example

There are some in Ames. They're typically decked out in black, with dyed black hair hanging over their eyes, mopey... you get the picture.

Do you mean those groups of kids that all dress the same so that they can be different? ;)

... Brad

Do you mean those groups of kids that all dress the same so that they can be different? ;)

... Brad

Isn't that what kids generally do? ;)

as a mountain biker who is losing trails to big box stores, this is called 'ass-raping the planet'

Yeah we've got that problem out here as well.They're about to put in a new shopping center right near the base of one of my favorite local mtn bike rides in addition to continued housing development.:(

The last time I have been in a mall over the past year or two was to get fitted for a tuxedo a few weeks ago. It was torture. Now I remember why I buy everything at Target, and if they don't have it, I get it online (and just think, two years ago I said I would NEVER shop online).

And like the OP said, it isn't just because of the X-mas season. It's bad all year 'round.

Funny. What's an Emo kid?

Like a goth, just a whole lot more pathetic.

A few weeks ago, I idly wanted to see the Apple store that was in a mall near where I worked... big mistake.

First, I watched people fight over parking places, while two rows away, they were empty. Then I entered the store, checked on a map.

Needed to get upstairs, so ended up tiptoeing past some punk wannabe kids with bad dye jobs trying to jog the wrong way on them. Thought the local Apple store would have a coffee shop/genius bar, maybe a semi quiet place to look around and try a MacBook. Boy, was I wrong. I walked up, looked for about five seconds, then left. In that Apple store, there were three types of people:

1: The Apple employees who have to act like prison correctional officers because of the #2 population.
2: The kiddos who are looking around, just waiting for one of the Apple employees to not watch them, so they can try to grab an iPod or other gewgaw off a stand and bolt for the door.
3: The Joe and Jane Sixpacks who are wandering around inanely, poking at random stuff, leaving grease and other nasty marks from what they had on their skin on the keyboards.

Blecch. This is why I send gifts from mail order places.