Diamond in the rough

The lady on the radio tells me that I can train from home with a kit to learn how to phase out coal energy and manage international summits. The question then is why am I in university?

Yeah, I think I could train from home to say "This way to the washrooms," or "Will you have red or white?"

It's always a tossup. Do you go for the red, which is good for you and pleasantly lukewarm? There are those who would say that the red turns your teeth pink but I never believed them.

The white on the other hand, is nice and chilled and you've got to appreciate that. You could turn it into a spritzer, which is kind of a wussy drink, but it's fizzy, and that's got to count for something. The object of these schmoozefests has never been to get drunk, or so I've been told.

There was a huge garage sale at one of the film studios today and they were selling off props and costumes from the X Files and other shows. We rushed down to see what we could find.

My conclusion? The 80's have come and gone, and there is nothing in this world that will ever convince me to wear anything that came from that decade. I came out decidedly empty-handed from the clothing department. My sister on the other hand found tons of belts and scarves that she liked.

It's funny going to places like that where there is such a frenzy to get ridiculously low priced stuff. Suspicious glances abound as people size up what treasures everyone else has found, comparing them to their own. My sister's vinyl watering can purse, for example, was the object of much silent envy, and it wasn't even for sale.

I was surprised that in spite of the high number of frenzied shoppers and the fact that most of the stuff there was junk, there were still some neat little gems to be found. In the middle of the fray was a blown glass budvase that looked like it was the work of a friend of the family. I got it home, cleaned it up and checked the name etched on the bottom to find that it was indeed hers. It now sits on one of the windowsills in my apartment and looks like it's always been there. A dollar well spent.