After dark my friend...

Its been a long time since I've been out shopping let alone after dark. I hit a Toys R Us well after 10 pm last night. I can say it was a polite frenzy. A frenzy that will only get worse at the clock gets closer to Xmas. I remember as a kid that store seemed so huge. Rows and aisles of toys; from the dreaded pink one to the rows of bike racks. Now I felt as if I lapped the store in about a minute and a half. I quickly found what I needed and just decided to watch as some mothers were looking for things way outside their elements. The Wii and certain toys that have been sold out for months. I felt sad for the kids that want the latest must have door dad. I was watching the parents trying to avoid the heartbreak. How ever it was for things wanted not things needed. SO I know they'll get by just fine.
After that I went to a bookstore just to browse. Not that I needed any thing I just wanted to look at things for a bit. Books and Cd's , music and magazines. I'm so out of touch from music that is played on the radio or on line. I'm starting to feel like a old man in that respects. I don't listen to music in the car, the music at work is canned and the music at home is after hours when I tend to be doing something else.
Sometimes when I get out of the shower I like to move slower and listen to classical music while I shave and groom. About once a month I like to shave with a straight razor. It takes about a half hour but its a nice grooming ritual. Its almost a scene out of a horror movie. The classical music starts. I break out my razor and begin to sharpen it against the stone. That alone takes a good five minutes. The hot towel and warm lather against the skin. The razor cuts so close to the skin its very scary. I think because it is so scary that much more attention to detail is given in the shave process.

Too many things in life have been cheapened by convince. The quick haircut, the shave , a real shoe shine on good leather shoes, A real hand car wash, a good meal made by hand, a real butcher behind the counter, how about some one to pump your gas.....  In heart I am old fashioned. Its a shame that my kids will miss some of these things.

 

Peace.