Kid Tetris

Went to 7-11 (or 7-Eleven?) for Slurpee. A forty ounce Slurpee is $1.40 after tax ($1.29 prior). I pay with exact change and a smile. But before I am able to, there is a woman who is paying for a gallon of milk and a pack of Juicy Fruit (the gum - I realize as I write this that Juicy Fruit doesn't seem like the name of a gum) with a debit card. This purchase totals $3.08.

While the method of payment is unfortunate, it was what she said to the young clerk that was even more unfortunate. "You always have to run it through those machines... that machine like ten times." I glean two pieces of information from this. 1) This is not the first time she has paid for a 7-11 purchase with a debit card. 2) There's probably something wrong with her debit card.

So I am waiting for her purchase to be finalized - the milk and gum - and I have these thoughts, in order.

• Julia Stiles is on the cover of two different magazines. How am I supposed to respond to this? Should I have a schoolboy crush on her? Tell me tastemakers, tell me!

• 997 hot fashions? I bet that is a gross overstatement or just has a ton of filler.
• Yogurt can't be that hard to make.

• I wonder if I'm going to get home in time to finish watching Good Eats. I hope so. (Epilogue: I didn't)
• Even if I don't, I can still watch The Real World dicuss Wittgenstein.
• I'm a model customer. Exact change. A polite, but not too toothy smile. In and out. No complaints. They wish everyone was like me
• I have gotten a lot mileage out this new Dear John Letters album.
• Driving. Singing loudly. Enjoying a Slurpee. Why am I so discontented?
• Who would want to put a tracking device on my car? I do nothing that is really interesting.
• One-way, the trip to 7-11 is almost exactly 24 blocks (1.5 miles) and takes all of 3 minutes, but I still wish it were closer sometimes.