Can't fight this feelin'

Still working a lot of hours and thanks to someone who shall remain nameless, it appears that as long as the demand is there (and other reasons), I'll be working some Saturdays too...I keep telling myself that my sentence is up February 1, 2007 because that is when I can apply for other assignments or quit and not have to pay back relocation costs. Anyway, enough about work.

While my building is not quite luxury complete with gym, pool, and laundry service-- I love having a washer and dryer in unit where the spin cycle on the washer finally works and doesn't sound like it's about to drill through the floor--my building is nice. There's sort of a courtyard that no one ever sits in, there are manmade slate tiles on the floor, there's subterranean parking, there's an elevator. If I start feeling the stress of my job, there's a Spa in one of the commercial spaces, and if I ever really, really feel stressed, there's a botox clinic in the other. Target is within walking distance...theoretically. Not that I've ever walked there, I mean, I guess you could, but it's got a parking garage. I don't even drink coffee, but there's a Starbucks in the Target and a Pizza Hut, but only the express kind where you have to get pan everything and the pizzas have been sitting on the shelf for a while. I digress...

So, nothing says class about expensive apartment living than having a shopping cart by the elevator in the garage. Let me explain...It's not that I'm not used to seeing shopping carts outside of parking lots, but like someone leaving their tag on a nice building or really anywhere for that matter, I've always found shopping carts outside of parking lots to be a bit undersirable (excluding the good times to be had by people using them as a means to get their drunk friends home--I'm not mentioning any names). I could even see a cart outside my current residence, meaning on the block, near the building, in the alley or something, but the cart (now carts) I see in the building is a deliberate cart. This isn't the work of your local homeless (which I realize is another good use outside of shopping), Jackass wannabes, or drunk friends. This is someone who has a garage door opener and key access to our building and elevator. And let me say that what began with one cart has increased to two and sometimes three carts. First, there was the 99 Cent Store cart, which I was willing to overlook. I don't know where there is a 99 Cent Store in the vicinity which makes it all the more strange how it could find its way into the garage, and I don't need to know where the store is because I know that I can easily spend over $50 at the 99 Cent Store. I have yet to actually give anyone the gift bag with the cows, but it seemed like such a good deal at the time that I bought ten. Not to mention the pastel bags perfect for weddings--I don't know anyone getting married in the near future, and if I did, I would probably just have the gift wrapped at the store, or just buy a card and stick a gift card in it. Why I thought I needed ten of those is beyond me. I do use the Chip Clips, though. So anyhow, the 99 Cent Store cart has been replaced with a Ralph's cart, which makes more sense because that's close. (By the way, I heard from a friend that the 99 Cent Store operates completely without debt. Isn't that interesting?)

Prior to yesterday, I'd never actually seen anyone using the cart. I've heard what sounds like people pushing the cart around at night, but when I leave for work in the morning, the cart is always back in its place by the elevator door...mocking me.
So, about 2 weeks ago, I noticed that there are now 2 carts. Both Ralph's. I guess the 99 Cent Store cart is MIA. Or is it? I don't know why they don't just add a corral in one of the unused spaces. It's getting to that point.

There have been plenty of times when I thought about using one of the carts, but somehow I felt as though I would be "caught" and labeled as That Girl and that my neighbors would think that I had twenty cats or something. I DON'T KNOW. I even used my milk-crate file box with wheels to move stuff for the Goodwill downstairs to avoid using the cart. In retrospect, I'm sure the sight of me rolling 60 lbs of random, misshapen junk atop a small, rectangular cart meant to hold file folders for 8.5" X 11" paper that only sits about 13" off the ground that really can't be steered well enough to turn the wheels when needed because it wasn't designed to hold that much weight on it was probably just as ridiculous as taking the chance of being seen using one of the carts. I know this to be true, and yet, I couldn't do it.

That said, when I saw a petite fashionista pushing the cart full of her Manono shoe boxes onto the elevator yesterday, I felt like that somehow gave me permission. So, as a matter of convenience today, I used one of those carts to move my trunkload of groceries upstairs in one trip. I must say I felt quite free although I did so in sunglasses. Not so much because I was ashamed to be seen using the cart, but primarily because I went to Pavilions and it was kind of wrong to use a Ralph's cart. I do have standards if not dignity.