I hate shopping. Loathe and despise it. Grocery shopping, clothes, shopping, recreational shopping. This dislike has become worse with the advent of super malls and the disappearance of local or stand-alone stores.

Online shopping was made for me. A few weeks ago, my husband and I decided we needed a new bathmat. Ours was disgusting. But stores at the Maul never carry a full array of colors I even consider colors. So I went to Amazon. Where I found exactly what I wanted in a color I liked. I clicked the buy button. Two days later, the bathmat was delivered.

I was not inconvenienced in any way.

Brick and mortar stores have only themselves to blame for losing customers to online shopping. They’ve made accessing their locations too difficult. I used to be able to run to a nearby strip mall on my lunch hour and pick up items I needed from a department store or a discount store (Ames, Hills, K-Mart). Now the only stores in the strip mall are the liquor store and 14 versions Everything-A-Dollar. Running to the Maul on my lunch hour isn’t feasible because it takes an hour just to find a place to park.

When I do go to the Maul, the clerks are frequently (not always) ill-trained and/or rude.

I’d rather be writing.

I am not a commuter.

I’ve been very lucky in my day jobs. I had to commute ten months for my current Day Job, but I knew we were moving into a new building less than two miles from my house when I accepted the position.

I’ve recently had some issues with commuters.

One night, as I was driving to critique being held in a northern suburb, I was in the middle lane of the interstate, going 65 miles per hour. That’s the speed limit. Did I mention I was in the center lane? There was a line inching to get off at the next exit in the right lane. Traffic was backed up at least a quarter of a mile. The idiot in front of me came to a dead stop. In the center lane. He turned on his right turn signal hoping someone would let him merge at the exit. And he was on the phone. Being on a cell phone in my state is illegal unless it’s hands free. His was not hand free usage. I was lucky I didn’t rear end him.

The next night, I needed to drop off a dress at a seamstress’s house. She lives 3.4 miles from my Day Job, in a nearby suburb. O.M.G. If I had to deal with that traffic twice a day–to and from work–I would be a violent, unhappy woman.  Thirty minutes to travel 3 and a half miles. The tractor trailer drivers who decided to turn left on yellow lights then blocked intersections where traffic was already backed up  did not help.

I COULD HAVE BEEN WRITING!