After work I headed over to the Gateway Mall and
arrived 45 minutes before our movie started. I was hoping I'd see
someone of my family there waiting for me to show me where they were
sitting. They had my ticket anyway. I walked past the ticket booths
and saw Ashley standing in the lobby and leaning against the wall,
looking away from me. I walked right up to her and leaned against
the wall beside her. I caught her eye and she looked over at me,
then realized it was me and was like "Oh my gosh, Jason, I didn't
even see you. How long were you standing there?" I said I just went
there. She asked if I was in the other car. I said I just got there
from work. She was waiting for the rest of my family. So that means
they didn't go really early. My aunt, Vicki, was here because she's
going to spend Christmas with us, then go back to taking care of
Sis. Pat. She didn't have time to work on my Squall jacket at all. I
suggested that she could whip it up really quickly and give it to me
for Christmas. She said she'd get it done before Christmas, I just
have to be patient.
In the theater, we sat in the 2 farthest back rows. I sat by Ben
and asked him why they didn't come earlier. He said that he and my
dad were there 2 hours early and picked the farthest back rows. I
asked my dad why they did that and he said that when they got
there, the closer rows had scattered people and the farthest back
rows were the only ones with enough empty spots for 10 people (8 in
our immediate family, Ashley, and Aunt Vicki). The movie was great,
of course. I actually think I liked it better the second time. It
almost made me cry. I'm sad that it's over now, though. It's the
same as when I finished the 3rd book. I felt an emptiness that there
wouldn't be any more.
After the movie, I took Amy home, but still had to cash my check
and get money out for my parents. My check for the week this time
was $369. I drove to the Selco by Gateway Mall and put my check into
the ATM. Then I got a receipt to see how much I had total so I could
see how much I could take out for the debts to my parents and Amy.
On the screen where it asks me how much I want to take out, I left
it and went back to my car (only 5 feet away) and talked with Amy to
remember how much I owed. After figuring out how much I needed to
get, I saw that it was on the "welcome" screen. I hit some buttons
to get it off the demo or screensaver or whatever it was, but it
didn't work. I guess it really was the "welcome" screen. I looked
around for my card in case I took it out and set it down. I tried
putting in my other card and it went in, so that meant my card
wasn't still in there. I feared that some bum who waits around that
place for things like this to happen came and took some money out
and took my card as well. It was midnight after all. My wallet was
still on top of the ATM where I left it. I looked all over and in my
car in case I put it in there when I went to figure out how much I
owed. Amy suggested that it ate my card since I left it in too long.
I went and put my card from my other bank in and got it to the same
screen and just stood there. It eventually spit my card out. That
meant that it spit my other card out and it was somewhere. Being the
dork that I am, this thought went through my mind: Some bum who
hangs around here for just such an occasion saw me leave the ATM, so
he/she sneaked up and grabbed my card and ran off somewhere, perhaps
into nearby bushes for the next person to do the same. They're used
to people doing that and wondering where their card went, scratch
their head, then drive off. Well, they weren't going to get that
luxury from me. I shut off my car and locked it up and walked around
the bank. When we came back to our car, there was another car behind
us. We walked up and I apologized for having my car there. I got it
out of the way and told the person what happened. He said it was too
bad, but didn't sound sincere at all. I thought he was suspicious,
lol. A lady walked by behind some bushes and looked back at me
twice. I took the car and drove around the bank once, then Tracy
pulled up. I haven't seen her in forever. I told her what happened and
she laughed and said that it eats your card for a safety precaution.
You have to go the next day and show proof of ID and give them your
PIN as well. Amy was all like "see, I told you, Jason!" I said that
Tracy and I'd have to do something tomorrow since I had to go right
near her house to get my card.
I went home and told my parents that the ATM ate my card. The
first thing my dad suggested was someone taking it, lol. I pointed
at Amy and said, "Did you hear that!" I went to the computer and
tried logging on AIM but it wouldn't go. I tried getting on any
website and it just sat there. I looked at my modem and the light
that looks like a target was blinking, meaning it wasn't getting a
signal from the cable. This has happened once before and there's
nothing you can do. It's on the cable company's end, so I just went
to bed. My knee's swollen now. I was at the ATM and it was fine,
then when I was leaving, it was swollen. My knee does that sometimes
for no reason. I think it's called "water on the knee". Oh well,
that's life.
