"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

brown wrapped package
2001-10-31 - 5:30 a.m.

the elevator doors opened and i stepped. a puzzled look crossed my face as i looked at my door. well, not so much my door, but the brown package in front of my door. it was a wholey non-interesting box wrapped in brown paper, quite unremarkable except that it was against my door. i was fairly sure it hadn't been there when i left for work since i would have knocked it over upon walking out the door. i unlocked my door, swung it open and looked down at the still standing box. i didn't recall misplacing any brown wrapped boxes, in fact i couldn't recall even owning any. i couldn't think of anyone who would lend me brown wrapped box or why i would want one to be lent to me.

as my curiosity peaked, i was faced with a delima. i wanted to look at the box in more detail, to see the other sides, but i'd have to bend over. my back still hurts and i dislike bending over. i smiled to myself as i gave the box a kick, not a punt type of kick more of a tap really, and watched the box fall over. in largish pen letters i saw the word fragile and sighed. above that i saw my name and address and smiled. it's not often i get presents, even if a brown wrapped box is an odd sort of present to get.

i stepped inside and closed the door. i felt bad that the box was marked fragile and i had kicked, it really wasn't my fault since the fragile part wasn't on the top part of the box i could clearly see...besides, kicking an unknown box is a valid test to see if the box is harmful or not. or so i reasoned. but like i said, i did feel a bit guilty and therefore decided i would pick it up after all. being that it was labeled fragile and recently kicked, i decided to skip the shaking test. i'm not sure why people shake boxes. it's not like you can tell what's in a box by shaking it. it something has an unpleasent sounding shake, do you return it?

i walked over to my desk, this desk that i'm at now and decided that i should remove the brown wrapping and see what the box itself looked like. taking care to remember that it was indeeed a fragile box, i gently cut a small slit rather like a surgeon making the first incision. nothing seemed to shatter and nothing exploded. that's always another fear with boxes that appear inexplicably, they like to explode. i think it has something to do with the whole sudden and mysterious appearing process, but i'm not sure.

anyway, with the first cut made and no harm done, but, perhaps, for the earlier kick, i tore off the paper just like any good three year old. looking at the box under the wrapping i was confused. it was, quite unexpectly, a bostonian shoe box. i don't think i've ever owned a pair of bostonian shoes, i prefer rockland or dexter. i couldn't imagine anyone who would send me shoes, it is a rather odd gift to send. for a second i wondered if i had ordered the shoes online, perhaps in some drunken shoppen spree. that didn't make since since i havn't been inebriated recently. it wasn't my parents, they stopped buying my shoes long ago. what was even odder about the bostonian shoe box was that shoes were a size too big, atleast according to the box. some shoe makers are known to make shoes of the same size smaller or larger than other shoe makers, even though they get the same size rating. how this comes about has always befuddled me, but not enough to activly seek an answer. next to the size was, of all things, the sticker price. i don't have the occasion to give many gifts, but when i do i tend to take off the pricing. my mother taught me that. that way you can pretend something cost much more than it did when you give it and they won't know it was on sale. next to the price sticker was the sale sticker, exactly what my mother taught me to avoid. i understood exaclty why she taught me that, never having given it that much thought before and simply trusting that she was right. i felt sort of a let down over the whole gift thing.

not only were they bostonian shoes, but they were a size to large (i'd have to stuff the ends with tissue) and they were on sale. i have to admit, it was a good price and i wouldn't have minded so much if they had bee the right size, but as it was...this was turning out to be most disressing series of events. why did this box have to come to my door? couldn't the powers that made it appear have atleast bothered to check what size my feet were?

i set the box down and considered things. it was then i noticed that the lid was taped on. i'm not sure, but i don't think the lids to shoe boxes are normally secured like this, but then...shoes don't normally appear at my door. with a small sigh i decided i should atleast look at the shoes before i decided what to do with them. again, being mindful of the fragile warning, i slit the tape on each side and lifted up the lid. the sight inside was enough to make me blink furiously and repeatedly.

the bostonian shoe box didn't hold a single shoe, let alone a pair. instead, on the very top, was a purple envelope with my name on it. below that i could see multicolored crinkly looking tissue paper, a light brown furry something that looked rather like paw and green leaves. i don't think i've ever purchased a shoe box and recieved anything other than shoes. i had my doubts about the honesty and integrity of the store this shipped from. of course the box was on sale and the contents probably explained the price reduction.

see that the envelope was for me, i took it out and wondered who the rest of the items belonged to.

actaully, i'm running out steam writing this...so *smiles* let me say thanks now and that furry paw did indeed belong to a whole stuffed animal and the green leaves belonged to my much anticpated shrubbery. other items were in the box and i won't embarass you further with listing them out.

so, again, thanks alot. it really did/does mean alot that i got this.

oh, before i forget, if you get bears and plants and things from bostonian, where the hell do you shoes from? do i even want to know??

ok, one last thing. this super blow pop (cherry no less) that's i found the bottle of the box, could i exchange for something else? =)