Band Banquet Blues... literally

So today was a giant mess of driving, shopping, more driving, and financial hardships. Well not really financial hardships, but problems having to do with accessing my money.

First off, after school I went to After Hours with Katrina to look for a blue vest... no luck, all I found were funky ones with a higher price tag. Alright, that settled it down to either blue or pink from Men's Wearhouse. Then we went to Michael's really quick because I needed some large paper to make myself extra space for Yearbook signings since the $3 extras they sell are so overpriced and bad quality anyways. And I got a frame for a special reason, one you'll all find out about during Band Banquet. So after I come home and the Mesa Verde traffic dies down, I head off to Men's Wearhouse. Right before the exit onto Mira Mesa Boulevarde, I realize that I left my 10% off coupon at home. Eff my life. Sooo I just go the store and have them hold the vest for me since I'll be coming back. I'm almost out of gas so I head to the base to get some. It's $4.22, ew. I paid with what I had left on one of my debit cards, which turned out to be almost a full tank anyways. Yay for that.

Then my brother calls and asks me to get something from the commissary. I go to the Marine Exchange first to look at shoes. I was looking for blue or white Converses... their idea of white is apparently creamy yellow. Not what I want, so I go to the commissary, get the goods, and head to the self-checkout. Apparently my PIN number on my other debit card doesn't work because I kept trying to buy something with the wrong PIN a couple of months ago and I have to reset it still. Strange how that works, since that same card still worked when I didn't have to enter my PIN. Well, I guess that makes sense, but whatever. Soooo I go to the Navy Federal Credit Union office on base and try to reset my PIN before I pay the $60 for the vest and more for the shoes once I find them. Turns out that they can't reset my PIN on the mini card I just got in the mail since my real one got glue all over it. Now I have to wait for them to send me a new big card, then I can reset it. That'll be after next week, so I'm pretty much screwed in the debit card area since my other card has like $5 in it.

Alright, time to head home and eat dinner. After I grab the Men's Wearhouse coupon, I go back to buy my vest. No problems there, and it turns out that the vest is 50% off like it said on the website, plus my additional 10% off from the coupon I got in my e-mail. Yay! I'm a happy guy. So I go to Shoe Pavilion in Carmel Mountain to try to find Converses again. No luck. They didn't have the right shade of blue in the men's section and they didn't have the right size in the women's section. I don't understand why they don't just put all of the Converses together since they're unisex anyways. On my way back to my car I decided to try at Ross, just for kicks. Of course there's nothing good there. The only thing close were these really weird blue Vans made out of some grassy material. Apparently Vans is going green? Good for them, but those shoes were fugly as hell. I looked around in the men's section just for fun too, and I actually found some good stuff among the ugly poor people stuff. I decided to buy a new outfit since I reached my first milestone by dropping 5 lbs (YESSS!) and according to the store's tags, I saved $50 off of retail price. I thoroughly checked the clothes to make sure they're not factory mistakes, just extra stock. Katrina, you'd be proud of my shopping skills!

Sooooo I get home to make sure everything fits well since the dressing rooms at Ross are gross and these are the first Small sized clothes I've bought since like... elementary school? Haha. They all fit fine (again, YESSSS!) and dandy, but when I tried on my vest, my mom noticed there's a stain on it. You can't really notice it up close, but from far away it's very clear. Great. So I call the Mira Mesa store and ask where the other nearest location is that carries the same color and size since I know that was their last one. The nearest one with a Medium is Clairemont, but the nearest one with a Small is in El Cajon. My turquoise vest from last year's banquet is pretty loose on me now, so I want to go with a small. That means going to El Cajon. Luckily, and finally I get to use that word, my brother will be in the El Cajon area tomorrow so I'll have him exchange it for me. I called up the place and had them hold it for me. Well that was a lot of work for 3 items of clothing, but it's worth it I'm sure. I'll go to great lengths to look my best, within reason of course.

:]

After I shower maybe I'll talk about prom? Maybe.

Sounds good, right? On my way out Corey calls out to me and I see he's there with Jeff and Kim. It was cool running into them since I just saw them at the band room last after school.