Life is what you think

Here are two perspectives on the same event.

After I ate my lunch today, I was suffering from this crazy intense craving for something sweet. Costco has these delicious hand-dipped ice cream topped with almond crunchies so I started to drive down that way. I drove around the ridiculously packed parking lot looking for a spot. I found one open spot, but the jackass next to the spot parked OVER the white line. I had to manuever my way in, and avoid hitting both cars on either side. Then, getting out of the car was a pain in the ass. I had just a tiny crack to squeeze out of, to avoid hitting the retardedly parked car. I waited in line, a COSTCO FOOD COURT line, for like 10 minutes, in the sun and pigeons everywhere. Finally got to the register to order, only to find out that they don't accept credit cards. The world just can't let me have this one simple thing. Really?

Thank goodness I don't actually interpret life this way. Had I, then I would have just gone back to work grumpy that I didn't get ice cream. But I didn't...

Here's what really happened:

After I finished lunch, I had a sudden craving for ice cream. I remembered that Costco has these delicious hand-dipped ice cream topped with almond crunchies. My co-worker introduced me to them a few months ago. I decided to go buy 13 of them to share with the team -- 8 without almonds, and 5 with almonds. They're $1.50 each, totally affordable. And it'd make people happy on a sunny Friday afternoon.

I got to the parking lot (~12:30pm, so it's peak-time for the Costco business). I found 1 open parking spot. I noticed that the car on the left was parked over the white line, but I knew I could fit in. Getting out of the car, I was careful not to hit the one next to me. Thank goodness my ass isn't that fat, so I managed just fine, haha.

I walked up to the food court line, and only had to wait 10 minutes. Score! I went up to the window to order, and the lady took my first 8 ice creams ($13 on the register), saw me take out my credit card and said they don't accept cards.

Bullocks!

Maaan, I really wanted the chocolate covered ice cream with almond crunchies...

Walked back to my car, squeezed my not-so-fat-ass back in the car and headed back towards work.

A block away from work, I decided I was going to go to Jamba Juice to get my sweet tooth fix there. I had a coupon in my Gmail for a $2 fruit/vege smoothie. So I started to drive down that way (out of the way from work). I really shouldn't have, cause I probably wouldn't make it back on time (only 10 minutes to spare), but whatever. Today, is a day to be daring.

I got to Jamba Juice and there was a line out the door. I waited for a bout 5 minutes, and saw that they were severely understaffed (only 2 people working; 1 on register and 1 making drinks). I decided this wasn't happening and started to walk back to my car. I wasn't upset, but I was laughing in my head, thinking maybe it was the universe telling me I shouldn't indulge today.

I looked up for a second and saw the Pinkberry, in the same plaza. Opportunity arises! HUZZAH. I always forget that is there.

I walk into the fro-yo shop, and there was only one customer, who walked out as I walked in. The guy behind the counter greeted me with a warm smile and asked me if I'd ever been to a Pinkberry.

I had. There's one at Santana Row that I went to once, many years ago. Not the best experience, but the froyo was good.

He asked me if I wanted to sample anything. I asked what was available today. He said they've got greek yogurt, or frozen yogurt. I went with frozen yogurt. I asked for a sample of the salted caramel, and coconut. He gave me the salted caramel first. Oh, megawd. It was so good. Then, he handed me the coconut one. SO GOOD. I popped both flavors in my mouth to see if they would marry well together. And they did. So I got a small cup of both flavors.

For toppings. I still had that craving for the almond crunchies. So I asked him if they had any almond, or something else crunchy.

"We have almond Roco?"

SCORE! I'll take it!

The total was $4.50 -- a whole $3 more than I would have spent at Costco. WORTH IT. (Had I been Miss pessimestic, I would have been angry on the drive all the way back to work and throughout the day because I could have had my $1.50 hand dipped chocolate ice cream for $3 less!)

But I skipped away, feeling like a complete victor of life. All the cars in the parking lot stopped for me to let me cross first. That was pretty awesome.

Celebrate the small victories you achieve daily. And take notice to the beauty that's there in front of you. Today, I appreciated... The warm sun, the pigeons that bobbed about the food court, sharing the smiles and laughs with the employee behind the counter, and hearing "So Close" on the radio driving back to work with half my froyo left, in hand.

The lesson learned:
The world will send you barriers, it's up to you to triumph over them. But if you don't jump over the hurtles, you'll be stuck (and miserable) behind them.

PS. yes, I was a whole 7 minutes late getting back to work. Arguably, I will work better since I'm content with my froyo, instead of irritated at the world for not allowing me to get my fix.