Royal Disappointment

I'm pretty sure yesterday was one of my top five most disappointing days of all time. Here's how my day went:

I got dropped off at work at little early since Justin needed to get to work for a meeting (we car pool as often as possible). It worked perfectly because I was supposed to pick up a Pier One gift card for my boss for National Boss' Day. I jumped in my car ready to head to the nearest grocery store (they have name-brand cards now there) when I had an epiphany. 7-11 should have the cards! So I run into the 7-11. It's in the same complex as my office. I pick up the Visa check card for $25 and head to the cashier. The gift was supposed to be $30 so I ask for five $1 scratch-off cards also. The transaction goes through on the scratch-offs, but it declines my debit card for the gift card. OK. Let's try the AmEx gift card. No dice. The lady hands it back to me with a 'whatever' look and tells me it's not working. Perfect. There's a 7-11 right down the block. So, I drive down the road and try again. The lady behind this corner, however, mentions that it might not work because I'm using debit. Apparently you have to use CASH, which would have been nice to know THE FIRST TIME. Do I have cash? Of course not. I'm a member of the Debit Card Society. So clearly I need to go somewhere I can get cash because the rest of my office is depending on me to get the gift for my boss.

To the Albertson's grocery store I go! I go on a five-minute detour around the block to get out of the 7-11, but make the light. I head 10 minutes into PB, take cash out of the ATM, and hit the check-out guy. Unfortunately, the first two Visa cards he picks up have the actual cards stolen out of them. (Note to grocery store thieves: There is NO MONEY on these cards. Stealing them is dumb and useless.) I finally get a card that works, which costs an extra $10 just to BUY IT. Rip off. When the clerk says "it's 9.95 just to get the card, are you sure you only want to put $25 on it?" I lose it. I just started yelling about how he can put whatever he wants on it. It didn't matter at that point. So, he takes a step back, puts the $25 on it, and I walk out the door.

By the time I get back to the office I've been gone for an hour. I'm now LATE to work and extremely flustered. Luckily, I get my articles finished and photos uploaded. I'm running on cruise control until 5 o'clock hits and it's officially time to head to the Jimmy Buffett show!

I'm taking Shannon for her birthday. The tickets are $20 a piece. I have to pay cash to our hookup when I get there. So, we drive in rush-hour traffic TOWARDS the border (for you East Coasters, this means towards traffic). It takes an hour to get there, but in no time we're in the parking lot drinking a Coors Light and munching on graham crackers in the back of Shannon's SUV. I've never met my ticket hookup before, so when I finally get the reception to text and call him, his "meet us near the RVs" is less than sufficient.

We walk through the gravel, dirt, and straw toward the stadium and were waiting in line for the port-a-potty when I realized I was missing the wristlet with my wallet. Shannon and I spent the next 45 minutes walking up and down the path we took to get there. Nothing. When we got back to her car I looked in my bag and pockets just to be sure, but it was definitely missing. I had the money to get in, so we were out of luck. I know this sounds ridiculous, but if you imagine your favorite band, the band you've loved since before you hit elementary school, the band that reminds you of your best childhood memories, you would have Jimmy Buffett for me. Yes, I've seen him before, several times, but dammit! I wanted to see him again! So, I'll be honest, I cried several tears for Buffett last night. I wiped them off like Cry Baby and tried to get on with my night. (Justin buying my anniversary gift definitely helped!)

Luckily, the amphitheater people called me later that night to tell me they found my wallet. Which is nice.

All in all, quite a disappointing day :(

UPDATE: When I tried to go get my purse back from Chula Vista, I realized WHILE I WAS ALREADY IN MY CAR that I needed gas. So, I start to pull off towards a gas station, when it hit me that I didn't have my wallet! Which means no money. Which means no gas. Which means I sat and waited for Justin to come back to his work from lunch because my phone died while I was trying to track him down. I did get the purse, but of course my money was stolen. Oh well. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I still have hope for humanity.