Got a tent and all

After visiting two Wal-Marts and a Target Greatland, I finally found an affordable tent (we don't really have one I can use at home). It's a backpacking tent, but it sleeps 2-3 people so it should be fine. Plus it comes in a rather large bag with straps, not in a teeny-weeny bag like the one I used last year. Nice.

I did find a beach chair at one of the Wal-Marts for $6.94. It's a nice one too, the kind with the fabric over the steel frame that have armrests, usually with one or two cup holders in them (mine has only one, but that's ok) that you can fold up and carry in a matching drawstring bag the length of a long sausage. The problem was I had to lug it around everywhere, including to the other Wal Mart, where an employee put a sticker on it so I wouldn't set off the alarm when I went out. The lady at the exit did ask for my receipt since I was carrying it on my shoulder, but I told her I didn't buy it there, and that the other lady had put a sticker on the thing. As I went out, I thought, "Yeah...like I would steal something this big." I mean, that's stupid. You can't hide it in anything. Besides even if I wanted to, I would not steal something from a place with an alarm thing at the door because I would get caught and get in major trouble. Not to mention that "thou shalt not steal" is one of the Ten Commandments, which I try to keep as best as I can.

I don't like taking the bus when I shop for things. Then I have to lug my purchases around with me, if they won't fit in my bag or backpack. This was especially a drag when I worked at Wendy's and would go to the Wal-Mart over there (which is the first one I went to today) before work, because there wasn't really a breakroom to speak of there, much less anywhere to put one's stuff. Besides, you couldn't be sure someone wouldn't take your stuff. One of your coworkers could, or even a customer if he or she could somehow get back there (there was an open area, where at some places there is a door or a counter extension thing that is kind of like the things on some tables that can fold down when you don't need to have a lot of people sit there, between the wall and the counter, where we went in and out from behind the counter to the dining room, bathroom, or any other place in front of the counter). Where I work now, we keep our stuff in the breakroom, which is behind a door marked "employees only" that can only be opened with a key. Only we employees have the key to open the breakroom, which also works for the door that leads to the stockroom and office area. If there was a public bathroom in the place, the key would probably work for that too. (We don't, by the way; most people think we do, I guess, because I have had to answer the "do you have a bathroom/restroom" question a gazillion times in the 5 weeks I have been there...the question seems to be most frequently asked by mothers with small children).

I am going to re-start Tales of Symphonia again. I don't know what's going on, but Genis is just not learning Aqua Edge!! Maybe it's because I put him to not attack at a certain point while trying to earn the "Lone General" title for Lloyd or because I went for the free friendship fortunes with the Triet fortuneteller, although this did not affect any of the other characters (even though the second time she said Kratos didn't care much for me at all). I didn't do those things the first time I played, and Genis learned Aqua Edge. Albeit he learned it after we got beat by the Fire Seal guardian and I went out to train. But still.

I did get a pleasant surprise in that I got to see some dialogue I missed the first time I fought Exebula (a monster the Desians set on you in Iselia). Maybe because the first time I didn't beat it the first time around.

I am anxious to finish the first disc and move on to the second disc. Despite the fact that I read the whole player's guide and know most of the plot already, there were some things that aren't in the guide. Like Botta. If he isn't a Desian (as suggested by one of Botta's soldier's reactions to Lloyd calling them Desians at the Martel Temple, by one of Forcystus's soldier's reactions to a similar accusation by Genis when the Desians attack Iselia, and by Kvar's annoyed attitude towards news of Botta and co. being nearby when you first go to the Asgard Human Ranch) then what the heck is he? And why are Botta and co. so afraid of Kratos? Botta retreats because of him when he first appears at the Martel Temple. The turqouise-haired guy at Sylvarant Base also flees the scene because "our plans will be ruined if he sees me." Since the guy has already been seen by Lloyd, the implication is that he means Kratos. (After all, Genis isn't much to be afraid of at this point, and Botta specifically says "the Chosen's group has infiltrated the facility," and Lloyd and Genis aren't official members of the "Chosen's group" at this point -- the initial "Chosen's group" was meant to include Colette, Kratos, and Raine, as indicated at the beginning of the game).

More later. Bye.