the world is full of stupid people...

... and i am their leader.

yes, me. today, we were in st. paul for something. since wal-mart was just across the street from where we were parked, we decided to go there for a few things. to make a long story short, we thought we'd take the cart to our car (which was in a parking lot across the street).

this worked fine... until we got halfway across the road, whereupon the wheels to the cart locked. i don't even want to imagine what we look like. probably like some deranged transients trying to run off with a shopping cart.

picture me, if you will... i have the hairstyle from hell because it is hot and humid out and it has decided to get all big and puffy and i look ridiculous. i'm pushing the cart, and the wheels lock, so we abrubtly stop; and nick, who is at the end of the cart and pulling/guiding it with one hand, is rudely pulled back, as the cart stops moving. because he's pulled back, he does this wild mis-step, like a drunken pinnochio.

he turns around and tells me to get out of the way, because he thinks i just can't push it. so he pushes it and can't move it either. i'm trying to tell him the wheels are locked. meanwhile, there's about ten cars waiting for us to move, and so we do the only thing we can do. we pick up the cart and carry it across the street. meanwhile, we are bickering with each other, so it probably looks like two crazy people fighting over a cart. clay is completely oblivious and is watching the traffic with great interest.

when we get it across the street, we leave it at the edge of the curb and carry our crap the rest of the way to the car. i was going to take it back to the wal-mart parking lot, but i was not going to carry the stupid thing back, so i figured it would be safe there. its not like anyone else could take it, since the stupid wheels wouldn't move. and no, it wasn't just the brake, because i tried moving the lever up, and it wouldn't budge.

all i can think of is that it was some kind of anti-theft device, designed to keep the cart from being stolen. nick thinks i'm looney, and says the cart was just broken.

i like how it just "broke" in the middle of a busy street. you know those moments where you just want to shrink into a huge, black hole? i could have used a huge black hole, right about then.

so i wonder what people thought as they sat in their cars. they probably all locked their car doors and prayed the crazy people wouldn't notice them.

the only good thing is, is that i'll never have to see these people again. and from now on, i'm thinking about doing all my shopping online.