shut up and dance

you know those tiny, round plastic thingies attached to the base of the question mark on select metal clothing hangers? you know. they come in an assortment of colours and they look like miniature rings and they indicate the sizes (s, m, l, xl) of the various items hanging below. you know.

anyhow, my two-year-old is utterly obsessed with them. and it just so happens that winners, in the plaza across the street, is absolutely crawling with them. in fact, you can probably eyeball hundreds... maybe thousands... perhaps even millions of the little keepsakes lying about the floor at the discount clothing retailer. now i don't really know how they got there - on the floor, that is - but they got there. and as i've already indicated, my daughter is completely infatuated with them. stockpiling them, to be more precise. like a squirrel and her nuts. why, she has even started up a collection of the tiny "circles" (as she calls them) which she keeps in an old plastic water bottle on her dresser. hell, i'm getting worried that she might be a candidate for "hoarders" one day. but whenever i need to get the little one out of the house for a few hours, all i have to say is "do you wanna get some circles at winners?" and before i know it she is standing at the door with her crocs on.

anyhow, today my wife needed some quiet time to herself so i decided to take my youngest on a tour of the aforementioned winners to see if we couldn't rustle up some more of them plastic circle thingies. now at this juncture i should probably point out that today's post has absolutely nothing to do with those plastic circle thingies other than the fact that i've already spent the last three paragraphs or so describing them in somewhat graphic detail.

no, today's post has more to do with the popular musical selections blaring over the p.a. system at the winners location just across the road and the incessant interruptions of said musical selections which make it damn near impossible for pretend shoppers like myself to enjoy said selections. in particular, this afternoon while i was thoroughly grooving to one of my favorite numbers from back in the day, the aptly titled "get right back" by seventies soulstress maxine nightingale, i was forced to digest at least a half-dozen interjections imploring assorted winners' personnel to "pick up line 17" or "go to cash register 6" or "report to receiving." and i gotta tell you that it made it damn near impossible to enjoy any continuity in the disco-era classic. why, it was just one ill-mannered interruption after another. i mean, seriously, couldn't the disembodied voice of the winners p.a. system have at least waited until the end of the damn song before barking out her orders to her various minions? i mean, really, what's the point of even broadcasting those catchy dance hall ditties if pretend shoppers like myself can't get down for more than a few seconds at a time before being subjected to yet another impertinent intrusion? i mean, really now.

oh, and in case you were wondering, today the kid and i produced a near record haul of plastic circle thingies, more than 50 by my count, including at least two black and white beauties, considered the mona lisa of the genre by most experts.

"c'mon boys and girls, i wanna tell you, when you grow up you'll find there comes a time when you gotta dance. but nobody says you can't pick good music." - wkrp in cincinnati (1981)

the way it was meant to be enjoyed



p.s. the neck of the hanger. of course. that's the word i was searching for. gracias.