That Would Have Been the Fifth Continent:

Okay, so I went in knowing that it was the biggest marketing gimmick in the world, but whatever, it involved shoes, so why not? I was chosen as a "finalist" in a contest at Town Shoes, but naturally you had to be there in person when they did the draw, which was tonight at a downtown store. So I went. The draw was for a trip for two to South Africa for Cape Wine 2004 valued at around $25000. There were also going to be hors d'oeuvres and wine and gift bags for everyone. So I stayed around for a couple of hours, eating their food, drinking their wine, and looking at all the pretty shoes. There was an African mystic woman who was telling fortunes or something, but the line was quite long. They were also giving away prizes for answering trivia questions about South Africa, but there were WAY too many gung ho ladies (many of whom were at least twice my age) who really wanted the lipsticks, hair spray and Vitamin C tablets more than I did. At 9pm they did the draw for the ten runner-up prizes and then the grand prize. I got squat, which was to be expected. But the lure was too great and I ended up buying a really cute little evening bag using one of the "save $10 - tonight only" coupons they gave out. It was nice since the bag cost less than the minimum allowed on the coupon, and they gave it to me anyway. It would have been a lot nicer if I had won, but I guess I'll have to find some other way to get to that continent (I suppose I could go on safari, but in which lifetime is that going to happen?).

"Don't be afraid, navigate and I will steer into the sun, we will run"