I woke up this morning feeling like...

I'd won a lottery prize.  That's because I managed to sleep until 5:26 a.m., latest I've slept in days.  I didn't do anything different.  Perhaps because I was so tired of waking between 3 and 4 in the morning, my body fought to sleep longer.  Whatever happened, that extra hour plus of sleep is much appreciated.

Things I'm pondering today begin with the fact I have to go clothes shopping, something I loathe.  I'd rather watch be forced to watch re-runs of Paris Hilton's now cancelled reality show than go shopping for clothes.  Or be forced to sit through "Pluto Nash", "Leonard, Part 6", "North" or "Being Human", some of the worst movies ever made.  Okay, okay, I'd choose to clothes shop if the choice was that or "Being Human".  But the others would still be preferrable.

I'm pondering a survey about which jobs are held by people who feel that their work makes the world a worse place.  The average rate of such feeling among most jobs is around 1%.  But more than 38% of fast food workers hold the opinion that producing and selling fast food makes the world a worst place, the highest percentage on the survey.  What's really surprising is that the next highest result, dealers of gambling games in casinos feel they're making the world a worse place in numbers less than half of the fast food worker population.  Apparently seeing people losing their money tugs at their consciences.  But not enough to hand back the tips they receive.

I'm pondering just how sick I am of presidential polls.  The only important poll takes place on election day.  I don't care that Gallup is the most prestigious of polls, or that it is showing markedly different results than the other polls.  Polls can become self-fulfilling prophecies if people believe strongly enough in them.

I'm pondering why I had to stand in line for 20 minutes yesterday to get a sandwich at the deli at Ralph's.  Especially when it took the woman working there that long to make only 3 or 4 other sandwiches before she got to me.  This wasn't slow, this was glacial in the speed of movement.

A good friend of mine is going to be a very happy camper when he learns that Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin will be going to UC Berkley to continue her swimming career.  He's a major fan of the Cal Bear.  I had limited exposure to Cal, when my late godparents (both alumni of Cal) took me to the Lair of the Golden Bear summer camp for two summers in my youth.  The counselors were all students and there were a variety of competitions during the week of your stay.  Win a competition, get a tiny trophy.  And a kiss from a counselor of the opposite sex.  After winning a few trophies my first summer there and enjoying the kisses, I went out of my way to win an armful of trophies the following summer. ;)

I'm pondering the weekend box office reports and how they'll look later today when the predictions for the full weekend start rolling in.  For Friday, "Paranormal Activity 4", with its low budget is leading the pack in total gross with $15 million in one day of release.  Conversely, "Alex Cross" is not doing well which doesn't make sense to me.  The novels of James Patterson sell millions of copies.  He's responsible for the sale of 1 in every 17 non-hardcover books in the U.S. His works have outsold those of Stephen King, John Grisham and Dan Brown combined, in recent years.  But apparently, the readers of those novels aren't going to see this film adaptation of his 12th novel featuring Alex Cross.  "Kiss the Girls" was a box office success with Morgan Freeman in the title role, although "Along Came a Spider", the next film with Freeman as Cross was not.

But the best film out this weekend is winning at least one battle.  Per screen average when all is said and done for this weekend will go to "The Sessions", the wonderful film starring Helen Hunt and John Hawkes.  I'm just pondering why films like that are always limited to art houses and don't seem to make it into the mainstream unless someone in them wins an Oscar.

I'm pondering an issue of parking again, but this time it isn't idiots parking oversized cars in compact spaces.  This is a whole different issue.  I watched someone hold up six or seven cars from moving because they wanted a specific parking place and were waiting for the occupant to back out of it.  There were two other open spaces within five spaces of that one the person could have taken but they wanted that space.  Was it that important to park right next to Panda Express that six or seven cars should sit there, burning gas and waiting for you to get the space you wanted?  Walk a few feet.