It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Friday was the best day ever!  I met a girlfriend who I've known since grade school and we went to the Green Living Show.  I wasn't sure exactly what we'd see there, but I'd gotten my hands on some free entry coupons, and that was reason enough for us.

The show consisted of a giant conference hall filled with exhibitors relating to health food and environmental friendliness.  A random list of some of the exhibitors:  vegan shoes (no leather); products made from recycled tiles (mulch, roofing, flooring); recycling businesses; aromatherapy oils; "green" cars; and lots and lots of healthy/organic food.  Also, a wildlife conservation group was there with some live birds, to remind us why living green is important.  I fell in love with this beautiful owl.

My friend and I made the rounds, and free-sampled about a quazillion different kinds of chips, cheeses, teas, sorbets, nut bars, juices, etc.  Then we paid money to participate in the official tasting zone, where the attractions included fish tacos, organic wine, and bacon butter tarts.  My friend and I shared a tiny bacon butter tart (basically one bite each) and it wasn't all that.  It was just like a regular butter tart, but saltier.  Her fish taco was good.  My pulled pork on potato medallions was disappointing, as the mini potatoes were leathery.  I topped it all off with a cone of dandelion ice cream.  No, it wasn't green, or yellow.  It was made from dandelion root, and tasted like coffee.  I am definitely a fan of dandelion ice cream.

Maybe because I had so much fun yesterday, today wasn't my day.  Among other things:

• Someone I had plans to meet with was 45 minutes late.  I stuck around because she did text me at the actual meeting time, to let me know she'd gotten wrapped up in her reading and was just leaving the house.  This is why I always plan to meet people in bookstores.  At least I had something to read while I was waiting.
• For no reason at all a salesperson in a store started asking me really annoying questions in an obnoxious tone of voice.  "Did you buy that purse to match your sweater?  Haha, just kidding!"  "Do you always look like you're smiling?"  Well, not anymore.  Now shut your wordhole and go away.
• I bought a really tasty-looking fruity soda, but I couldn't get the top off the bottle.  It wasn't a twist-top.  I went back to the store, but they had misplaced their bottle opener.  I ended up trading the soda for a water, which was disappointing, and it was going to be such a hassle to get the $ 1.79 difference refunded that I just walked away from the hopelessly unhelpful woman on cash. Her suggestion was that I take a second bottle of water as part of my refund, but who wants to carry an extra half-litre of water around all day?  Nay, not I.
• I went to another store to buy some groceries on my way home.  There were some girls paying with small change, and they were taking forever.  I left that till, where no one was waiting behind me, and went to the next one.  The guy at that counter told me his till was closed, and I should go back to the other one.  A woman who had been hovering in the area and had seen this whole chain of events turned around and walked ahead of me to the next till, and then stood in line in front of me, even though clearly I should have been in front. On a normal day I wouldn't have cared, but today I almost said something to her.  Like, really?  You're just going to shove in front of me like that?  However, one never knows when one is dealing with a psycho, so I thought I wouldn't make my day any worse by confronting her.  I'm such a typical mild-mannered Canadian!