In Which Britta Makes A Life Defining Purchase

Horoscope for Scorpio, January 22, 2007:
Whether your realize it or not, you are your own best friend -- and today you should evaluate this relationship. Are you taking care of yourself well enough? Or do you follow the path of least resistance and put yourself at the bottom of the list most of the time? Today, start your relationship with yourself in a new way and put yourself first! You should still honor your commitments to other people, but you should start standing up for your own wants and needs more.

Having read this, I indeed decided to "love" myself today, and went shopping with Little Sister Whitney. In our perusals, I happened across what is possibly the most defining purchase I have ever made. I'll never forget how we first met. There I was: aisles away avoiding the gaze of the shiny beaded number on the wall, quietly meandering about the Blazers and Windbreakers, when a little voice told me I should find my sister. And so I did.

Whitney was viewing neckties, in search of CosPlay materials, so I started fiddling about with the silk, polyester and cotton materials, paying them little heed when something caught my eye. It was simple, sleek, bi-spectral, and perfect. It was a Piano Tie. But not just any Piano Tie...for it was soon to be MY Piano Tie.

I was excited, overjoyed, enraptured, delighted, elated, thrilled even to be setting my eyes on such a wonder, such a glory, such a paragon of perfection. Slowly, I reached out to caress the fine strands of glory hanging so listlessly, so aloofly on the rack. It was sandwiched between a paisley number, and an old Tazmanian Devil novelty tie. Seeing that proved to me even further that this Piano Tie was to be mine. It was calling out to me from its technicoloured compatriots, "Save me from these atrocities I must associate with. Help me Britta Brown, you're my only hope!"

Ever so gently I circled my fingers around its thin neck and tugged carefully so as not to stretch or skew any of the priceless silken strands. God forbid any memory of this transcendental piece of wonder be ever so slighty fretted by the vagabond structure that called itself a "Tie Rack". Slowly, slowly, I freed this wonder from its chromatic bastille, and with all the tender loving care of a mother towards her young, I wrapped this burnished cravatte around my neck and allowed it to settle and find comfort in its newly found sanctuary.
The Piano Tie and myself, we are one.