Telephone

Sometimes an unexpected things can give a person vitality.

I got the call from a customer and she wanted to know if the certain item was available in the store.

I wrote down the skew number on the paper slip that the voice of a customer said it to me in a clam and orderly way.

Holding the little paper slip on my right hand, I proceeded to go through the skew number after number on the price tags, to see if any of the numbers would match.

Nothing's matched.

I came back to the register with my short and quick steps.

I picked up the phone.

"Ma'am. The suit is not available in our store."

...

I heard the silence.

"Ma'am?"

Suddenly, I feel the red beam was illuminating my ear and side of my face.

I looked down the desk.

The phone was nicely sitting on the desk.

What I holding was.. the scanner.

Kids

Three girls and a boy came up to the register with their mom, as if baby ducks following their mom.

They all carried the bags that are bigger than their body size.

They were so adorable.

Suddenly.. I was being all wrapped up in my childish nostalgia.

Seeing those kids, like young, fresh green leaves, I became feeling optimistic.

My smallest linear eyes were turned into the seemingly generous eyes.

I became too much captivated when their mother told me that one of the kids is going to be 6th grade in elementary school, the last year of the elementary memory.

That girl had to bring the other bag, because the one that she brought doesn't have a price tag on it.

The bags were exactly same design, but somehow the one that she had it in first time seemed better to me.

I peeled off the return label sticker with my plain nail from the bag I already scanned.

Then I put the sticker to the bag that she originally chose.

It was to save me from her potential disappointment.

As they leave me, I waved a hand, like drawing a colorful rainbow.

"I hope you make good memories!!"

I have no idea where this idea came from, but I shouted it anyway.

They glanced back for few seconds.. and left.

Cleopatra

"Your hair looks like Cleopatra!,"

I told the customer as I waited for her to sign on the screen of credit card machine.

She slowly raised her eyes from the machine and slightly tilted her head.

"Wait a minute," she said.

Something passed between us, some silent and familiar feeling.

"You told me that once before, right?"

Squish

Be Happy.

Happiness is a choice.

Let's squish all of the complicated thoughts and Be happy!

Two simple words.

and.. let's live with passion..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! +_+

Mall, like a village

There's no distinctive walls between different departments to distinguish the difference of the areas.

But somehow, people can recognize the difference of the areas, probably because the placement of different merchandises.

Delayna, who works at kitchen merchandise, was standing with her hands grapple with each other behind her slim waist, as if she was keeping her eyes on that section.

Seeing the view made me imagining her protecting her own house.

I got to think that every sale associates were like that.

Like.. living in a townhouse village, where the houses are closely spaced.

I also was able to replace the role model of mail deliverer with workers, who occasionally stops by and takes all of the censors that were collected after being taken off from the dresses and suits, in my imagination.

There are two people for this.

One is working for week and the other is for the weekend.

The latter version of person's name is Bill.

But somehow when he approached me, my lips were so pronouncing and, eventually saying as 'Jim' instead of Bill.

His black and gray checked suit squeezed into his black pants was completely illusioning me that his name was Jim.

And the week version person.. Oh goodness..

I even didn't ask his name.

haha.. I just realized.. lol

But I always greet and talk about things going on with the day, mall, weather, or whatnot.

He's a giant.

His coming is always outstanding.

Not only of his stature, but also of his beard.

The color that is neither quite white nor yellow.

A beard covering round of his face, including his philtrum.

That beard first made me wondering about any distractions that may occur when he eats.

He answered me, no problem as long as he got the napkins.

Realization

In previous night, my mom came home from work and sat down on the sofa as usual.

Her eyes were staring into the television, but I could tell that she was thinking completely different things from what she was watching.

It seemed like a lot of thoughts were going on in her mind.

She sat down on the sofa, wearing blue apron and putting her feet onto living room table.

She started to take off her socks with no energy.

I was sitting right next to her and turning to her side with my stretched out mouth.

Viewing her nonelastic skin with flabby wrinkles surrounding her chin was hurtful that usually meant nothing to me.

What has wiped her smile away..

Chicken Parm and Chocolate Wonton

I play out like a cook once in a while.

And today was a perfect timing.

Today, I ate chicken Parmesan three meals in a row.

And still..

I deserve more..

I like chicken parm so much that I even made up my id for one of the sites I joined in as 'parmesan'.

Before I even put my breaded chicken on the paper plate, I make a red tomato bed.

And then an excessive amount of white mozzarella sprinkles was landed all over the breaded chicken.

Soft and moist inside and crust on the outside with exquisite combination of tomato and the cheese.

Suddenly, I became regretting and blaming myself that I hadn't cook this one for awhile.

Chocolate wonton recipe was one that I saw from the food network show called, 'Giada at home' few days ago.

As I watched that, I said to my self and to the show host on TV, without even blinking my eyes.

"I can make that, too."

Making a chocolate wonton was like doing a play house when I was in kindergarten.

I filled the wonton wrap with hazelnut chocolate.

And fold it into a triangular shape.

It was like folding a colored paper.

And then, I glued the edge of wonton with an egg white.

I tried to imitate the way Giada did in her show as much as possible, even the postures.

I completely felt like I was in art class or something.

Can't wait for tomorrow to come.

So that I can make more.

And eat more!

Exciting Stuff

Yesterday, as I walked out of my home to get in my car, I was bumped into my neighbor.

She's a school teacher.

I was glad that she remembered the short conversation we shared it last time.

She asked me something like, is there a month left for you to get back to school?

You said, you're going to be a senior, right?

And then..

As she passed me by, she told me "Exciting Stuff~♬" in an unforgettable way.

That's right.

She was right.

She reminded me something that I had totally forgotten for awhile.

Exciting stuff..

Of course, I do deserve that.

I felt like I had endured so much that I even forgot what had I endured for and what I was enduring about.

"Thanks for reminding me!"

This sentence popped out of my head and I wanted her to hear this.

When I looked back, she was already going round the corner.

But yea..

I definitely have an exciting stuff to expect.

Melody

I write, but sometimes I get to find a lot of interesting things about melody.

Melody creates the mood.

Melody gives a person emotion.

When melody fills the ear, I don't know where the emotion is starting to emerge.

And I'm wondering about composers.

They create the melody out of nothing.

Where would they get an inspiration from.

I want to know.

2:47

In the middle of the night.

AM 12:00 is constantly blinking every second out of green neon square screen on the alarm machine on my desk.

I hear the silence.

I look over the wide window and I saw no one's walking on the street.

The street light in front of the house is standing alone and shining no one.

It looks very lonely that I almost want to bring him a friend.

Suddenly.. all the intangible skepticism of the whole universe and of life is arising inside of me.

And I want to ask questions like,

Why do I live..

What do I live for..

What does it mean living..

What's the point of it.. etc.. etc..

I see the calendar that I wrote my Macy's schedule on.. underneath the date.

I see the continent of Asia on the globe.

The florescent lamp is bowing towards me.

The light is hanging on the high ceiling with five wings and its shadow sticks to the surface of the ceiling.

I love the air of the night even though I smell nothing.

But the unknown air is hugging me.

Should I live hard.. or not..

I'm standing middle of the border line.

'walking the mall' lady

While I was working, the one old lady grabbed my attention.
Wearing pink t-shirt and blue gym cloth with sneakers, her mouth closed tight and face looked so still and determined.
I couldn't say anything but whispered to myself a 'wow'.
I saw her once in awhile and I knew that she regards the mall as her work out place.
She was walking.
Not just walking, but with a 'power walking'.
Her ten fingers squeezed tight in her palm and her elbows moving back and forth and walking with her fast pace.
Although I was standing several steps away from her, I felt like I needed to step back when she walked towards me.
Fierce.. she was..
She's an old lady, so she doesn't need to be stay in shape or anything..
But she still works out.. at the mall.. regularly.. and fiercely..
Every minutes, I saw her passing by my registrar, as if she was spinning around the globe.
I just wanted to recommend her the park I know for her work out place.

Sales goal

is giving me a pressure..
When I don't make sales goal.. I feel bad.
I feel like I'm very obligated to at least, make sales goal.
And score card.. seems.. little ridiculous.
All the associates' names are all lined up in order depends on how many more they sold.
Esp. making customers spend their money in women's dresses is harder.
Less congestion of people. People would try more things on.
And lesser.. they tend to buy stuff, cause even one item is so expensive.
No matter how much I put things back on, it just returns to starting point.
Plus, I don't know why they didn't put summer dresses.
No one would buy fall or winter dresses..!
I wish I had some skills to make customers spend money.

Chicken

I don't find a single chicken food that is not delicious.

And today.. chicken pita proved that.

Buffalo chicken, chicken wrap, chicken salad, chicken salad sandwich, chicken finger, fried chicken, oven-baked chicken, chicken caesar, chicken casadia, parmesan chicken, chicken wing, pop corn chicken, chicken marsala.....

Chickens are just awesome and this is why I want them to be mine and I can't give up on them.

A serious hope

Sandra is one of co-workers who I clicked with despite of our huge age differences.

Today, she asked my age for the first time.

I gave her a chance to guess my age and she guessed not even close.

And when I told her my actual age, her eyes got wide and big, her mouth got opened hard.

It almost seemed like it was impossible for her to believe that I'm going to be a senior in college.

I want to be look like thirty three.

I want to be look wayyy too old.

I want to risk every possibility to look me oh-so-old.. until I get to hear "how come you look so old?"

Marriage

Today, I got a chance to work with flyer(on call person) and she said she's 30 and married.

Since she introduced herself like that, I didn't miss the question that I'd usually like to ask.

How they got to know.. meet..

She said her husband was her best friend's brother..

I nodded.

..

Then, I asked her if she thinks dating and marriage are different.

She first answered me 'no', but with sudden realizations, she changed her answer to 'yes'.

"Is marriage more realistic..?"

As usual, I helped her out.

"Oh yeah..Definitely.." I heard the answer I wanted to hear.

"So.. did you get to yell at him?"

"No.. He owns the shop and he's really busy, so.."

"You have less chance to yell."

We both laughed away.

Good old friends

Two old customers did shopping together.

Both of their hairs turned out to white, but they had huge height differences.

Little friend with adorable round eyes carried the cloths that tall friend picked out and waited for her outside the fitting room.

I asked her how long she has known her and she answered me since they were 15.

And I instantly tried to imagine how they looked like back in that time, but I couldn't.

They probably know.

Teeth

Today I realized that I have to look up my teeth after having a meal. Especially while I'm working.

I stopped by the lady's room after having my lunch break at mall and I looked up my teeth and..

What I instantly thought was that 'what if i didn't stop by the rest room and grinned with this in front of customers.. that must have been so embarrassing..'

So that was the lesson for me today. always check my teeth before I hit the floor.