*Try to do this exercise before we return to class on January 6, 2011
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A place for Writing 12 students to read each other's writing, to critique, to suggest, to improve.
About Me
- Brad
- Former adult teacher who loves island beaches. Happy homebody and family man; once devoted dog owner, now without Tashi, my Tibetan Terrier. I prefer the absurdity of the imagination to the absurdity of imagining nothing.
5 comments:
SuperStore Today:
She stood in the aisle, at a narrow spot (of course). Her cart was at an angle, the handle pointing towards the opposite shelf. She was deeply engrossed in a package of noodles.
I approached.
She didn't flinch, nor move. Those noodles were endlessly fascinating, more than the approach of a middle-aged guy on his way to the pickle aisle.
I squeezed between her cart and the display, just making it, but not without "accidentally on purpose" bumping the handle of her cart. But no, those noodles were too interesting; not even a bump would bring her out of that shopper's hypnosis.
On the way out I thought I'd died and gone to heaven: a cashier, free, without a line, without a "closed" sign. But she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'm closing now."
Ah well, it was a chance to peruse a photography magazine (must have been misplaced; the cashier's line never has a typical "guys" magazine now does it?).
—163 words
There I was reading about Time magazine’s “Man of the Year 2010” Mark Zuckerberg, when I felt something bump into my back. In my crouched reading position, I looked back and noticed there was a young girl and her 2 small children. They were rambunctious and quite loud. I found it hard to keep my focus on reading about the influential young man behind facebook. I noticed that she didn’t have any control over the children she was responsible for. They were making a mess of the children’s books and creating havoc in the store. It seemed that she was not concerned that they were crawling on the floor in the middle of the Isle blocking other shoppers from passing. I began to get irritated and realized I needed to get on with my shopping. There is nothing like having two hyperactive children screaming and yelling and bumping into you from behind to remind you to stop wasting time and get on with your grocery buying duties.
-shopping experience during Christmas:
There I was, waiting for my friend, Ash, to come on Christmas day at the Lougheed skytrain station because I hadn’t thought about going out on Christmas day until now, and I’ve always thought that the stores would open for Christmas day like in Asia. In Asia, the stores would open for 24/7, no matter what. And if it’s closed on Christmas day, especially, they will lose lots of money on that day.
-75 words.
This Christmas holiday, I went to my home city Beijing. I had my long shopping list with me but I didn’t go shopping very offten. The reason why I don’t do it is because the traffic jam. Right now, in Beijing, traffic is the bigger story than anything else. My friends usually spend one and half hour to the work place where they used to get there in half hour. There are no difference between peak time and off-peak time. Cars stuck with each other, bumper to bumper without gap. So I gave up my shopping plan. I stayed at home most of my time except meeting with my friends. Fortunately, there is a newly built shopping mall near where I lived. I can at least buy something there. One day evening, when I went to the mall, I saw a young girl selling something in front of the mall entrance. Taking a close look, I found she was selling some DVDs, of course, the illegal version. Her face was flushed with cold. Her body was scrunched up in her huge down jacket, which made her look sneaky.
“Do you have American TV series?” I asked.
“I do, what do you what?” she gave me an immediate response.
“I want Grey’s Anatomy and CSI, NY.”
“ I have Grey, no CSI at this moment, but I have Drop Dead Diva.”
“I can bring CSI one or two days later,” the girl added quickly.
“Fine, give me these two.” I decided to finish deal as soon as possible.
The girl neatly wrapped up the DVDs and handed to me, “forty Yuan,” she said.
I couldn’t believe what I heard, forty Yuan, it is less than seven dollars, for the whole bunch of six seasons of Grey and two seasons of Drop. What can I bargain for? I quickly paid the money and left with guilty pleasure. When I crossed the street, I looked back, I saw the girl was hiding herself in the shadow of the Christmas tree. “Tough business,” I sighed. In my mind, I do wish she could find a decent job, so she doesn’t have to risk her life to do this illegal business.
Save On Food
Jan. 3, 2011
I don't use the self-check-out machine often except I buy less than 4 items.
When I was weighting the apples and bananas, an Asian buyer passed by me and left hurriedly. In seconds later, I heard an old lady (customer) reported to a service clerk angrily but not loudly. "A Chinese took a lot of bags from the self check out area."
As I finished my shopping and left, I felt that they seemed to watch me.
I really want to say that I'm Taiwanese. Taiwanese won't do that and disapprove that kind of behaviour. As well, not all the Asians are Chinese.
Shoe Warehouse in the Royal City Centre
Jan. 5, 2011
The snow-rain muddied the ground badly. My son really needed a pair of new snow boots. So, after school, we went to the nearest shop to buy one. It was the last sale. Most of the shoes were 30% off, and some were tagged with "door crasher!"
When I was checking one of the prices on the yellow tag--44.99 dollars, a lady put the same style of shoes back and told me, "It's fifty, I've checked, but too small for my son." I supposed the yellow tags were the final price and the white tags were the original price. I found my son's size and took them immediately.
The casher, who was wearing a headscarf with brown skin and smile, took out the shoes, checked the zippers, chainstitchings, inside and surface.
"It's clearance. I'm afraid you can't return or exchange."
“So, you're checking for me? Thanks! You're so nice."
She scanned the barcode. "Fifty seventy-five," she said.
After I inserted my card, my eyes got wide.
"15.57?" I wondered.
"Yes, just press ENTER."
Walking out of the store. I told my son. "Go back the store. Mom wants to look for a new boots too."
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