My leisure world

After a long day of busy work, it’s always nice to finally get to sit down and rest (both physically and mentally) on the ride back home. As my mom slowly drives through the city, my eyes wander to the corners of the streets, searching for something to get my imagination going, which does not take much. In fact, it’s usually the least interesting things that give rise to my imaginary stories. For instance, just a couple days ago, I came across a teenage girl, who talked on her phone as she stood at the bus stop, and my train of thought went something like this:

-She is on the phone with her dad, asking for directions to Stonestown.
-Her dad had originally offered to drive her, but in order to prove that she is a big girl, she insisted on taking the bus on her own.
-Now, her dad is yelling at her. “See, wouldn’t it have been so much better if I had driven you?! Why don’t kids nowadays just listen to their parents?”
-The girl reluctantly puts up with the yelling and finally hangs up.
-Suddenly, a car pulls up, and in there is a semi-friend of hers who offers her a ride.
-At first, she refuses, but upon thinking about her father’s scolding, she accepts.
-That semi-friend of hers, however, was a little bit tipsy…

It was something like that. After all, it’s truly not too important what I actually think of. What matters is simply being able to leave behind the stress of daily life and escape in my own imagination, even if it’s just for a short while.

Funny and Smart: Pollyann Ice Cream

It's a funny place. I do not mean that the people who work there are funny. I mean the actual place itself is funny, for it is filled with quite a few silly-funny signs. See for yourself:


In addition to being funny, it’s also a smart place. I mean it has to be smart or else how is it that it’s able to keep its lines long even in the midst of freezing December. Don’t get me wrong. I am most definitely not disregarding the fact that some people enjoy and prefer ice cream in cold weather, but the majority of us do not. (Right? Forgive me if I am wrong. I shall further investigate this claim.) So I guess that is why it is always hot (not warm, but hot) in there: to keep people’s ice cream appetite up. Oh how tricky! Another reason why I say it is smart is because it has the ultimate solution to the problem of indecisiveness. To help out customers who, like me, cannot make up their minds, Pollyann has a beautiful wheel of ice cream fortune,.With one spin, one can determine the flavor of ice cream to get and thus, the painstaking task of deciding can finally be taken out of us indecisive people’s hands and be left in the hands of fate instead.

I no longer love you, Sushi Zen

I have decided that I am never going to this place again! But I suppose I shall start with why I had gone to this place for so long up until this point. It has mainly been because of its food. The sushi here is like no other. Fresh. Satisfying. Simply delicious. Even these descriptions, however, barely capture the essence of the sushi. No exaggeration.


This is why I have always, with no exception, ordered more than I can eat. Simply, the thought of their sushi makes me want to eat, eat, eat and eat, but when it comes to the actual eating, my stomach unfortunately has a limit.



What makes the entire eating experience even better is the sushi’s perfect mate: the tea. This tea, which I have always assumed to be green tea though I may be wrong, is light enough to not cover the taste of the sushi but strong enough to not be bland. In of itself, the tea is also quite delicious, and it carries this uniquely soft, smooth texture that exists in no other tea.



Alright, now that I have betrayed my bitterness towards this place with so many compliments, I shall explain what has happened to turn my love into semi-hatred. Today, I decided to pay a visit to this sushi place in order to refresh my memory for the storytelling-beyond-the-page assignment. Like usual, I went in. I ordered. I ate. The waiters, also like usual, were not too friendly with me. But that never really mattered because their food is so good that they’re allowed to have bad service right? When it came to the check, I paid, they gave me the change, and I left the tip. Unfortunately, I did not have enough money and was two dollars short of the 15% tipping rule. This was the first time I’ve not given the full tip. Yet, when the waiter saw, he started talking to me harshly, if not yelled at me. So I explained and apologized. He, however, was not satisfied, and he went on to clean the table while cursing me right in front of my face. And I always thought that tip is supposed to be determined by the quality of customer service...

Quickly

Whenever I enter Quickly, I always feel obligated to try something new, so I would always take a look at their pretty, orangey menus on the wall. Yet, after a few seconds of checking out what they offer, I always settle back on my usual drink - milk tea tapioca, which indeed is pretty delicious. However, I secretly think that continually picking that drink has more to do with my my fear in taking risks than with the actual drink itself. Nonetheless, once I take a sip of that yummy milk tea, everything about trying something new becomes nothing, and I go on drinking with no guilt.

Besides drinking, the other most pleasurable part of the Quickly-experience is watching the constant replays of Taiwanese music videos, which usually involve some extremely cute dance steps danced by some adorable, flawless girl. The last time I went, they showed ai ni by Cyndi Wang the entire time I was there. When I'm alone, these music videos tend to come off as charming and even mesmerizing. Yet, when I’m with a group of friends who mock the exaggerated cutesiness, these videos suddenly become silly and ridiculous. Either way though – whether I admire or make fun of them – these videos are still a great source of entertainment and enjoyment. I guess that’s why they play them.