The day was slow at work and I decided to ‘step out’ for a late lunch today from 01:00PM to 02:00PM. The sun was showing brightly with clear blue skies. Thank goodness the cool breeze blew to make my short walk alone more pleasant.
I took lots of pictures of flowers today. First I went towards the four-story parking garage to take my first few shots of flowering bushes and trees in white and pink colors and through the side to take shots of small flowering ground coverings in purple and yellow colors.
A South Asian Indian, who drove in a dark blue car, asked me for direction that I did not have an answer. He made a U-turn and drove away and I thought to myself, ‘Idiot’. Then I went in a same southward direction that the lost guy went.
While taking pictures, I was intercepted by and met a new co-worker named ‘Sundried Ra,’ who worked in the IT department. He claimed he is an Asian from India and goes to the temple weekly. He had a white dot on his third eye chakra.
He was headed to a trail for walking and I asked if I could join him. And why should I not impose my time? My life has been basically boring and this was a great opportunity to get outdoors and away from work, which is where I spend most of my breaks and lunch hours.
The conversations started off with the location of the trail; who we were and what department and people we work with at the company. And on our way back, we talked about weekend chores and watching television or movies.
I huffed and I puffed as my fake black leather pumps provided what little comfort in walking on sidewalks made of cement. I got tired about fifteen minutes into the walk right before the eastern entrance of two to the trail along the San Tomas Aquino creek.
There were mostly tall grasses and a few California poppies of brightly orange colors growing along the trail. Below the ditch to my left and behind a wire fence of the employee parking to the amusement park were purple flowers of icy plants. I took pictures of both kinds of flowers upstream.
I took a few more pictures of flowers downstream as I started to feel the heat of the sun on my face. There were bronze colored murals on the cement walls; one duck swimming and workers spraying recycled water onto the soil. The water smelled treated but bearable to the nose.
My very first full time job was at this same amusement park right after high school and I was eighteen years old at that time. I remember working there with my ‘Revolution’ outfit of white shirt; vertical, pin striped and rainbow colored long skirt and white shoes. I should not have returned my name tag.
My job was stocking inventory; cleaning the store and working the cash register. I sold teddy bears; candies; clothes and souvenirs of the place. My time there was boring because we sold little and I wasn’t talkative.
There was this one lady who got up from a park bench and asked if I did sign language. I didn’t realize that my fingers were fidgety because I was burning under the heat of the sun. I wasn’t smart enough to have taken shelter underneath a nearby tree.
I would encounter strangers as my customers. While holding a teddy bear indoors, one guy called me ‘Maria’ maybe because I had a frizzy perm and long hair at the time. Some friends of ‘Brain Events’, who did martial arts, came in one day to talk to me about security cameras.
I remember not being happy about working then. I was grumpy a few days afterwards I had my wisdom teeth pulled out; disgruntled for dusting the grills on a door (which I didn’t do) and angry for sorting inventory (which I threw down onto the floor for two others to pick up after me).
The faces of my co-workers are etched into my brain to this day but not all of their names. Most of us were girls and we worked together fine. Our supervisors were a shorter and meaner brunette who attended Berkeley; a taller red head; a shorter blond and a shorter Filipino with long hair.
‘Percival,’ or ‘Percy’ was a guy who came from Romania and was raised by nuns. He was let go after he grabbed and held my still recovering face in his hands. While still in his grasp, I looked to my right where two other people saw the incident. One was our supervisor.
Another guy was into Satanism and showed me his Black ‘Babel’ during an outdoor lunch and on a sunny day. I actually read the first page and recall (a bit hazily now) that it had words similar to the ‘Lord’s Prayer’. My being impressionable back then made me believe the passage was positive. His girlfriend had the thickest calves that looked swollen.
I did enjoy eating the chocolate cookies from the cafeteria and being photographed for whatever reason to be profiled or used as an advertising gimmick of the amusement park. The pay seemed great for starters like me.
After some twenty years later, my pay is better and my job is secure. I seem to be happier at this company for providing occasional free meals; understanding (but crazed) co-workers and a fast computer with T3 internet connection.
Today, I reflected on how my path came full circle from my first job a few blocks away to this last job at a high rise building. Or has my true profession yet to become clearer and truer in the years ahead?
I know that my experience today with a stranger is a good sign. The various flowers of different colors were also good signs for me to expect more outdoor adventures with nature. Photography is a good hobby for my early retirement.
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Friday May 5, 2006 – 10:12pm (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments
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