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I think we've all been at the mall-rat stage. It's that period in life when your parents have FINALLY given you enough freedom to hang out with your friends on your own. Obviously, with that freedom comes countless afternoons spent at the mall, because.. Well, nobody really knows why. Middle school logic just works that way. There are two rules of mall-ratting:

1. You must spend your whole day at the mall.
2. You must travel in huge groups.

This means that there is no possible way to do actual shopping, because the whole group is not willing to stay in one shop long enough for that. There is only enough leeway to momentarily step into a shop, circle it once and step back out. After all the decent shops have been visited, all the sticker pictures have been taken and everybody has made their rounds of the food court, comes what I like to call the perpetual state of walking. During this perpetual state of walking, the number one most asked question is, "Where are we going?" which is always answered by, "I don't know. Just keep walking."
This perpetual state of walking is basically a metaphor for how my grandpa and uncle lives. I don't know how else to describe it.
When you live with someone for a chunk of time, you begin to notice the patterns of their daily routines, and you learn to live around them. It's simple things like whether someone takes a shower in the morning or at night and when they like to watch TV (for my uncle and grandpa, it's any moment that they're not working, out buying groceries, sleeping or in the washroom). From what I can see, it's almost as if their routines are set in stone. My uncle wakes up at 7 every morning, goes to work, is ALWAYS in a meeting, and comes back home. He then watches TV until dinner is ready, eats while he watches TV and then watches more TV. On weekends, I wouldn't know what he does because I'm always out, but when I come home, he's usually watching anime or a movie on his computer. Once, he took me to a huge warehouse sale. He's the type of person who believes that brands = stylish.
The only times I see him laugh (a part from when he laughs at me.. I really don't understand what's so funny about me) is when Chew Cup Mo Dik Jeung Muy Yun, a comedy television show, is on. For what reason, I don't understand why either. To me, Hong Kong media is cringe-worthy. Anybody who's watched a Cantonese drama can attest to this. During those times, I move into another room, because disgusting-sounding laughs run in my mom's side of the family. My biggest fear is that this will pass on to me, but I think it's too late because my laugh is already starting to resemble my mom's. It will probably mutate into something worse. Anyways, I think I would rather listen to nails on a chalkboard. Honestly. I'm sorry if honesty is mean sometimes.
My grandpa's schedule is a little less strict. He wakes around 9 and 10. He makes me breakfast while I'm in the shower, and I would feel guilty about him doing all the cooking if I didn't know for a fact that he loves to cook. He would actually be choked if I started making my own breakfast. He then goes out for a smoke, comes back to make and eat lunch and take a nap. Then he goes to the downstairs mall and takes his sweet time buying groceries. After that, he makes and eats dinner, then goes out for another smoke. Between everything, he watches TV. Saturday nights are dedicated to mahjong.
Then there's the occassional horse racing night. My grandpa sits with his eyes glued to the TV and my uncle flutters back and forth between the TV and computer. This is their life, never-changing and ever-going.
Okay, I'm going to stop here, because this is starting to sound like a criticism of lifestyle, in which I have no right. No matter how annoying they are, and no matter how annoying I am, they love me, and vice versa. With that aside, it just makes me reflect on how I live my life.
Just because I can't compact the summary of all my days into a single blogpost, doesn't mean I'm not stuck in the perpetual state of walking too.
Sunday's sermon was about how God wants us, no not even, he calls us to live with our hearts full, and He wants to be the one who fills us up when we're starting to run on empty. I started to wonder if I live with my heart full, but then it's kinda obvious that if I have to wonder, then it's not something I'm experiencing. I'm not going to say anything more than that (as if I need to write more today). I reinvent myself too much when I blog.
Anyways, here's a blast from the past from our mall-ratting days. You can tell how cool we thought being at the mall ALL THE TIME was by how we would spend Jeff's birthday there.




Those mall-ratting days aren't actually over. I think we still do it sometimes, just minus the sticker pictures. HAHA.

Happiness Meme, Day 40


These are my friends.
They make me happy.
I hope they make you happy too.

PS: You may ignore my last post if you would like. I'm a teenager. I'm allowed to be angsty sometimes, especially when someone smacks me with a magazine for not knowing that the lamp switch was on the floor (I know, I'm SO abused and SO angsty). It's just my way of saying that I'm officially homesick.