Mall Rat?

Hello again!

Yesterday, I went over to the Pittsburgh Expo Mart, located in Monroeville, PA, to the Coin Show sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists. I used to be really into collecting coins, but I'm more into "pare down, unclutter, the less you have the less you have to keep track of or clean" these days. I kept some silver from Canada, Australia and China, a titanium coin, and a Pope John Paul 2 commem. Everything else I got rid of. What went out is too much to mention, but I got $180.99, more than I paid for it all, so I was happy. So much so, I splurged on the aforementioned Dairy Queen sundae at the food court of the adjacent Monroeville Mall.


I don't know about you, but going to the mall has lost alot of its appeal. I remember in my teens and early 20's going out to the mall with friends and thinking it was this big fun time. Ye gods!! I keep saying all the time now, I must be getting old. But I really must be, because as I took my turn about the mall yesterday, all I did was mentally shake my head. No National Record Mart or Tower Records, no Waldenbooks or B. Dalton (although there is a Barnes and Noble in the plaza whatchamacallit outside the mall and a Borders in a shopping center just down the road.) But, still. Where did the WQED/PBS store go? The Disney store? The G. Thanks? And the cheap jewelry kiosk where I got alot of my silver rings? I remember alot of people got excited when the new mall went in at Pittsburgh Mills in nearby Tarentum. My mum said to me, "There won't be anything in there for people like us." Well, at Monroeville, there's really nothing much that isn't high-end or at least highfalutin', mindless, soulless, or spiritless, except maybe Penney's and Eckerd Drug.

And the amount of people following me, trying to get my opinion on some damn survey. People, people. You don't want my opinion, trust me. I remember when this place called "The Truxell Opinion Center" used to be in the mall. My friend, Scott and I used to threaten that when just going to the mall wasn't enough fun anymore, we'd stop in Truxell's and give our opinion. "They don't want our opinion!" we'd thunder, only half in jest.

The food court yesterday was a different story: Manchu Wok, Uncle Charley's Subs, Subway, Sbarro's, Mrs. Fields Cookies, and of course, Dairy Queen. But, with my weight-loss plan goin' on, and the fact that I sold my coins for a check, not cash, I wasn't putting myself out for much food. That said, I think I'd like to spend my birthday (coming up in a month) at the mall. Just to eat, really. Then go to that plaza thingamabob with the Barnes and Noble and that other place with the Borders and really git down. Just like the old days...

News from the job front: I decided to sign on with the plaza again. It really was a horse race (no pun intended after the Queen-attended Kentucky Derby yesterday), but in the end the plaza offered the best all-around package of wages, close proximity, and length of workday, combined with being willing to work around my school schedule and my mother's increasingly fragile state. I was the only one surprised I ended up back there. Everyone else expected it. I really wanted to get out of fast-food and away from the seasonal nature of the plaza, but I will probably only be there a few more years, then with a Bachelor's degree, I can (hopefully) quickly "get on with my life's work", as Chuck Noll used to say. I have to go to a meeting Wednesday, then train the next 9 days after that (!!!) There's no telling what state my mind, feet, or the rest of my body will be in after that. I don't know how much working out I'll do, or anything else the next couple of weeks, nor how much blogging, nor what my schedule will be from the 19th to the 24th. Stay tuned.

Good vibes to all of you until then!

Claudia