meMOriAL daY

This is the street of Terre Haute today at 10 A.M. No kidding!! I barely see anybody on the streets. I got this picture because I went to the public library ready to tutor English, but the public library was in fact closed due to Memorial Day. As a result, our English class was canceled as well.

I stopped by the restaurant that I worked yesterday, and I got some Asian style food that the boss and his wife brought from Chicago for their staffs, food like Vietnamese sandwich, Pei-King duck and BBQ pork, those are what we can not find in Indiana. Among all, I love the duck most. That's also one of the food that I miss most from Taiwan.

bIRthDAy sPEciAL!!

I always wanted to show you the birthday special we do in the restaurant, today I finally got the chance to do so. Birthday special is a fruit platter, which is basically a pineapple decoration with cherries and oranges, all the staffs sing the birthday song for the birthday person (I usually love to announce the birthday person's name to all the people in the restaurant and ask everyone to sing for the person). Afterwards we take a picture for the group of people, develop it with a photo printer in the office, give one to the birthday person, and the other one will go to what I call "the hall of fame" which is the wall at the restaurant's entrance. Some people are embarrassed to be under the spotlight when we're doing the special; however, most American people love it, and really appreciate what we do for them. This birthday special costs 9.95 each (tax not included). I sold 3 today! I feel like a very successful sells-person.

The reason why I was able to take these pictures home is because the boss and his wife went to Chicago to buy new lanterns for the restaurant, so I had to bring my own camera to work (coz they brought theirs to Chicago) in case I sell birthday specials today. I love this job but I usually can't work on Sundays, since they usually don't need my help for work (the boss's wife can handle all the servings on weekdays and Sundays). They ask for my help today, and I accepted it joyfully, coz I just love meeting and talking to people at work. Since the two very big people weren't at work, me and one of the chiefs took charge of our jobs. I was very nervous about it, though it wasn't my first time being the only waitress at work. Tons of things need to be under control, especially charging the bills, and splitting tips at the end of the day. If the costumers gave cash, it would make things easier. If not, credit cards need to be swiped, and most of the time the tip given by the customer will be written on the credit card ticket, and the tips will then have to be adjusted and added to the person's bill at the end of the day. Sounds very complicated, huh? That's just part of the jobs that I have to do at work.

To sum up, I made great tips today. Though we didn't have much crowd coming for food, we made them happy enough to be willing to be generous to us.

By the way, too bad that I couldn't show up in the pictures, coz I was the one taking them (don't wanna no one touch my camera...hahaha).

atTEndINg a FUneRAl oF A frIEnd

I usually couldn't wake up until noon; however, for a friend's funeral, I wanted to wake up earlier in the morning. He was actually the dad of my American coworker. He came to the restaurant every once in a while; but most of the time when he came, he went directly into the kitchen, and that's why everyone in the restaurant knows him very well.


The first part of the funeral was held in an old church. After the preaching, we headed to the grave yard. Most of the things they did was pretty much the same we see in the movies, the only difference was that they didn't bury him until we all left.

I know that this would be the last time to see him, and it is a truth that is very hard to take. Therefore, my dear family, friends, and all the people around me, please take good care of yourselves and keep healthy.

zoMBie-HAzaRD

I think I've been watching too many zombie movies these days. From my first zombie movie "Resident Evil" to "28 Days Later" when I was senior in college, than to "28 Weeks Later" yesterday and "Dawn of the Dead" just an hour ago.

I like both the Resident Evil series, and this started because of the game created by Play Station. If I can fortunately find a place to settle down, I mean like with a real job and a permanent home, I will buy myself a Play Station and play the Resident Evil game all over again.

28 series are my favorite. I didn't know they were planning to produce the second movie. It was a total surprise when I saw the movie trailer on TV, and I determined to go the movies to see it at that very moment. The story is great, not so many bad guys in the movie, even if it does, they ended pretty nasty (hmmm... good word huh? "Nasty". Hahahaha...)

By the way, it was great to be in the theater. It's been forever since the last time I went to a movie. I always thought borrowing a DVD from school would do, but actually the digital surrounding speakers were fantastic! They scared the heck out of me. Well done!

God bless me not to be chased after zombies in dreams.

yARd sELl

There was a little yard sell today around university apartment, where I'm now living in of course. It was also a nice day, so I decided to take a little short walk to check out what they got there, otherwise I don't usually like to go out if I have to work 6 hours straight from 4 PM.

When I herd "yard sell", I usually think that it's going to be like a flee market, and people would be selling second-handed things. However, all the vendors were selling really yard stuffs, like plants, bird nests, and all kinds of things that you can use to decorate your yard. I, unfortunately don't have a yard of my own, so I didn't get the chance to buy anything at the sale.

Instead of an yard sell like this, I would rather to have them do a night market every weekends, like the way we do in Taiwan. That's something I really miss from Taiwan. I don't get bored at night anymore here at the States, coz I think I just got used to it, used to a little town that has 95% of its stores closed after 9 PM on weekdays and 10 PM on weekends.