first day at gap kids and the long day that followed

11:11 pm: I wake up thinking that it is 11am and that I have missed my shift. I freak out and call Paula and as I race around I notice that it is still dark and I had just dozed for an hour. I got back to sleep.

5:10 am: I slowly crawl from the warmth of my bed. I shower and wake up with some tea and oatmeal. It is becoming my staple breakfast fairly quick. I wear Old Navy pants and a shirt. I'll be doing mark downs but I still dress the part.

6:08 am: It is dark and empty but the max I catch it full of people coming in to work. A haiku:
hidden in the trains
those who make the city run
glide through the dawn light

There is supposedly a check point at the King's Hill station for tickets but the guy isn't there. I did buy a ticket anyway as I figured they check more often during the commuter times. Also they check more often coming in to the city than going out of it. Everyone is quiet. I read.

6:35 am: I am super early. My shift starts at 7. A cluster of people go towards the vacant Lloyd for their morning shifts. The doors are open and a few cleaning people are scattered around. Young teen girls are practicing ice skating. Very dedicated bunch. I sit outside the store and wait for someone to show up. I believe Mariane is the name of the lady who showed up and let me in. Sabrina arrives shortly after.

7:00 am: everyone is very exact about starting and stopping. Another woman, whose name I forget but it might have also been Mariane, showed me how to use the pricing gun and the price finder. We went through the entire store, checking everything to make sure the price on the tag was what it was supposed to be. Well not everything, but every color of every style. It isn't a huge store and we were a large team. We started in boys and worked back, went to girls, and then to babies. It was fun but everyone was much more speedy than I. Still, I worked hard and continually and try my best. We listen to the Gap Kids sound mix which contains, what I assume, to be a lot of Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus or whatever. Lots of safe pop about needing you and how you haven't lived until you have been with me and other subliminally skanky stuff. What do kids listen to? A lot of the baby stuff was marked down randomly. There was a shirt that said "perfect just like my dad" and one that said "gorgeous just like my mom". I liked the idea of the padded baby clothes, like it was some sot of safe guard against dropping or whatever. Or maybe if you wanted to take your baby skate boarding with you. A pair of stain proof pants were marked down 40% because they had a stain on them. We got to the back of the store just in time for it to open. I asked if it was okay to work longer and they found out that it was okay and so I stayed on to help Sabrina finish (she wanted to leave early because her mom was in town).

10:20 am: I take a break and go buy that cable knit sweater. The color I thought I wanted really washes me out and make me looks sickly so I go for a mossy beige color instead. It is soft and wonderful and at 50% off totally awesome. I should totally make a run at the Pioneer Place Gap after class on Friday to use up some more of my discount. I buy a pretzel and consume about half of it. I accidentally drop it on the floor but I finish it anyway. I help with the rest of the racks in the back and we finish it off! Why mark something from 3.99 to 2.99? Why are Space Invader boxers discounted but plaid ones are not? Why are we marking sandals up in price when they were down to four bucks?

11:07 am: My first shift of work is over. Another max ride and I am back safe and sound to relax for about fifteen minutes before I have to jet to school and do the Comic Club thing.

12:31 pm: Comic club! We do jams and talk about setting up a big comic battle in the commons during our December meetings. We were missing a few people but the jams were generally good. I changed into my sweater so I got to show it off.

1:40 pm: Scanned in 19 comic jams for comic club and posted them on the site. Had some from a few meetings ago and the new ones that we did. Took a long, long while.

2:30 pmish: Karen and I go to Quizno's. I get my standard Turkey Bacon Guacamole sandwich. It's my favorite. We talk about work and other things.

3:30 pm: I start watching Children of Men for class. The cinematography blows me away again. Really beautiful film and well cast. The long takes are phenomenal, I found myself rewinding to make sure that there were not any cuts that I missed.

4:10 pm: The fire alarm goes off and we are ushered out of the library. I loiter with Jim and Jack and Kristen. We talk about movies and comics and Goodwill shoes and what has been going on. It lasts a long time but I don't think there is a fire, just an alarm pulled.

Near 5ish pm: I finish Children of Men, all while taking notes. I sketch out the thumbnails for my little mini midterm about red shirts.

6:00 pm: I relax and talk to Heather for a little bit. We are both excited about the return of Yoga tonight. Yoga!

6:30 pm: Yoga! I'm so out of shape. She doesn't explain the poses so well but she does have some I have never heard of. My knee doesn't like a few of the poses though and I have to ease up on it. By the end I am so tired and could have fallen asleep right there. It took a lot out of me but I come out of it jubilant and feeling well.

8:00 pm: I arrive home and relax.

9:10 pm: I get to work on my zine. I start loading the new episode of House and hit play on Black Sheep, the movie about Were Sheep. I love it, it keeps getting better every time I see it. I think you might like it Mom. It is silly enough.

1:30 am: I finish lettering, paneling, sketching, and inking four pages. It is a lot of work. I like the way the line art looks and am excited to finish it up tomorrow. Once I know what I am doing, I tend to get it done in good time. I think one of my strengths is working confidently. I mess up from time to time, but it just gives me a chance to learn and move on. House is getting really close to jumping the shark. The characters are aware of the cliche set up of the show and what what WHAT was with the kiss? Egaaads!