Micro Fiction Monday: Looking Up

When I was younger, I always stared at the ground. I watched every step I took, every spot of pavement that disappeared beneath the shadow of my foot. I took each step with precision, over and around every crack and imperfection in the cement. One two three, one two three…that’s how many strides I could take, in rhythm, within each individual square on the sidewalk. I counted them carefully. They were always exact.

As I grew older, I began looking up. I found shapes in the clouds during the day—a mermaid here, an angel there, a strange creature that resembled something of a cross between a turtle and a dragon. Come night, my gaze met the brightness of the stars, glimmering and twinkling against the blackness of the sky. My mind looked for no shapes, instead taking the stars for what they were, and dreaming of others, like me, who were looking up at the same ones.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

Micro Fiction Monday: Crossing

When I was little, I thought that cars looked like people. Their headlights were eyes, and their bumpers were mouths, forever--in my eyes, at least--resembling a smile. I never put any more time and effort into the thought; whether the cars had thoughts or feelings or things to do for themselves. They were just cars, objects that surrounded us on the streets and the highway.

Now, I can see people inside those cars. I see families and couples and people sitting alone; fingers tapping the steering wheel, turning the radio dial, holding a phone up to their ear as they speak to whoever is on the other end. I see someone shoulder check before turning, as I zoom by at a hundred kilometers an hour, their face flashing in and out of my line of vision instantly. They go about their life and I go about mine, my world as unfamiliar to them as theirs is to me.

I’m not sure which thought astounds me more; the fact that this may be the only time our lives cross paths, or that they may cross again in the future, passing by without a moment’s awareness on either side.

~~

Until later,

- Justyne

3 Reasons Why I Love My Job (WFMAD Day 8)

1. I get to have dance parties! While deboning chicken. But still, dance parties!

2. I have easy access to pie! I still have to pay for it. But still. Pie.

3. Most of the people there are awesome, even if some of aren't so awesome. They make me laugh and are fun to be with and totally don't mind that I whistle while I work.

Today was a good day. It's days like these that remind me why I chose to go back to my old high school job, despite all the times that I complain about it. (And those who know me know that I complain about it a lot.) 

Even though my job is not the most glamorous, and I sometimes find myself wondering why the hell I decided to return to it, the people I work with make it worth it.

To quote John Green, what you do is not nearly as important as who you do it with.

(Actually I think that might've been closer to a paraphrase, but you get the idea.)

Until later,

- Justyne