Matches and Mall Memories

Began the morning on Buzzr with breakfast and Blockbusters. A woman played a brother-sister pair, and it was a pretty close game, too. The lady would get an answer and get close...and then the brother and sister would block her and get an answer. They still hadn't finished the game when I switched it off to work on the mall essay.

The first major mall I spent any real time in was the Hamilton Mall in Mays Landing. Going to the mall in the mid-late 90's was a major event in my family. All six of us and maybe a friend or two would load into Dad's van in the late morning, then drive the 45 minutes of the Garden State Parkway and spend all day at the mall.

I spent as much time as I could hanging around either the book stores, the music stores, KB Toys, or Suncoast Music and Movies. Suncoast sold a lot of rare and unusual videos I couldn't find anywhere else; I bought several of my MacDonald/Eddy operettas on video there. Mom would have preferred I'd spent my time buying new clothes for school, but I've always hated trying on clothes! Even now, I still hate it. Unless I was admiring prom gowns in JC Penney, I wasn't interested.

We always had lunch at Red Lobster. It was the first restaurant to open in the parking lot outside the mall. Dad and Mom would splurge and get us the works - fancy drinks, a big seafood dinner, even dessert. There were always tons of leftovers to bring home, and we'd usually try to sneak a few of their amazing cheddar drop biscuits along. One time, Dad actually forgot our he put the container with our leftovers on the roof of the car! He didn't remember until he heard something fly off the van and thump on the side of the road. The only food we had left from that trip was Rose's slice of key lime pie, which she insisted on keeping with her.

I spent even more time at the Hamilton Mall when I was in college. Richard Stockton College (now University) is 20 minutes from the Hamilton Mall. Now I could spend as much time as I wanted in book stores and only buy clothes when I really needed them. It helped that my then-boyfriend was also a big reader. Most of our dates had us wandering around Borders or Waldenbooks or KB Toys, checking everything out and buying each other chai lattes.

(The Hamilton Mall is still there, but apparently, like most malls, it's having problems. It lost JC Penney and Sears within the last two years. It's the only major mall in the Southern Jersey Shore area, so I doubt it'll close anytime soon, but they do need to develop some other entertainment options there if they really want their audience back.)

Broke for lunch at 12:30: Had yogurt and celery with peanut butter while watching Match Game. Madelyn Rhue, Gary Burgoff, and Betty White joined Richard, Brett, Gene, and a returning Charles Nelson Reilly for a round of matching and madness. They were just winding down when I rushed out the door.

Got to work just in time. After all that, work wasn't really that busy. Except for doing a few returns and cleaning up a small spill right as I came in, I mainly alternated between sweeping and gathering carts for most of the day. The weather remained cloudy, windy, and cold, but I still would rather be outside with the carts than inside dealing with everyone.

Went straight into dinner when I got home. Jack Cassidy, Conny Van Dyke, and Betty White finally finished up their run on the evening Match Game with several jokes about Jack looking like John Barrymore...and being just as hammy as him, too. One question about Jack's face and his retirement hit a little too close to home, though...

Finished the night after a shower with For Me and My Gal. I go into further detail on Gene Kelly's first film and his first with Judy Garland at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

For Me and My Gal