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Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Fast Times at Discover Mills
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What is it between me and shopping lately?
I’m sorry, friends and neighbors, I don’t often find myself talking about this very much. I have had so much of Wal-Mart floating around in my brain recently, the very idea of going to a grocery store, a drugstore, or even a convenience store has made me shudder with dread.
So, it was with some sense of irony that I found myself walking through Discover Mills Mall on Sunday. We had gone to see the new Harry Potter movie. With all the hyperbole of J.K. Rowling’s last book having been released for sale on Friday night, I figured, what the heck. Might as well throw myself into the thronging masses.
The IMAX theater was completely booked up until 9:50 that night at Mall of Georgia. So, I figured that I would kill two birds with one stone. Take my semiannual stroll through a mall, and write a blog about it.
When I think of a mall, I immediately think of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” Yes, I’m getting old. No need to rub it in. At any rate, while thinking about Judge Reinhold and Phoebe Cates, I thought I would walk my hobbled body through the hoards and see how much things have changed.
It seems to me that in my day, people walked either on the right side or on the left side of the mall. Not anymore. I was reminded of another movie, “Crocodile Dundee.” You know, when Paul Hogan is walking down the sidewalk of New York City against the flow of traffic. Compounding the chaos was a number of people on cell phones. They walk like they drive: oblivious and inattentive. Five people walking side by side, each walking very slowly, each talking on her cell phone. A lady pushing a baby carriage talking on her phone. A man yelling at his two little boys to slow down while talking on a cell phone.
I couldn’t imagine having a cell phone as a kid at Norcross High School. The kids still mill around, but now they share downloaded tunes, the latest video games, and other electronic blurbs that I can’t even begin to understand.
Yes, the world has slowed down quite a bit for me. I’m laughing at myself as I type those last words. I don’t know when I got so out of touch with things, and I’m not yet ready to be convinced that I am. So, help me out.
What are the rules of the mall today?
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