Week 65: A GOOD Friday!

Week 65: March 24th-30th, 2024

Surprisingly, this week I found myself thanking the Catholics. It probably won't be happening again, so don't hold your breath. For the first time, I am working at a company that offers Good Friday as a paid holiday. While I am incredibly anti-organized religion, especially ones as globally detrimental and cult-ish as Catholicism, I was happy to enjoy a paid holiday for Good Friday.

As many of you know, I am a big believer in retail therapy, and it had been a while since I ventured to a mall of any kind. I told myself that if I had a productive morning on my day off, I could treat myself with a trip to Westfield UTC mall in La Jolla. So, after a decent workout and quick vacuuming of my apartment, I headed out.

Many of my adventures must start with a beverage of some kind, preferably caffeinated, and this one was no different. I figured I needed to stick to my resolution and get SNEW 65 (Something New Every Week = SNEW!) covered before the rain hit San Diego, so I chose a cafe that I had never been to called Joe and The Juice.

After a quick Internet search, I am realizing Joe and The Juice is an international company that originated in Copenhagen. Cool.

I wandered around the mall a bit before I "found" Joe and The Juice, even though I knew exactly where it was (across from the Michael Kors store, hehe). However, the hungry noises from my stomach and my slightly heavy, sleepy eyelids were telling me I needed to fuel myself fast.

A quick pic of the door to Joe and The Juice

There were a couple people inside so I had a chance to peruse the menu before ordering. I decided on a "Tunacado" sandwich and an iced matcha. I got my iced matcha with oat milk, and no sweetener (which I later regretted slightly...)

The front counter at Joe and The Juice

As I waited for my order to be ready, I stared longingly at the Michael Kors store through the window. The doors being open looked like arms being held wide for a welcoming hug....

The Michael Kors store across from Joe and The Juice....

A very nice thing about UTC mall is that the buildings have ridiculously tall ceilings, so even narrow shops like Joe and The Juice feel spacious inside.

My cute lil iced matcha with oat milk

The first sip of my drink was underwhelming, but it was still drinkable. I just wish it had been slightly sweeter, and more matcha-y, but I figure Joe's specialty probably is more in the coffee realm.

I got my sandwich shortly after my drink and headed back into the sun. I had to find a good place to sit and eat. After a silent, one-sided battle with the man walking in front of me who chose the table I wanted (he is now my enemy), I picked my second choice of seating in the courtyard.

My sandwich and drink

Of course, sitting by myself, I couldn't help but eavesdrop and overhear some funny conversations. Most of what I heard was parents telling their kids to sit down, or calm down, or groups of friends chatting about their purchases, but there was a woman behind me who was having a very... interesting conversation. She looked very well-healed, as most people in La Jolla do, and was aggressively telling someone on the phone that "the medications are causing New Yorkers to punch women." I remember seeing a couple stories on the news and on social media about multiple women getting assaulted in New York City. I'm not sure about the details really, but if the NYPD is looking for solutions, this woman had the answers. She was absolutely convinced "The Medications" were causing this string of violent assaults against women in New York. I am not sure what medications she was referring to, or how they would be the sole cause of men punching women randomly, but it was a very interesting take to overhear while I enjoyed my Tunacado. I was glad my very reactive facial expressions were not in her line of sight.

I finished my underwhelming drink and my Tunacado quickly, so I could get back to wandering the mall and some retail therapy. The sandwich was pretty good. The bread was very hard and strange. It was still good, but apparently that is "Joe's Classic Bread" style and I hadn't seen it before. It was kind of a mixture of a panini with a flat, crunchy bread. I wasn't mad about it, but it was definitely different.

Another thing I witnessed while soaking up some sun at the mall was a remarkably large number of children. My first thought in public whenever there's an inconvenient or loud crowd, regardless of age, is "Wow, everyone and their mothers are out today." But literally, everyone and their mothers were out that day. Shouldn't all those kids be in school? Do those moms just not work? Must be nice.

Note: I realized it was probably the last Friday of Spring Break for the school districts in the area, or these kids were Catholics or homeschooled. Regardless, they're cute from a distance and I can appreciate their existence, but I was still surprised to see so many people at the mall.

I didn't actually buy anything except a $5 big t-shirt from the men's clearance rack at Cotton On. It has a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting on it.

Sometimes retail therapy doesn't have to include spending a lot of money, it just needs to include the sun, the mall, and paid holidays like Good Friday.

See you next week.