Photographer/Journalist.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/31/1995.
27.
Boar (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Allen Wen on Jan 30, 2016 13:41:03 GMT -8
((Admin Note: The site's location has changed since this thread!!))Allen had started his day out with a walk, leaving home around 9:30 am, to go take pictures and people watch. He'd dressed casually but nicely, with tight dark blue jeans and a bright blue turtleneck with a fluttery scarf in a darker blue. His camera was slung around his neck, and his inhalers and other medications were carefully tucked into the outer pockets of his camera bag. It was a nice day for a walk, so he aimed for one of his longer routes, which usually took him about two hours.
Allen had categorically determined that he'd misjudged his capacity for breathing that day by the time he got to the block of Upper Main Street, where the Starbucks, around 10 am was on his walk. He looked around, trying to decide where to settle in for a while to use his inhaler and just sit while his breathing settled. Indoors seemed like a good idea since he was pretty sure that one of the things that was causing him trouble was a pollen or something in the air. Starbucks seemed pretty dead, so he went in, making his way to the register while carefully regulating his breathing so that he wouldn't sound too breathless while placing his order.
He told the girl at the till that he just wanted a venti mint tea with two bags, since it was one of the things that he could actually drink at Starbucks and it would probably help some with his breathing. He grabbed a seat as close to the place where drinks came out as he could get, so that he wouldn't have to go far to get to his tea when it came out, and he took his first puff of the inhaler, changing out for a different medication while he held let the first one settle in, careful not to breathe out even if it always tickled his throat a little bit.
He watched the guy on drinks carefully, feeling like he looked familiar, but not really able to place where from. He repeated the routine with the second medication, but after he was able to breathe after that one, he was interrupted from the third one by a bout of coughing. It wasn't too bad, but he was worried that people were staring at him. It happened all to frequently, and he always ended up feeling defensive because he was sick, yes, but he wasn't a disease vector. He usually just told people he had really severe asthma if they asked, though that was only part of it. He was a little bit embarrassed that he hadn't managed to get his drink before the coughing fit, but he figured it would be there when he was done, and he put his head down, working on just getting his breathing back to normal. Eventually it settled down, allowing him to take the third medication, and while he was letting it sink in, he looked over at the drink area, trying to determine what he had missed.
Samnang Yun
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Starbucks Manager.
Heterosexual.
Single.
04/11/1996.
27.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Jan 30, 2016 17:33:39 GMT -8
"I got it." Samnang chirped to the girl on register. His smile was false though. He was going on his fourth hour at work after closing the night before, and he had a feeling his boss was giving him the run around after dangling the promise of becoming the next shift lead in his face at his review. It was tiring, he barely got any sleep, and since one of his teachers also gave them a rather substantial assignment the night before, he wasn't even able to go straight to sleep. He made the tea and was about to turn to call it out, but then heard the guy coughing. He looked at the line, or rather lack thereof, and the girl at the cashier checking something or other by the oven, trying to be useful even though it was only her third day on the job.
He sighed, passing the shift lead as he held on to the tea. "I'm going on my break." He groaned, not waiting for her to confirm it was okay before walking to the man that had ordered the tea, taking off his apron. "Table service." He joked lightly as he set the tea down. He finally pulled his apron off from his neck after setting down the cup. "You okay? Do you need water, too?" He offered, resting his arms on the back of the chair across from the other man.
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Photographer/Journalist.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/31/1995.
27.
Boar (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Allen Wen on Jan 30, 2016 17:41:24 GMT -8
Allen looked up at the other man, who had been behind the bar last he'd been paying attention. His eyes widened a bit in surprise and now that he had his breath back a little bit, he spoke softly, words a little bit slurred from the coughing and the medications taking effect at last, "I'll be alright. Thank you though. The tea will help. Sorry for being any inconvenience."
He looked down, fiddling with tucking away his inhalers and fingering one of the other bottles of medication. It wasn't so bad an attack that he was worried about that one. He always thought about it though when the attacks happened, would this one be the time where he needed it. He shook his head and spoke again, voice a little bit stronger this time, and trying to sound lighter in tone, "It just takes a few minutes for the meds to kick in after I use the inhalers, so I'll just sit here for a bit, drink my tea, try not to have another coughing fit. The warmth will help though."
He took a sip of the tea, and smiled at the man, saying again, "Thank you."
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Starbucks Manager.
Heterosexual.
Single.
04/11/1996.
27.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Jan 31, 2016 8:40:38 GMT -8
Samnang smiled, giving him a nod. "Oh, yeah, health issues suck." He said knowingly, though growing up he was a rather healthy child. He leaned more on the seat, giving Allen a kind but mischievous smile. "Have you heard of Starbucks' Race Together campaign?" He questioned. He liked learning about other people when they were willing to divulge, and when it was slow, he took advantage of it in order to learn something new about the culture of a stranger. Because this man had only gotten tea, he didn't have the chance to take advantage of his favorite game on slow days (it was especially his favorite because being a Starbucks promotion, he couldn't necessarily be told to stop doing it).
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Photographer/Journalist.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/31/1995.
27.
Boar (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Allen Wen on Jan 31, 2016 22:13:44 GMT -8
The ache in Allen's sides and chest was starting to ease, so he managed to smile a bit more readily at the other man. He looked around, realizing that the coffee shop was nearly dead, and he figured that the other man must be bored. He shook his head slowly at the other man's question and said slowly, voice still rather breathy, "I haven't heard of it, though I'm generally dubious of things with Race in the name. That doesn't tend to end well for me."
He smiled though, trying to make it clear that he was mostly joking and was perfectly willing to hear more.
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Starbucks Manager.
Heterosexual.
Single.
04/11/1996.
27.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Feb 2, 2016 11:58:09 GMT -8
Samnang laughed lightly, his energy slowly returning at the light banter and moment to relax. "No, no, nothing to do with actual races, thankfully. Or I'd decline as well." He said with a wave of his hand. "It's actually a thing Starbucks decided to start to encourage people to learn about other ethnicities in a friendly, open way, hence the name 'race together.'" He smiled, then in a slightly quieter voice added, "I like using it because then I can not do work and get away with it." He chuckled, then continued at his regular volume, "I'm Cambodian-American myself, though my family was never huge on tradition, so I usually just say I'm American." He shrugged. "But I've learned so much about other cultures, even if the person just came from another part of America, almost any time it's slow, I take advantage of it. It's fascinating to hear stories." He explained animatedly.
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Photographer/Journalist.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/31/1995.
27.
Boar (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Allen Wen on Feb 4, 2016 0:45:15 GMT -8
Allen pondered the idea for a moment, starting to sip his tea a bit and taking more even breaths. He nodded to show that he'd been listening to the other man's talk, but he took a rather long pause to think about the idea. He slowly responded, "I was born in China, though I moved here really young, when I was about four. I'm a US citizen now, lived in NorCal until middle school, then moved down here. That campaign is an interesting idea, though I'm not entirely sure what I think about it. It's neat that you're learning about different people though."
He paused for another long moment and then, with a bit of a smile, he added, "I'm Allen, or Lin, by the way. I didn't catch your name."
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Starbucks Manager.
Heterosexual.
Single.
04/11/1996.
27.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Feb 5, 2016 9:37:20 GMT -8
"Woah, that's so cool, do you remember anything from China?" He asked, excited but obviously trying to keep his energy level down so as not to scare off the still-stranger. "Can you speak Mandarin or Cantonese? Or both?" He nodded, "Some people are weary, they either don't want to disclose information about themselves or are too busy, or have never heard of it and they think I'm making it up." He smiled, waving his hands quickly, "I'm not, I promise. I think I got it from my best friend, cause he's half-Korean, so we'd often compare traditions and then as we made other friends of different ethnicities, it became a cultural experience just going to each other's houses, it was so much fun. So this idea made me really excited." He took a breath. "I went to Northern California only once, when my aforementioned best friend and I had time off at the same time, and so we decided to go up to San Francisco for the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was amazing!" He made a small noise, his hand going to his mouth. "Of course, silly me, forgot you can't see my nametag." He joked lightly before pointing to himself. "I'm Samnang, though I usually just go by Sam or Sammy. Do you have a preference between Allen or Lin?"
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Photographer/Journalist.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/31/1995.
27.
Boar (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Allen Wen on Feb 9, 2016 1:05:04 GMT -8
Allen thought for a second about the name and replied, "I have no real preference. My real name is AhLin, which sounds almost the same as my English name, I remember that my mother was excited that there was an English name that sounded almost the same, so she went with that when we were first signing up for things here. But Lin was my nickname even when I was a little kid, but I didn't use it as much when I got here because when I was first in elementary school here, I got teased about it a little bit because it sounded like another name, and little children can be mean about that sort of thing."
He laughed at himself a bit for babbling, but he went on, "I speak mainly Mandarin, though also a little bit of Cantonese, but I have been told my Cantonese pronunciation is atrocious. My mother speaks it a bit better than I do, but she's also a Mandarin speaker predominantly. She teaches it at Golden West. If you are Cambodian-American, do you speak, is it Khmer in Cambodia?"
He added, realizing he should have said it sooner and grinning sheepishly, "Also, it is nice to meet you Samnang. Do you prefer Sam or Sammy, or is it just easier to get people to say right? Have I got the pronunciation of your name right?"
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Starbucks Manager.
Heterosexual.
Single.
04/11/1996.
27.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Feb 12, 2016 0:33:32 GMT -8
Samnang got a bit of distant look his eyes, a sudden breath exhaled through his nose. "No kidding..." He agreed. He raised his eyes back up to meet Allen's face as the other man began talking about languages. "Oh, that's cool!" He nodded, "Yeah, Khmer, though my siblings and I barely know anything, our parents are only conversationally fluent, and our grandparents are the only ones completely fluent. I must have known more as a kid though, because I chose my name based off it's meaning." He froze, realizing he probably just outed himself without meaning to, which he hadn't done pretty much since he'd been able to go stealth. He cleared his throat, looking to the ground, "Um, you said it right. I tend to go by Sam in the general populous, because, y'know, it's pretty American by definition." He murmured.
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Photographer/Journalist.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/31/1995.
27.
Boar (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Allen Wen on Feb 12, 2016 1:58:17 GMT -8
Allen noticed that Samnang was looking uncomfortable about something that he'd said, and Allen suspected that it was something to do with the comment about choosing a name, but he filed it away mentally as something to ask about later maybe if they actually became friends, if it didn't become clear over time. He smiled, and picked something else to comment on, "Do you have a big family then, and all of them are here? It's just me and my mother, so I'm always a little bit stunned by families with siblings and grandparents. It must be really different."
He could feel himself starting to breathe better, and he sipped at his tea. He wasn't having to think nearly as much about individual breaths, and that was good. The inhalers were working, but it also meant that he was starting to make the slight wheezing noise that he knew sometimes alarmed people, and he said slightly sheepishly, "Sorry, my breathing is making the noise, it's not actually a bad thing, it means the meds are working."
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Starbucks Manager.
Heterosexual.
Single.
04/11/1996.
27.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Feb 12, 2016 15:45:28 GMT -8
Samnang nodded, relieved Allen seemed to choose to skip over the name thing. "Yeah, I have my grandparents, that live in LA," though they don't really like me. He added, this time thankfully mentally, "then I still live with my parents, as do all five of my older siblings. Three brothers and two sisters." He said, a small smile on his face. "My oldest brother has been searching for a home to call his own, but he went to Stanford and so all his potential roommate friends live up North." He explained simply. He nodded again, "It really is! My best friend is also an only child, and his grandparents lived in Korea and Oregon, so he's kind of like you int hat sense. I'm always floored by how quiet it is when I go visit him." He admitted with a sheepish laugh. He waved a hand nonchalantly, "No, no, it's fine! I'm glad your medication is working fine." He said, though it felt a bit awkward to say.
"Sam!" Called his shift lead suddenly.
Sam turned to face her, and he gave her an inquisitive look. "Yes'm?"
"It's pretty slow today, and we've got Anne coming in soon. Did you want to get off early?"
"Oh heck yeah." He told her, giving her a thumbs up. He turned back to Allen with a big smile on his face. "I have to go clock out then, but if you don't mind talking more, I'll be happy to hang out for a while longer."
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Photographer/Journalist.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/31/1995.
27.
Boar (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Allen Wen on Feb 13, 2016 21:07:01 GMT -8
Allen nodded, slightly surprised about the situation, and he said, "Sure. I'll definitely be lingering a little longer, and I would enjoy the company."
He watched Samnang as he went to go clock out. The other man seemed nice, friendly. He'd not made new friends other than work friends in a while, though he'd been comfortable with most of his classmates at UCLA. He wondered if he was older than Samnang, and by how much, but he was pretty sure that they were the same general sort of age.
He sipped at his drink feeling his breathing regulate, and he was relieved. He knew that once he was done, he would just start heading home by the short way, but he didn't want to rush himself because that was the way to have the onset of another asthma attack, and that just sounded like a bad idea.
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Starbucks Manager.
Heterosexual.
Single.
04/11/1996.
27.
Rat (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Feb 14, 2016 8:56:56 GMT -8
Samnang went to the back to clock out, pulling off his work shirt to reveal a simple black tank top. It had been cold enough, and he was off early enough, he figured the extra layer wouldn't be too horrible of a decision. He pulled his jacket on over it, a baggy purple and black striped hoodie, and ruffled his hair before emerging from the back and smiling to his shift lead. "I'm going to hang out here with that customer for a bit more, can I request a drink?"
The shift lead looked around before nodding, "What do you want?"
"Iced vanilla latte, venti, light ice, blah blah blah." Samnang told her with a playful smirk.
"Venti iced vanilla latte with light ice and thirty extra shots?" The shift lead joked.
"Haha." Samnang said, rolling his eyes. He scanned his partner card and went back to join Allen. "Sorry, that took a bit longer than I expected." He said, sitting down across from the other man. He smiled, "Now then, where were we?"
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Photographer/Journalist.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/31/1995.
27.
Boar (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Allen Wen on Feb 21, 2016 3:12:52 GMT -8
Allen laughed, still wheezing a little bit with each breath. He said, "Don't worry about it. We'd been talking about families and siblings a little bit. Did you grow up here then? I'm trying to figure out if we would have been at the high school at the same time and I just have awful memory for this sort of thing. I've been a little bit out of the loop from just about everyone that I used to talk to, so I end up feeling like half the people in town around my general age look familiar, and I'm not sure if it is because I actually know them or just because people sometimes look like other people."
He sipped at his drink some more, trying to think if Samnang actually might be someone he would have sort of known. He knew that they couldn't have known each other more than in passing, but it would have been interesting to find out if they shared any friends.
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