Today I went to a sub place that I've been to the past 5 years... everyone was where I expected them to be. There was fat guido with chinstrap facial hair manning the meat slicer, ebony and ivory duo constructing the sandwiches, and bored, cute blonde at the register.

They looked exactly the same. It's like they've been frozen in time but perpetually working and remaining in their roles.

A few days ago, went to a Chinese restaurant I've been to for the past 10 years and the same jolly, bordering on obese chinese man with yellowing teeth was waiting the tables next to me. Same hair, same yellowing teeth (which for some reason makes the least sense to me...you'd think a few would be missing by now), same goofy laugh and the same glasses. Once again, there like he was for the past 10 years or so.

Another restaurant, this time a Korean/Chinese place, was a place we went to for at least 20 years. I saw the same waitress I've seen since I was a tubby little Korean shit eating too many fried wontons. Upon eating those same fried wontons, I noticed how little she's changed: same hair, same apron, same thick chinese accent, and still running around serving and taking orders from pushy, elderly koreans.

Seeing them is comforting to a degree, but still leaves me uneasy. It makes me re-evaluate my childhood hypothesis that everything around me is just a VERY long movie. It doesn't seem so silly anymore.