View allAll Photos Tagged 7Eleven
7-Eleven #17466 (closed) [3,920 square feet including neighboring tenant]
9903A Jefferson Ave, Newport News, VA
Built and opened in 1975, closed/re-located in 2013
679 N Weber Rd, Romeoville, IL
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I've always liked the 7 Eleven name; shame there are none in my area.
For those who aren't in the know, courtesy of Wikipedia: 7 Eleven began in 1927 as the Southland Ice Company. A few years later, they were called Tote'm Stores after someone brought a totem pole from Alaska and placed it out in front of one of the stores, and because customers could "tote" away their purchases. In 1946, the company underwent a recovery effort which included expanding their store hours from 7 AM until 11 PM, thus the name "7 Eleven"
#themoreyouknow
I lied, one more from the same race.
A cycling friend tells me the second rider is Wayne Stetina. Can anyone identify the 7-Eleven rider?
Buon Natale - Feliz Navidad - Frohe Weihnachten, Gelukkigkerst feest - Glædelig Jul - Joyeux Noël - Merry Christmas - Wesolych Swiat - Gleðilig jól
Please visit my other sites, for more photography.
Copenhagen based photographer Thomas Rousing, captures the beauty of everyday life in the city. He seeks to explore the interestingness of making images filled with endless details and beautiful colors.
Prior to Mobil opening here, they were a rare sight around the area. This store has an Exxon twin across town opened earlier in 2017.
Thirteenth photograph for the Christmas calendar. From me to all of you. 13/24
Please visit my other sites, for more photography.
Copenhagen based photographer Thomas Rousing, captures the beauty of everyday life in the city. He seeks to explore the interestingness of making images filled with endless details and beautiful colors.
8200 Falls Grove Dr, Manassas, VA 20111
A view of the store here before opening. The 7-Eleven finally opened doors on December 21, 2017.
Some cute cat donuts found in Tokyo, with their cold latte we can find everywhere.
This photo is copyrighted, you can't use it without my permission.
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Experiment: Five Days with No Shoes
Pre-Intro: Taking part in this experiment to go shoeless for five days should be beneficial in opening up some more understanding towards these emotions, and offer some more insight into ways to combat, strengthen and resolve various issues that need attention. ‘Travel’, (or simply ‘substantial change in environment’) does have psychologically therapeutic effects, and this being an important area of my work. I aim at doing more research into this by taking part in this experiment. This was an attempt to closely observe emotions in situations that I perceived myself as being ‘unusual’ from the crowd. It was an intentional encounter with the emotions similar to ‘fear’ and ‘shame’, and the ensuing study of how to restructure them into something better. It is to study and observe the mind while it was at work, from a self-imposed, hence more neutral, logical perspective. In this essay, I am going to look at how I did the experiment, what happened during it, and what the results of it were.
Goal: The difficulties involved in the concept of ‘setting yourself apart from the crowd’ tend to be amongst the biggest obstacles that many people face in their lives. These emotions and can be immensely complicated when people are trying to find their way in the world, resulting in situations that are hard for people to understand and manage. All people experience emotions such as ‘fear’ and ‘shame’ to differing extents and we will look at the two emotions in a bit more depth. For different individuals, the intensity of the emotions felt range on a broad spectrum from serving only as a minor barrier to personal-growth for some, but for others it can have more adverse effects that lead to various psychological and health issues. Emotions such as fear and shame can be combatted through confidence and courage building, but also depend on other factors. As emotions can be transferrable between individuals and between groups of people (i.e. cultures, societies etc.), the research needs to be environment-based too (i.e. this time being Thailand). Many individuals tend to feel strongly disempowered and imprisoned by these emotions and I aim to get a deeper and clearer understanding of these emotions and mental functions in relation to larger environmental/cultural influences. This is to continue to research and improve on our travel-based educational platform as a useful tool for our students and society.
The Beginning; The Story
I Am Getting My Socks Dirty!
For the past few days here in Bangkok, Thailand, I have been continuously going about daily life with no shoes on – mostly in white socks, and sometimes barefoot. During the first couple of days, I kept it slightly more low-key; like a timid cat checking out an unfamiliar environment, with just short ‘excursions’ to get food, or drinks, or to buy something at 7Eleven - all close to where I was staying. The area is known as Khaosan Road, a backpacker’s haven, where there are a couple of streets loaded with everything the weary or tempted tourist might want. There are bars, cafés, parks, temples, and plenty of people and street-side action to get distracted with at almost any time of the day and night. This infamous travelers’ hub tends to attract and retain a number of ‘unique’ travelers that easily intermingle amongst the more common-looking tourists, and it is commonplace to see rather endearing styles of fashion on display; tattoos, piercings, ‘rare’ hairstyles, and the occasional bare-footer. Although the ones sporting bare feet often tend to be hippies, drunk people, or locals that, by the looks of them, seem to be poorer or less of the sane type. I am in none of those categories, I hope. I’m just one of the normal people on the street, but I just ‘happened’ to be in my white socks. The area itself is a very familiar place to me, but the lack of shoes created a new headspace inside of me – such a change caused me to have to relearn the environment. It was an extremely uneasy thing to do and an extremely unusual feeling.
Why Do Such A Thing?
I’m doing this experiment for a number of reasons. A colleague and I are putting together a roughly twenty-minute video of the experiment with a short and simple discussion related to our work in the fields of travel-related education, psychology and therapy. This talk is mainly focused towards Chinese people (it is in Chinese) on the topic of pushing your psychological boundaries and acceptance of being different from the crowd. Understanding psychology cannot be done solely by observation or on paper, so getting to the core of many of the psychological and habitual issues needs to experienced first-hand. Many of our students (both teenage and particularly adults, including students’ parents) tend to often struggle with the acceptance of being different from the crowd and suffer from excuses that avoid the root of their difficulties. To us, as teachers, this psychological state needs to be pushed and prodded at for the sake of expanding our understanding of their experience. It is not that we are fearless or shameless as such – far from it - but we lead a traveling lifestyle in diverse environments where social and cultural constraints have less of an impact on our day-to-day choices and social encounters. So, I jumped right into this experiment and the ideas, observations and thoughts from the process will be shared in this essay. Who would guess that doing such things could open up a new world to me?
1.Why Does Our Sense of Self Have to Be So Strong?
Fear, nervousness and excitement tend to be confused by the brain as they all stimulate the same biological reactions, such as speeding up the heart rate. It is possible for the brain to confuse what it is actually experiencing. When an emotion of, perhaps, nervousness (activated by the brain telling you that you are different from the others) fear kicks in and the brain looks for things it perceives as ‘threats’. In my case, while being in socks in public, these ‘threats’ tended more likely to be people who might easily notice me; like people walking towards me or people sitting idly by that could possibly make some noticeable sort of remark. It would be these types of perceived ‘threats’ that I would find myself naturally trying to avoid eye contact with or maybe even subconsciously try to change my walking path to avoid ‘confrontation’. People that tended to be busy with their own affairs gave me no concerns at all. There also tended to be differences in perception between people you tend to associate more closely with; whether you know them or not, or would you ever see them again (i.e., the guesthouse staff that see you coming in and out each day without shoes on) - this tended to give me a stronger reaction. Similarly, stronger reactions were evoked from people I either genetically or culturally identified more with – i.e., different genders, ethnicities and age groups. These psychological reactions tended to be based on solely what people could possibly think of me and the strength of the reaction depended on these factors. It is not that I really minded, because walking in socks is far from the height of difficulty in this world, but I was observing my brain tending to be more active when it was trying to figure out my best ‘survival’ strategies in unfamiliar situations. Questions such as who would I most likely get approval from, who would mostly would stare or give me a negative reaction, who would I bring embarrassment to… these questions fill the brain as it is terrified of being ostracized by the group. Walking the streets in white socks could possibly be enough to make you a laughing stock. That is a terrifying feeling for a person. So, this is something that needed to be understood, looked at and conquered. I mean, it is my brain’s job to keep me safe and alive (and being part of the group is vital for survival), but it is my job to keep my brain in check!
During the next couple of days, I started venturing a bit further away from Khaosan Road as I began to feel less and less self-conscious. I then found myself at a Thammasat University having lunch by the river side. My socks tended to still be bright white on the tops, but had black footprints on the bottoms. Sometimes I started thinking that the dirtier they were the more natural it looked. I don’t know what to make of that – maybe it was more acceptance of the state of them. I enjoyed my time there. I walked back with an ice-coffee I bought from a street stall and sat in the park for a couple of hours pondering over the situation. My colleague and I had filmed a part of it to put into the video. The real importance comes down to not just the action of walking shoeless, but the following mental reflection over the what happened during the experience to make sure the brain understands what it is actually seeing and doing as it experiences and reacts to all this new stuff. This is all the brain’s doings, none of it is orchestrated by me. This goes for any situation in life really, but this process is often overlooked, as we move on to the next task ahead. Instead, I walked along the hot sticky street to a park further along the riverside where I laid down in a shady patch of grass under a massive twisted tropical tree and let everything sink in. The brain is automatically doing a lot of stuff I am not even aware of nor wanting to permit it to do, but it is more up to me to to understand that and learn to control what is going on instead. Skills like that should get me higher places than a good pair of sturdy hiking boots could ever. It seems going barefoot just may hold some magic.
2.Happily Hiding Behind Excuses
Oh, we humans know how to hide. While walking around the streets, into stores, happily soaking up the Bangkok atmosphere, I found myself hiding behind excuses for being shoeless. Despite my body (and bright white socks) being physically exposed for the world to see, but in my mind, I was aiming at quelling the inner dragon of self-consciousness. I thought I had more of a reason, for anyone who may look at me, to be shoeless in the late afternoon than the morning – maybe I had walked a long way and I had blisters, maybe my shoes broke, maybe I was hot? In the morning, by contrast, it just more looked like the guy couldn’t be bothered putting on his shoes. So, I went out in the morning too, not just using the heat as an excuse, or hiding behind the darkness of night. Having a small backpack with me was a good way to hide too. Could this guy be suffering from any of the above situations, and obviously his shoes are in his bag, the random passer-by would think. So, when I could, I would try go out empty-handed where possible. The only pity is I quite like to carry a small backpack with my camera for a bit of photography, and a bottle of water in it. I found taking off my glasses was another good way to not be able to see if people were staring or not, making me feel like I was more in my own world – listening to music could have the same effect. So, I kept the glasses on, and music off. I’d go with my coworker who was in bare feet, that felt more easier as there was the distraction of chatter and dialog about the experiment to hide behind. Going out alone would up the ante, put on a bit more stress, so I made sure to do this too. These are the tactics the brain employs to reason with myself as why to be shoeless. I mean what if someone asks where my shoes are, I could stumble and think of lies, but that won’t get anyone to paradise. All this led me to have to accept and address the root of the issue: “I am just the guy who is out in his socks”. No hiding. No denying. Dress the way you feel good, stand up straight, put yourself into a confident and open physical position, tell yourself ‘you are just the guy who wears his socks’. Be ready to give sincere eye-contact and engage in conversation with anyone you encounter and just walk on forward. What you tell yourself and how you behave decides the outcome and supporting the fundamental truth of the matter gets you where you need to be faster.
By the third day, after having had more and more physical practice of being out and about with no shoes on, plus having had plenty of mental exploration and conversation regarding the many aspects of the experience, things started to feel more natural. My mind was changing towards self-acceptance and encouragement towards such a lifestyle of endeavor, discovery and self-growth. By this time, I found myself hopping into a taxi one evening to go to MBK center shopping mall. I was originally planning to leave for India the day after, so I wanted to buy a couple of bits and pieces. I spent about two hours in the mall; the bottoms of my socks were rather dirty, but the whole time I was possibly even more relaxed than I would have been if I were in shoes. I am not really a fan of malls, but I found that I was more in a peaceful world of my own more so than a noisy mall of shoppers. I came back in a tuk-tuk and wandered back to my guesthouse through the busy bar district of Khaosan. It was if it were any normal day. To my surprise, I was relatively unaware of my lack of shoes.
3.Tackling the Bull in the Cage
It is the only way to address the issue and gain something true from your endeavors. If you carry yourself confidently, who can belittle you? If you accept the truth, who can deny it? The thing is, the world is like a mirror, if you don’t care, the world doesn’t care either. The world reflects back what is in your mind and in your heart. When I was subconsciously unaware of the fact I was in a busy shopping mall in my socks, to me, it seemed that the whole world was unaware of it. When I was stressed or uncomfortable, then it felt like the world was glaring at me. The subconscious mind brought out all sorts of perceived threats. The mind needs to be trained in order to live out the life you want to live. I have to admit, sometimes it felt weird having my coworker take photos of me while in socks in some public space somewhere with people all around, but you just have to tell yourself: “I accept everything that comes with this.” Maybe no one even saw, or maybe someone did see and probably forgot about it within three seconds. If they do remember it would be because they thought it was cool. Others are welcome to do whatever they want with their observations. But, remember, the noise is inside you.
By the fourth day, I had decided that I was too much invested into this project and to run off to India prematurely wouldn’t be the best choice. I wanted to continue a bit, and I wanted to put the video together (although it was my coworker who mainly took control of that part), and I wanted to write this down. Environment is utmost, and while I am still in this environment, I am more likely to order my ideas in a clearer way. I imagine the smell of curries and sounds of horns in the streets of Bangalore will take my mind away to other places. When you’re focused and enjoying something productive you should stride to stay in that state. Change (or disruption) to an environment is unsettling for a person, and I know this well as that is where my general main work’s focus lies – travel-related education, psychology and therapy. I happened to go to MBK once again, of course in my socks, and wandered the streets nearby and came back by public bus. Over the last day or two before leaving for India, I didn’t plan on any such sock-walks, didn’t aim for any such mental or physical stimulation, but instead, just a quiet calm mood to weather away the hot afternoons and get this writing done. But I realized by habit, I still went out in my socks for a morning coffee and 7eleven for bottles of water, and even out for dinner. It had become a new sort of comfort zone. No one likes the feeling of retraction, so maybe just now putting on shoes, feels a little like that. I actually really like who I am when I am out in my socks. I love the mental stimulation and feeling of freedom. Having seen the videos of myself out and about, I tend to think, under the circumstances, I looked rather confident and natural. I liked the way I looked and even more so, how I felt. The self-affirmation of something is almost more crucial than the actual activity itself.
4.Setting Things Straight
The truth is, walking around a city in a pair of white socks is not the epitome of difficulty in this world; to some it would be easy, and to others, mortifying. What is considered ‘difficult’ depends on you, and your previous experiences and interests. The thing is, when confronting your fear, or looking to expand you comfort zone, you need to not only delve directly into it, but you may also need to negotiate with yourself that much more difficult things exist. If you compare your difficulties to other things that are more difficult, then you reduce the size of your perceived burden. You may even need to actively seek out such things to confirm to yourself that they do indeed exist. Things are only small when compared with something bigger, just as the Earth is big if you travel by horse, but very tiny when observed from the moon. So, sometimes to aim at something you perceive as ‘big’ or ‘difficult’, then you may need to not only grind slowly and steadily in its direction, but also hack backwards at it to reduce the perceived size of it. There, that is something a bit more complicated to contemplate. Ha!
You may notice a theme here in that nowhere mentioned was any negative situations being mentioned. That is because during the five-day experiment, there were never any such occurrences. There are many nationalities around Khaosan, and never received a difficulty from anyone. I noticed people occasionally looked. I would also emphasize the word ‘looked’, and not ‘stared’. But on the contrary, I need to mention that no matter what you’re wearing or doing people do look. Yes, I noticed people occasionally still looked while I was wearing flip-flops. People have eyes after all, and they need to set their vision on something, so that’s forgivable. Maybe I just have nice (although hairy) legs? Ha-ha. But, maybe it is something more than that. Maybe it is something about the Thai people and the atmosphere they have created to be inclusive, tolerant and open-minded. To expand on this topic, I will need to keep up my white sock-walking activities across other parts of the world in order to work towards the core of such assumptions.
What Can Thai Attitude Offer The World?
However, the Thai people’s attitude towards life is rather healthy. It seems to be that if something does not harm anyone, then it is not really worth worrying about. That is a fair take on life. I noticed on the rare occasion when someone did not know what to make of me being in my socks, then substitute was a smile or laughter. That takes you back to the ‘world being a mirror’ philosophy; if you are self-conscious or flustered under a circumstance a laugh can be perceived as a snigger or an intrusion. When your soul and mind are calm, a laugh could be perceived as a friendly sign of acceptance or interest. It seems the Thais are slower in their reactions and judgements, allowing themselves sufficient time for a reasonable and proper response to ensue. I like the fact they are natural and thoughtful in their responses, something obviously passed down through their Buddhist faith. I would say, as a whole, I got a more neutral to positive reception anywhere I went in my socks. The interesting thing is, that is the same Thai reception I have received anywhere under almost any circumstance - with shoes on or off. But of course, there would be places you wouldn’t want to go in your socks, just as you wouldn’t swim in the sea or go to bed while wearing your shoes. Well, you can do that and why not if that is what you want - who are we to judge? But, it seems here in Thailand, if you are reasonable in your attitude and polite in your behavior, the Thais will treat you with the same respect. Hats off (or shoes off) to the Thais for that. We can all learn a lot from them.
Your Growth Is Your Gift To The World
It is also your own responsibility to work at expanding your comfort zone. There is not a single soul that does not want to become a bigger and better version of themselves. Explore and grow; that what souls do. It is your job to dig out what it needs and how to go about it. Sock-walking is just my own personal way, among others. But I also find it necessary that people take on such things. It is quite funny to know that all along during the beginning of the experiment, my brain was constantly doing all it could to help me avoid being ostracized by other humans. It was working to keep me surviving in optimal fashion. However, on the flipside, being the same as everyone does not necessarily get you anywhere at all. The ‘herd mentality’ is not lauded; it is not held in high regard. In fact, it is the opposite. I would believe that my getting out in my white socks is a rather positive thing in many people’s perceptions. I could see it and feel that at times. Maybe someone else just happened to think a little thought such as, ‘yeah, why not.’ Being a bit different reaffirms in others’ minds that possibilities exist. It is like the idea of recycling or reducing plastic use; you only really get the idea of when you are reminded of it, or see others taking part in it. My experiment probably does far better for the world that one would imagine.
My Unexpected Gains
I actually feel I have been through a type of therapy myself. I feel energetic. I had to make a quick phone call to an elderly neighbor in China, and she mentioned the change in my tone of voice. I was quite astonished when she said I sounded younger. My eyes feel bright. The flame in my soul feels steady. Making the video and seeing myself in it looking confident and actually liking the look of it, made me feel rather positive about myself. I feel mentally light. Maybe it’s because of Thailand itself and the abundance of sunshine. Maybe it is just because of finishing a two-week work project to Nepal with a group of my students. Maybe I am feeling a natural and positive shift towards a new segment of growth in my field. Or maybe I am feeling physically light, because having walked without shoes on, you begin to tread more lightly and carefully, and are more focused and intentional in your footsteps. Buddhist monks tend to go barefoot, as it seems to have a meditative effect, or maybe bare-footedness offers a boost of energy from the beneath the Earth; something like the opposite of soaking up vitamin D from the sun above. Maybe it was the psychological pushing and prodding of my internal world that met the instinctual need for physical stimulation of the body. Maybe it was sensual stimulation of the mind and feet; something we get too little of in the modern world. I think it was all of the above together that reenergized my body, and reinvigorated the mind and soul and I feel that I have given myself some psychological and perceptual reorganizing, something like a software upgrade. It feels something like coming out after a good Thai Massage.
An Experiment Resulting In The Restructuring the Subconscious View the World
However way, when you throw yourself into the deep end for an experiment in self-growth, it is not always easy and does take some courage and effort. And, so it should. Everything worthwhile always involves an element of difficulty. Why should one be rewarded without having put in any work anyway? Personally, I am very satisfied with this experiment and it has been an interesting, fun and valuable experience and I am sure I will enjoy the benefits of it for a long time to come. I will probably try to keep up with the occasional sock-walk when and where possible, and will aim at attempting the experiment again in other parts of the world. So, if next time you see a guy out in his white socks, it just might be me. Cheers!
Note:
Yes, I got several pairs of socks dirty. They washed up well when hand washed in the shower. I got zero holes in them. I received zero cuts or injuries from being out shoeless during these five days.
I photographed this 7-Eleven in the day last summer. This time I caught it at night. Sorry, no young lady waiting outside.
7-Eleven #25104 (2,186 square feet)
1202 Jamestown Road, Williamsburg, VA
Opened in 1983; originally 1968-built Sunoco, became Li'l Shopper in the late 1970s
8708 Liberia Ave, Manassas, VA 20110
Pretty much, a 1990s-era 7-Eleven with gas pumps as well. This store is actually pretty big for what it is.
7-Eleven #25104 (2,186 square feet)
1202 Jamestown Road, Williamsburg, VA
This location opened in 1983; it was originally a Sunoco, which was built and opened in 1968. It became a Li'l Shopper in the late 1970s.
See the banners? Fictional store owner Apu Nahasapeemapetilon writes, "Buy some fruit to feel less guilty about the chili dog."
"Every item guaranteed fresh or your money begrudgingly refunded."
I'm going through some of my old photographs. I visited this 7-Eleven convenience store that was re-branded and re-imaged as a Kwik-E-Mart from the Simpson's cartoon. Whether a 7-Eleven or a Kwik-E-Mart, the convenience store is now permanently shuttered, according to Google Maps.
7-Eleven #11089 (closed) [2,490 square feet]
5114 Williamsburg Road, Sandston, VA
This location was built and opened in 1980 and re-located to a newly-built store on the lot next door in late 2014.
Isn't is super cool how the original red roof paint can be seen again now that the sign is gone? Guess it was too much of a hassle at the time to remove the sign and paint behind it!