i'm hiding out

i've got a few goofy people stories
that i've accumulated in less than 24 hours.

yesterday.
i was walking around my neighborhood
with my roommate, ben, in the bright afternoon sun.
a middle-aged man biked up behind us
and hollered, "hey!"
we turned to him and he said,
"my name's michael!"
as he biked in front of us he continued,
"two ships passing in the night.
you take care of her...or i will."

this man was off but didn't seem creepy
so i was taken aback by his last three words.
my jaw hit the floor and then i started laughing
because nothing of what he said
made sense on its own or collected together.
city living can be pretty funny.


this morning.
i was biking to work and the first part of my commute is
on the sidewalk as i live on a one-way and need to go
against traffic in order to get to the bike path.
this is usually not a big deal, the few people i encounter
move to the side and i bike along my merry way.

this morning i came upon an older gentleman, his dog,
a middle-aged gal and her dog.
they filled the sidewalk but as i drew near she saw me,
moved to the side and alerted the man to move.
he stepped aside but jumped a little first,
the sight of me coming must've startled him.
i wasn't moving too fast
and everyone was completely out of the way
as i approached and went by.

but something was upsetting about the whole thing
because the lady freaked out.
right after i passed she screamed,
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
i knew i hadn't done anything
so i just kept biking, she was scaring me.
"STOP!!!! GET BACK HERE!
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
i turned to look again and she was hot on my trail,
barreling after me with her dog.

not feeling like getting screamed at in my face or
something worse
i started pedaling double time
and yelled back at her,
"YOU'RE PSYCHO!"
she chased me a little longer and then gave up.

i felt a little bad for yelling at her
but the whole thing was so bizzare and frightening. dang.

minutes after arriving at work.
a little group of folks comes into the cafe
after their a.a. meeting
every saturday right as we open.
they're all really nice and quirky and women.
except for one older guy.
he's usually the first to arrive.
one of the gals in the group
always drinks decaf with milk
and he's taken to telling me whether
she'll be arriving or not.
i don't know why he does this but it's endearing.

i was setting menus on his table
and as he walked by me he said,
"the coffee lady will be coming today!"
and as he said this he patted me about four times
with the back of his hand--directly on my bum.
i honestly don't think he meant to do this,
he just patted right where his hand fell at his side
which happened to be at that exact level on my body.
he was completely oblivious so i just walked away,
furrowing my brow.

-nicole

maybe i'll get a vespa

i had a relatively inefficient day.
my workplace was absolutely dead
and i got sent home after two hours,
with no earnings in my pocket.
(i'm a server.)

i had a doctor's appointment at 3p.m.
and i scheduled it so that i'd have
just the right amount of time to bike over after work
as my clinic is fairly near my job.

getting off work several hours early messed up that plan
so i biked home, showered, had a snack
and then took the bus to my appointment.

this turned out to be a mistake.
after my appointment i ran out to the bus stop
and happily discovered that the next bus
was to come by in five minutes.
and it did.
but it flew around the corner and down the block
before stopping at a nearby stop.
so i had to wait for the next bus,
which wasn't due to arrive for 40 minutes.

i walked over to the other bus stop
and waited. and waited.
and then a rather large black man walked up
and told me that i was at the wrong stop.
he takes the 12 everyday and said that the bus alternates
stops and that it would be stopping around the corner
and down the block.
where i originally had been waiting.

the man and i conversed for awhile and then he said to me,
"see that man over there?"
he pointed across the street to a white-haired gentleman
wearing a dark suit and carrying a weathered brown shoulder bag.
he was coming our way, hurried and disheveled.
"yeah."
"well, when he shows up that means the bus is almost here."

these two men take the bus everyday
and they took turns complaining about
the horrible state of this particular bus line.

we eventually boarded the bus
and before i even sat down i heard a voice say,
"no bike today?"
it was a boy that comes into the cafe with his grandfather.
an avid cyclist, he's seen me on the trails
and we've visited several times.
he had lots of acquaintances on the bus
as many of them ride together everyday.
it's a whole world i didn't know existed.

i had to switch buses partway home
but my transfer ticket had expired
due to aforementioned circumstances
so i decided to walk the dozen blocks home
rather than pay another $2.00.

what would have been a 30 minute bike ride
or 15 minute car ride was a
1 hour and 45 minute trip home.
today was one of those days where
owning car would have been alright.

-nicole

i love me some food

i just looked at my recent grocery receipt
and there's a line printed that tells me
that out of the $48.81 that i spent,
$32.23 was spent on local products/companies.

sustainable agriculture is exciting to me.
grocery shopping is really fun but it always takes me forever
because a lot of factors go into each item in my cart.
besides just deciding what the heck i need to buy
there are other questions.
where is this item sourced?
does it contain trans-fat? high-fructose corn syrup? preservatives?
do i pay extra for local/organic?
when an item is available as local or organic but not both,
which is best? (my current answer is usually local.)
how was this animal treated before
part of it ended up in this package i'm holding?

i compare different brands of the same item
to see if one is more nutritious that the other.
what if the healthier item isn't local?
this one has more vitamin a, this one more fiber, hmm....

i can easily spend an hour in the store,
just shopping for one silly person
but i really enjoy the process and view it as
an opportunity to learn.

groceries!

-nicole

dear diary

i should be reading.
or writing with pen and paper--
nah, i'm too tired for that.
i think reading sounds lovely.

but before i do i'm going to type something here.
i think maybe i'm too tired for that, too.
i'm 28 years old, probably too old to be writing
a completely self-absorbed and pointless blog entry.

sometimes i'm completely self-absorbed and pointless.

fall is eating eating at my insides.
i feel so melancholy at times.
i was talking about this to a friend
and he said that fall accentuates
wherever he is emotionally at the time.

that made a lot of sense to me.
i guess it's a melancholy fall this year.
it will serve its purpose,
whether i know what that is or not
whether i like it or not.
and that's okay.

-nicole

i'm sailing!

i''ve been stopping on my bike ride home from work
to do some swinging on swings
at lake calhoun.

i only swing on the chilly days,
when there's no one else around
just a few sailboats on the lake
and the occasional passing jogger.

i enjoy the solitude,
music in my ears
singing out loud.
the breeze blows through
my growing-out hair,
flowing back and forth.

i remove my sunglasses
to let all the sunlight in,
reminding myself to enjoy it now
it will be hard to find soon.

i decided it would be fun to leave a sailboat
on the lake all through fall and into winter
so that it freezes into the lake.
i imagine a bundled-up someone
walking across the lake and climbing into their sailboat,
putting their feet up and just enjoying the afternoon,
going nowhere.

-nicole

it's almost time for my long winter's nap

i flew across my yard on my slip 'n slide last night.
after dark and just as the raindrops started to fall, of course.
it's more fun that way.

the leaves are starting to turn
and sunlit hours are waining.
i think it might be fall now.
today.
this very day.
it was hot all week but that's over and done
and soon it will be sweater weather.
then slowly i'll add my scarf, my mittens, my hat.

i'm having thoughts about pumpkin patches and apple orchards.
i decided i'm going to make pies this fall and winter.
lots of them.
it will help keep the house warm and my belly full of goodness.

-nicole

fallin' asleep at my computer

i went to the state fair this evening.
minnesota boasts the second largest state fair in the nation.
second only to texas, of course.

i had plans of eating cheese curds, mini donuts, maybe a corn dog
but in the end i didn't eat one single fried thing.
but i did have a yummy corn on the cob (on a stick!)
and then i was able to throw the cob, stick and paper napkin
in a giant compost bin so that was pretty cool.

i saw al franken,
fought the urge to take home a wobbly newborn lamb,
and rode a pretty sweet carnival ride that
was originally built in 1920.

i'm all faired out.
i think i'm too introverted for large, dense crowds.
they're such energy suckers.
phew.

-nicole