Title is Unrelated.

Tonight, after my weekly volunteer stint, I smelled the most lovely thing in the world: cheap Chinese food. There was nothing I could do to resist. After noodles and a tummy full of hot mustard, I got my fortune cookie. As I was breaking it open, I realized that I always open my fortune cookies the same way.

And that lead to thinking about how I usually actively cultivate doing things always in the same way to offset the chaotic adventure force that swirls about me. And how I was tightly clinging to these same habits through the bumpy rough patch of life that began one fateful January day in 2009 and seemed to be grind to a halt one fateful Sunday in May 2010.

And how I am now to a point that when a situation arrives that would trigger my old habits...say being at the Hobbit Hole after a week of moving while preparing for finals and wanting to just veg out instead of filling yet another round of boxes. My old habit would have been to power through and fill my trunk with yet more books. My new habit says, "Hey, you're kicking ass at school and work and life and a beer while typing up a blog is totally justified." Yep. I'll get to the boxes soon enough. And, just to spice things up, I finished my fortune cookie routine in a completely different order. The fortune was still silly, but I did learn how to say "Christmas" in Chinese. Which I then promptly forgot.

Moral of today's story: flower.

An Erinku!
Oh, leftover Chinese food
in my fridge
I will love you again
tomorrow for breakfast

Further Adventures in Bussing

Every morning I ride the bus, I see the same people. They tend to stand in line for the bus in the same order, take their same seats, and say the same thing to the driver each day. The other day, more folks than usual were riding the bus and finding a seat became difficult. Everyone had to share, but some folks don't like it and will be as passive-aggressively against it as they can. This usually shows up in someone sitting on the aisle seat (and blocking the window seat), or stashing their bag on the seat next to them.

This day in particular was full of folks not wanting to share. In return, I saw one guy deliberately sit down on someone else's bag and two people “accidentally” bumping into folks who took up aisle seats. As I was exiting the bus, the guy in front of me paused dramatically, whirled around to the driver and nicely-loudly asked, “So, do people who take up two seats with their bags have to pay twice? If not, they should!!” Then whirled off the bus.

I thought it was brilliant. Never underestimate the power of annoying folks first thing in the morning by not sharing your bus seat! As I exited the bus behind him, he turned to me and apologetically said, “I probably shouldn't have said anything.” I replied, “No, you were fine. It is annoying when folks won't share seats.” Sometimes being human means saying silly things loudly and then feeling very embarrassed. Humanity is always one bus-ride adventure away from being too serious.

An Erinku:
blue stripey sock
angled on floor
pointing towards
laundry basket and door