The Crazy

I was just on a train with a crazy dude and an old lady in a wheelchair, total strangers, yelling at each other. The fight started because she asked him to stop swearing in front of the children on the train. In the middle bit, he used his "phone" (it was a walkie-talkie) to "call the authorities" on her (from underground) and have her arrested for telling him to shut up (which she never did). Old lady held her own pretty well, but when I got off the train, I could hear Crazy sing-songing, "I can walk and you can't! I can walk and you can't!"

The Call

I'm sitting on a bench in a park (the kind of place I spend a lot of the time I'm not at work, as I gravitate toward any semblance of nature in this lifeless wasteland), and this pretty, bland-looking girl comes up to me. I say girl, but she's at least five years older than me. She's half in tears and frantically babbling in a heavy accent.

"Er...what was that, dear?" I ask politely.

"Blah blah accent accent something about topping off (?) my phone and I need to call my friend to meet me here can I call him from your phone will be so quick frantic panicky blathering blah."

I look her up and down as I assess the situation. She's about five foot five (taller than me) and a size two (miniscule). I doubt she's a good enough actress to fake her current state of distress, but if so, she's quite spry-looking and can no doubt outrun me. On the other hand, I can absolutely take her down before she can take a step.

I figure, hey, what the hell, I'm a damned Good Samaritan and shit, and I hand her my beautiful new phone.

She dials and holds it up to her ear as I watch, calmly waiting to tackle her. She hands the phone back. "It didn't go through."

I am slightly disappointed.

The Season

The Dog

The Highlights

Austin was relaxing. Almost too relaxing. As much as I bitch about the utter unrelaxation that is NYC, being relaxed feels almost unnatural now.

I'm posting a couple Texas pics, more probably never to come. In no particular order:

-There was a giant banner across the road announcing the Austin holiday community singalong. Very sorry I had to miss that.

-The drain caps had cute little fish and salamander and froggie pics on them. Woo hippies!

-We went in a "small" grocery store (about twice the size of an Ohio store and five times a New York one) and I was incredibly impressed by the selection of packaged bacon and sausage products. I had to stand back quite a bit just to get it in the picture. They love them some pig.

-In a store called the "Herb Bar," which was covered on the outside in plants and had a sign asking customers to turn off cell phones, one can buy a medley of herby delights. There are herbs to make you feel better, herbs to make your pets feel better, herbs to make your children feel better, herbs to make your parents feel better, herbs to make your third cousin Larry feel better, etc. Also I heard the shopkeeper telling a customer about how she's recently moved out of her tent into an abandoned building.

-In the Houston airport (layover), there is a monument to George Bush Sr. There's also a Fox News store conveniently placed 50 feet away.