What I Did This Weekend

As my song states, I live alone.  Often, after a week at school that's too long, and I'm too sleep deprived, I will "take Saturday" and repeatedly nap and generally lie/putter around home.  Be lazy.  Recharge.  Indulge.

   I think a bit of that's good, but I've been having way too much of that lately.  And I've been working out, which is giving me far too much energy.  And for me, pent up energy busts out in rage, or rips me up as depression.

   And we've had a "snow day" two Fridays running.  I've been unable to make myself get enough work done, too.  Which is frustrating.  So I needed something new to do, and I did it this weekend.

  What I did was as simple as it was self-indulgent:  I went around to all the local places from my past (the hospital where I was born, my elementary school, old jobs, stuff like that) and iPhone selfied myself giving a brief run-down on what that place represented in my life.  I call it "I Was Here."
   This had me driving all over, walking all over Saturday and Sunday.  And it was hoodie weather, so that's what I was wearing.  Steeping in memories of all kinds, of all different people and things, simply by going to those places.  Places I don't normally go to anymore.  Ever.  I went to tiny villages around my home town, went to where the churches I used to go to still are, went to my old university, went to Parliament Hill in Ottawa.  I was on the move and off the couch all weekend.

   I plan to edit it together in some form.  Dunno if it will be watchable.  Don't really care.  It was quite a thing.  I highly recommend doing that, or something like it.

   I had a Humans of New York moment, walking back to my car.  On Rideau Street in Ottawa, the protocol is no eye contact with strangers in the crowds, but a guy with a slightly homeless, slightly "on something" vibe stood right beside me, smiling, like he was my friend, very gently patted me on the shoulder, didn't remove his arm, and said fondly, "You look like a friggin' hippie."  Gazing warmly into my eyes.  For a moment, I wondered if I knew him, because he was acting like I did, but I didn't.  He slowly removed his arm and stood there beaming. Then, hopefully, he said "Are ya?"

   "Nope," I said.  Trying to be polite but not too friendly.

   "It's all good," he said.  "We need more of that sixties vibe around here, THESE days..."

   I smiled and nodded, and told him I was a high school teacher, as the light changed to green and we started walking up the street.

  "Can you tell me one thing about school?" he asked.

   "I dunno," I replied.

   He said "How is it that I just never, ever, quite got Geography?  As a concept.  I mean, I studied that, but I never got it.  Now why was that?"

   "Not sure.  I wasn't there.  But I'm that way about math," I told him.

   "Oh, for sure.  Math too," he agreed.  Then he bit into a paper-wrapped shwarma he was was holding and said "Ya gotta respect the shwarma!"
   That was the interaction.  I'm not sure which part of that would have been the HONY quote.  But it was a moment.