I decided that this photo was me. I thought about how I would set this up on my way home..and then I took off my shoes and did it. (I'm not a photographess by any stretch but I wanted to make this.) The gap between idea and execution is large enough for me in most circumstances but when it comes to artistic things, I'll take whim as a motivation any day. Done.
Got inspired chatting with a photographish friend and thumbing through his shots this evening -- not that I have big plans but that I like photography and art and it was inspiring and he partially agreed to my proposition whereby we will work together in the future. yay!
(They are tattered black shoes on a concrete floor in an unfinished hallway.)
It's late but I feel a little too weird to go to sleep. Also, I had a weird nap earlier. Also, if I keep busy I don't have to think about things I don't want to think about. [pull nervously at collar]
Last Monday...
B) A man dressed in a medieval tunic and chain mail leggings leaned out from third in line to grab a pack of gum. B______ was second in line and we both noticed the be-costumed man at the same time. B leaned out from behind my current customer and gave me the big eyes that yell a thousand words social convention forbids you to say aloud. My goodness. He made the eyes and the almost-smile and I immediately dropped my head and tried to cover my laugh-stifling smile with a hand. I don't think I fully got away with it and I know the guy in the costume was going to be getting this reaction all day.
The tunic and chain mail was fun enough to see on its own but B______'s face...the fact that he LEANED out of line into my line of sight to make a "this guy is unreal" face was just too much. [I've been avoiding penning this pseudo-tale because there's no way I can put his face or my response into words.] I think what made it more fun with B in particular is that a third of what we ever talk about is the strangeness of people/other people. When I go visit him, he could tell me about this passerby or that, knowing who they are or not. We also talk hypothetically about what this guy might be about or what she may have been thinking...and he is an expert mocker. He doesn't cross the line much and he is FUNNY. So, I guess to see someone LEGIT in medieval garb...in 2012... buying chewing gum...for us to both see it with our own eyes was just too much. A jackpot. Sigh. Hard to describe.
C) There's a guy that I don't really know but kinda know... I guess if we were coworkers in a big office, he would be my Hey Guy. I suppose I first became familiar with him last summer when I was working mostly in the afternoon and he would buy Canadian Classic small white regular. We spoke with medium friendliness and have connected to the point where if I saw him outside of work I would stop walking to speak with him instead of just waving but we're not connected to the point where I know what his first name is.
Last Movember I hassled him mercilessly about his offensive grosstache and that, I realise as I am presently typing, must be the missing clue to amiability here. Huh. I hassled him hard... it was a really gross stache. For the longest time, I've been trying to figure out why he thinks we're buds but it must be Movember that solidified something for him.
Now, after a few months' hiatus, we smile in acknowledgment across the store several times a day as he's started being around in the mornings and apparently is fond of Tim Hortons. He doesn't buy cigarettes from me any more so we only talk if I happen to also be at Tims. But he does go out of his way to make eye-contact and greet me at some point each day which I appreciate because it's so innocuous and kind. I think I appreciate that he wants to say hello to me but that's it. There are a bunch of peeps who want to say hello to me all the every time but they also want to chit-chat and get into my life ...which in their case I am not interested in. I like that he's not demanding or expecting anything.
This past Monday had a pos and a neg, I think.... It was barely 11am by the time he'd entered the building for the third time. He catches my eye and at the same moment he sticks his tongue out at me (like the mouthy kid behind the disciplnarian's back), I've held up three fingers and put a look of mock-condescension on my face. He mirrors the hand gesture and asks what I mean. "It's the third time..." I say, still trying to sound like he should be ashamed of himself. He's walking toward me now, to get some clarification.
"My third time what? Giving you the tongue?"
(this would be the neg.)
I laugh uncomfortably (partly at the weirdness of feeling like I have to retrieve grade school vocabulary interpret the phrase) and push to move past it. I explain that no, it's his third time getting coffee that very morning.
By this point he's right at the counter, a foot and a half away, and fills me in on his situation. He's not working "with those guys" (...he thinks I remember the "guys" but I don't!) anymore but is training to be an I-don't-remember-the-job-title-nor-did-I-understand-it-so-I-will-need-to-ask-him-again just up the road. He tells me that's why he's in here so often which I take to mean he gets breaks between classes AND possibly that he feels a greater need for caffiene. Doesn't seem like a slacker, which I like.
It was a peculiar moment. We really don't talk. He will make fun of me...but that's brief and my replies contain few words. It felt odd to hear him string so many words together in sentence after sentence because I'm used to blips and pleasantries. I was a little off my game (I think I was tired that day) so that I failed to ask as many questions as I would have liked to which meant the conversation didn't last more than a few minutes.
(this was the pos.)
I'm happy that he chose to share just a smidge of his life with me because it's all the starting point/invitation/extension of trust that I need to kick into second gear. I actually literally see a green light in my mind's eye (in the top right corner) when people open this door. And there's a little bing! sound.
Unnamed former customer, prepare to be friendlied at and interested in.
--
Only two things left on my Monday list (but it'll be three if I can remember why S____'s name is there...).
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