Of all the gin joints in all the world...

I had to work today, to make of for last week. I was riding my bike to the bus stop when who comes walking down the sidewalk towards me? My old friend, Chris, that's who. I love this guy. And I haven't seen him in a couple years. We were only able to talk for about 10 minutes before my bus came, but it was really good to see him. I gave him my number and went on my way. I got on the bus, which was as crowded as usual on a Saturday. I sat on the sideways seats and noticed the guy sitting next to me. He was young, probably 18 give or take a couple years, black, and a wee bit slack-jawed. Do you remember ADA Robinette from the first couple seasons of Law and Order? He has the same flat top haircut. The green embroidery on his black backpack indicates his name is James. James had a piece of paper he had printed in a color inkjet printer. It had the shape of a CAT bus on it and he was cutting it out. Very carefully. And he'd laugh and shake his head when the bus hit a bump. Once he cuts it out, he pulls out a full size bottle of school glue and starts folding, gluing and assembling the miniature paper bus. For the record, it was a copy of the Number 10 Longview bus. Once he got the bus glued together, he pulled a big plastic container out of his backpack. The was about 11" by 13" by 4" with a clear bottom and a blue hinged lid. He opened the lid and, to my surprise, it was chocked full of miniature paper buses. In fact, there was no room for the newly finished No. 10, so he took out a model of a new TTA bus to make room. He closed up the box and put it back in is backpack. He rode the rest of the way with the green paper bus in his hand. All of this took maybe 20 minutes and was simultaneously one of the funniest, coolest and most confusing things I've ever seen on the bus. I can only imagine what my face looked like when he opened the plastic box.

I left work about 1:30 and rode to the transfer center. The bus dropped me off in Raleigh around 3, which would normally be really annoying except that it was a really nice day out and...Chris was at Moore Square waiting for his bus. We got to talk for about another half hour. I'll get to see him later this week when we have more time. What I just love about this guy is that no matter how long it's been since I've seen him, it feels like yesterday.

I had a great bike ride today to. I rode about 9 miles today which is a personal record for someone who isn't convinced yet that she's not going to fall over on the bike.