Old familiar

[randy_byers]

Well, I've been kind of a busy boy today. The main thing is that I went downtown (in the pouring snow!) to the Nordstrom Rack and bought a charcoal grey knee-length wool and cashmere coat. After lunch at the Westlake Mall, where the huge windows in the food court made me feel like I was in a snow globe, I decided it was perfect weather for a snifter of Old Woolly barleywine, so I hopped on a bus to the U District. The Big Time was packed with happy barleywine drinkers.

Earlier in the day was an expedition to the post office to mail a copy of Way to someone in Singapore who inquired because of a review in profgeek's Askance. Think that's the first time a complete stranger has asked for a copy of one of my zines because of a review in another zine. Pretty cool!

Walking home from the post office and other errands, I headed down Wallingford and then down the hill on 36th, which is not only the street I live on but a section of it I walk everyday to and from work. Very familiar ground. I was lost in thought, as usual, but I said howdy to a guy I vaguely recognized as living in that block somewhere. As he passed behind me, I heard him say, "How did you quit smoking?"

Was he talking to me? That seemed pretty weird, since I didn't know him, so he couldn't know that I used to smoke. I looked back, and he was clearly talking to me.

"How did you know I was an ex-smoker?" I asked, puzzled. I couldn't imagine how he'd read that just by looking at me.

"Oh, I've been watching you for years," he said. "Used to be that I thought you were in pretty good shape for a smoker."

I laughed, suddenly getting it. "Able to climb a hill while smoking!"

It was a little unnerving to realize that I've been observed so closely over the years. After all, I stopped smoking six years ago, so he certainly has been keeping an eye on me for a while, but I don't know him from Harry. Ah well, he seemed friendly enough.

"I just quit cold turkey," I told him. "But I did some mental preparation first."

"Yeah, that's the tough part for me: getting my mind set on it."

"They say it's one of the most addictive substances out there," I said, shrugging.

"I'd hate to think there's anything worse," he said ruefully.

And I continued on my way home. I guess the whole damn street is my home!

Comments

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the shopping success. Sounds fab.

The part about the vaguely-recognized guy that seems weirdest to me is that he waited so long to speak up. It's a good sign that he was polite enough not to comment on what good shape you were in "for a smoker" back in the day.

"Oh, I've been watching you for years...." Eep. I'd be more than a little unnerved if anyone said that to me.

The thing I love about fandom is that it makes the whole damn world our home!

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

The coat came in handy immediately. For the trip downtown, I wore my leather coat with the dysfunctional zipper but with three buttons that sort of hold it together. I swapped it for the new coat for the walk home from the Big Time, where I removed the tags. It was, like, warm! But Denys says it makes me look like businessman, so I guess it's conservative. I had already decided to replace the zipper on the leather coat after all, so I'll have two coats to choose from.

And actually that guy who talked to me yesterday isn't the first person along my commuter route to mention that they've watched me over the years. There was a woman I ran into once who mentioned that she saw me every day from her condo along the Burke-Gilman trail and was always amazed that I had enough hands to carry an umbrella, a latte, and a cigarette. Then there was the woman on a bike who recently remarked to me as I walked past her near the campus, "If you're this far already, I'm late!"

Watching [You] for Years

[(Anonymous)]

"Total Strangers Who Know a Tiny Bit about You Because They See You Regularly" are more common than you might think.

Years ago when we had a regular movie date, I arrived early, realized I was short of money, and zipped off to the bank; the accomplice, arriving on time, was informed by one of the local denizens of that (the zipped off part, not the destination).

On the other side: I used to take the subway to work between 7:30 and 8:00 am. Several days a week, I would see an attractive-with-long-graying-tresses woman, usually in a specific car of the train. Usually at one of the stations (this is the Internet, and I've already left enough clues), either she disentrained or a gentleman would board and they would embrace. And they would converse or something.

And, y'know, I kind of decided that it was a New York mystery and left it at that.

Further, deponent speculateth without light.

--
D.

Re: Watching [You] for Years

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Well, *you* may think you've left enough clues, but I never was good at mysteries, New York or otherwise. Although I still enjoy them.

Ah, on second thought, I do have a guess!