Part 1 : Notes from the Field

You know what that title means. I am currently sitting in my favorite White Spot on 3 and Ackroyd , waiting for my food, and blogging at you nice people.

I am proud of myself. I didn’t have to leave the apartment and hop on the bus to go to Money Mart and cash La Cheque. I could have just stayed home and waited passively for Friday night to maybe deliver me there via Joe.

But I did in any way, purely as a way to get myself out of the apartment on my own, just for fun.

Damn my food is taking a while. Chicken Caesar Wrap, I summon thee!

While at Money Mart, I confirmed that the Amazon Prime money is back on the card. Glee! I got a hundred sixty bux on the card now, so I see a little online shopping in my future.

Or maybe not. Maybe I will use the money to get one of my novels turned into an eBook. Tbe fantasy one is probably the most commercial.

Then again, the latest one is the one I destroyed my soul trying to edit, so from a sunk cost point of view, it should be that one.

Of course… then I would have to figure out how to promote it…

Story of my life, really. I am a wizard in need of a bard.

Well, I think the road portion of this entry is complete. Typing via virtual keyboard is tiring and I still have some shopping to do.

The rest will be written from home!

Part 2 : The Home Office

Wow, all that typing on the virtual keyboard at White Spot, and I only wrote around 250 words. It felt like a heck of a lot more, I can tell you. I have got to find the power chord for my itty bitty Bluetooth keyboard and charge it up so I can use it again. It’s not as good as a real keyboard, but it’s still better than the virtual one on my tablet.

I got a great seat when I was at White Spot. Way in the back, tucked into a little corner all on my own, perfect for a writer.

I ended up eavesdropping, off and on, on a fairly interesting conversation between an older man and a younger woman who were both involved in some part of the finance industry. The intriguing part was that I was not sure if this was a business meeting or a date.

The older guy definitely had his high beams on, charm-wise. He was sharing some of his life story with her. He did most of the talking. He was telling her about his philosophy of mutual funds, I think. At various times I got the feeling that he was : interested in getting the people to invest in the firm he worked for, there in a more of a mentoring capacity, or trying to get into her pants.

I suppose it could be all three, really.

So not only did I have the sort of personal space I wanted, I also got a fairly interesting conversation to sample now and then.

The conversation definitely seemed tense at times, like this was high stakes diplomacy and they were dealing with really sensitive subjects. I couldn’t quite follow what they were talking about, though, so I can’t be sure.

And yeah, I suppose I should feel bad for eavesdropping on people. But I did no harm. I have no idea who these people are or what their lives are like. There is no way I could possibly harm them with what I overheard. Our lives do not intersect in any way. I don’t even know their names.

And besides, it’s very hard for me to ignore the spoken word when my mind is not otherwise occupied, and so in a sense I can’t really help it. I end up eavesdropping whether I want to do it or not.

And believe you me, I have ended up listening to some really dumb conversations as a result. They are not all mysterious and dense interactions with a lot going on under the surface.

Sometimes it’s just morons yammering at each other about sports.

Getting back home was… moist. When I left White Spot, it was raining… ish. The sort of rain where it is definitely raining, but not really committed to it.

Fine by me. If it had been real, serious rain, I would have gotten a lot wetter. Luckily, I could make it to the bus stop by staying under the Skytrain, for the most part, then under the awnings on Westminster Highway.

When I was approaching the bus stop, I saw the one thing you really don’t wanna see while approaching your bus stop : your bus, pulling away.

Not only is that just inherently frustrating (so close!), but it means that you will be waiting for the maximum possible time until the next one shows up.

And because it was raining, I had to choose between being seated but getting wet on the bus bench, or staying dry under the nearby awning but having to stand for the whole time. Some choice!

I actually tried to sit down on the ground under the awning (I ain’t fancy, not when sitting is on the line) but a warning twinge from my bum knee warned me of the folly of that kind of move.

If it was that bad going down, imagine what a nightmare getting back up would have been! Man it sucks to get old.

After I got off the bus, I went to Safeway and bought a few things, including, on a total whim, a couple of bottles of Mio.

I’ve been curious about the stuff for a while. I got Lemonade (yay) and, get this, Watermelon Strawberry flavour.

Those are two of my favorite flavours of anything! I can’t wait to see what they are like together.

Oh, and the wonderful William should be stopping by tonight with a working power supply for the Mother Ship, and so I should be back on my trusty ol computer by the time I write to you again.

I will talk to you again tomorrow, folks!