City Covorting

So I went out last night with my good pal Meghan. (After she stood me up for our singles date on V-day. Who does that?)
We had quite the adventure.
So, we decided to meet at the Belmont el stop at 7:00.
I don't know why I always think it's a good idea to meet people at the Belmont stop with the idea of just walking somewhere to grab a bite to eat. There isn't much selection up that way.
People really only go to the Belmost area for three things:
a) Clubs
b) Tattoos
and
c) Dildos.
Sorry to be so crass, but it's really not a lie.
I'm pretty sure there's a sex shop on every other corner down there...they're like neighborhood convience marts. Because there's so many clubs down there, it's rare that someone would need a gallon of milk in a pinch.
It's probably more along the lines of, "Oh Boy, I'm on my way to Berlin [club] and boy am I in a pinch! I forgot my rasberry flavored condoms at home!"
"Have no fear skinny-jeaned clubber! Your friendly neighborhood sex shop is here to help you out! We have a wide selection of flavored condoms. And how!"
...um. yeah. So that's the Belmont area. Meghan and I ended up walking further South toward Lincoln Park to find somewhere to eat because neither of use were interested in tattoos or dildos last night. Just the mood we were in, I guess.
So we find a place to eat after a bit of walking.
The place isn't all that crowded and I start in with one of my hair-brained old people stories. This involved speaking loudly, and doing an old people impression. There was this guy sitting a few tables away, middle aged, that looked over and heard me when I started talking.
So I quickly shutup.
When he got up to leave he stopped by the table and was like, "So, I think you saw me look over here when you started telling that story, and then you got embarrsassed and got quiet. Don't be embarrassed! Have fun! Too many people take life too seriously. It's nice to see people having fun and being animated." Aw, I love nice guys. His poor wife was just laughing and trying to drag him away.
So we got kicked out of that place at 8:45 because apparently, they close at 8:00...and had to find somewhere else to go. We jump on a bus and head to this 24 coffee shop I know, which also happens to serve my favorite beer, Blue Moon.
Now, I've said before, I am not hardcore. I simply cannot do heavy drinking. I can hold wine a little better than I can hold beer, but I am so not a trained college drinker. At all.
So I order a Blue Moon and Meghan gets a latte with a shot of Bailey's. Yeah, we're classy gals.
However, it was becoming painfully apparent when I started having trouble telling my complicated stories...that the Blue Moon was going straight to my head. The problem was that quite literally had drunk a 1/4 of it. Seriously. Meghan just laughed and laughed while I tried to spit things out. Straight up...I got names confused, I said the same things twice, I wasn't articulating.
Meghan said she wanted to talk about boys with me only when I was drinking a Blue Moon. She said something about this one boy never having had a girlfriend, which set me into a bastardized monologue, "He's never had boooottttyy? Booty! Booty! Booty! Aw, he's never had boooooooooooooty. Bootayyyyyyyyy!!"
Ohhh....dear.
Well, I guess the good thing about not being able to hold alcohol-I'm a super cheap date. Yes, that's right ladies. I just said I was cheap. The line to date me starts now.
So Meghan and I hang out for a while and I get on the bus to come home which is super PACKED. So packed, I can't even find a good rail to hold onto, so I have to reach for the rail above me head.
Which means I was on my tip toes. So I am on a bus, on my tip toes holding onto a rail above my had by my finger tips, just so I could steady myself.
Sitting in the sit in front of me (I was facing her, she was facing me) was this little old lady wearing a scarf around her head. She had on thick glasses, that made her eyes look a little beady. I watch her take out pill bottle from a plastic bag with the weirdest conglomeration of crap I've ever seen-electronics, pills, foodstuffs, ect. She pops one of these huge pills into her mouth, which I then see only has two large teeth.
Yet somehow she's chomping away on this pill.
Out of nowhere she looks up at me and goes, "You ok, honey?"
Aw. Little old lady!
So I say, "Yeah. I'm ok, thank you."
She says, "You want to put your bag here?" Indicating the place for bags on the bus she was seating next to.
I say, "I don't have a bag, but thank you."
So this other guy, a Native American who happened to be carrying around a Native American flute (can I make this shit up?), get into a conversation with this lady.
Wait, strike that.
The old lady starts to tell her life story to me and this guy. All about how she ran her errands today because the weather was going to get bad, and look at this great deal she got on this electronic thingy (shows it to us) but the sale it over now, so too bad for us, because it's not on sale anymore and really was a good deal. All the while, she's still chomping on this pill and bits are coming flying out of her mouth.
I love the city.
She was odd, yes.
She was old, yes.
But she was also kind to me.
So I move farther back in the bus to make room for more people and I listen to this other guy with a moustache get into a conversation with the Native American guy I was talking to earlier. This moustache guy was clearly somehow mentally disabled, and just talking and talking and talking to the guy about where he was playing and when he'd be playing. I guess this guy had seen the Native American guy play somewhere before, so he's asking him about what he's been up to, ect. And the two are just having the most pleasant conversation, and the Native American guy gets off the bus, but stops to say to me, "It was nice talking to you."
Why can't the whole world be as beautiful as that bus ride was?
A bus packed with all walks of humanity. Some of them, cranky, yes. But some of them willing to actually CONNECT with each other and treat each other with kindness.
Made my night.



QUOTE OF THE DAY
BART: How was your Valentine's Day?
AMY: *Sigh* Eh.
BART: Yeah, me too. I call it Black Thursday...or whatever day it falls on.