Harrison: Amusing Rather than Punishing Today

I'm never able to follow good advice - not even my own. That's why this morning I again found myself trundling down Harrison on my way to work; who can resist shaving a few minutes off their commute? As I passed over the bridge over the river, I saw ahead of me a person on a red cruiser that was slowly making his or her way East, awkwardly burdened with various bags and mildly weaving nearer and farther from the curb. In no time I overtook him (now I could tell which it was), and wound up catching him at a red light. He just about fell over and made eye contact, so I said good morning to him.

He looked a bit disoriented, but overall pleasant and even boyish, though he had on business attire and carried a leather shoulder bag/briefcase in addition to what looked like a gym bag on his other shoulder, and a large sack of carryout over his handlebar. Instead of reciprocating my greeting, he said he had bad insomnia which, having been up until 3am this morning, I was able to empathize with. Then, without a moment's hesitation, he asked if I had any weed, and mused that his insomnia was so bad that he was even asking strangers. Being a relatively-level-headed soul quite a few years out of high school and the days of capriciously carrying illegals with me to work, I apologetically told him no, but that if I had been holding I would have shared with him. He smiled, the light turned, and I rode off.

I passed the fateful 'dooring' site uneventfully and made my turn into the park. I kind of missed the scenery, so I enjoyed once again being able to push through the mud, over the railroad tracks, and on to work. The nearly 60F weather made the whole ride feel like I was back in the summer, dealing with the humidity and malaise again (for you warm weather readers this may not seem like a heat wave, but after hitting 0F here last week, it feels positively balmy right now). It was a surreal ride to go along with this surreal January weather.