I've been friends with a guy for about three years now, but the other night we had what felt like our first long, deep, one-on-one conversation and it felt really nice. We've also been getting more tactile, and I love touch in general so I'm all for it, but it feels good to be moving in that kind of direction (ideally I would be able to freely cuddle with all my friends, with their consent of course). I like being his friend. It makes me happy.

Walking home, I saw a void kitty sitting on a windowsill. I felt sorry for it as it is cold and damp and kitty's fur was beaded with water. But then he (I think) banged on the window with a paw. It opened and he vanished inside shaking the water off his feet. It made me happy.

So this happened earlier this morning, and I just wanted to share it somewhere because I can’t stop thinking about it lol.

I was heading to work at around 4:30 AM. My job site is about 20 minutes from my house, and just as I’m about to exit the freeway, I realize I FORGOT MY WORK BOOTS. 😭In a panic, I check my backseat, hoping that maybe, just maybe, I left them there. Nope.

So I call my mom, tell her what happened, and turn around to head back home. At this point, I’m already going to be late, and I notice I’m also running low on gas. I figured, well, I’m already late, might as well fill up. Mind you, I had enough gas to make it to work, so stopping wasn’t exactly necessary.

I pass a gas station on my way home and briefly consider stopping, but decide I’ll just get gas after picking up my boots.

I finally get home, my mom hands me my boots, and I’m back on the road.

I pull into the gas station, and as I’m filling up, an older gentleman, probably in his late 60s or early 70s, starts approaching me. Immediately, I put my guard up because I assume he’s either going to ask me for money or try to sell me something.

Instead, he says, “I’m trying to get to the 15.”

And I’m just standing there like… what? 😭

Mind you, it’s ridiculously early, I’m barely functioning, and I’m already having a pretty annoying morning because of the whole work boots situation.

Then it finally clicks.

“Ohhh, okay! Well, you’re going to want to get on the 210.”
He asks, “Heading east, right?”
And I’m like, “Uhhhh…”

I literally look toward the mountains north of us because that’s how I figure out which direction is north. 💀
I point to my right. “Yes!”

I proceed to tell him, “From there, you’ll take the 57, then the 71, then the 91, and eventually you’ll reach the 15.”
I actually know this route pretty well because I used to drive it regularly when I attended UCSD and would come home to visit my parents on the weekends.

But he looks a little overwhelmed.

Then he asks, “What about the 605?”
I tell him, “Well, that’ll eventually take you toward the 5, so probably not.”

Then he asks, “What about the 10?”

At this point, I pull out my phone, open Apple Maps, and realize that yes, he could actually take the 10!

So I tell him, “Okay, yeah! You can take the 210, then the 57, then the 10, and eventually you’ll hit the 15.”

He repeats it back to me.
“210, 57, 10, 15.”
“Yes! Exactly!”

He thanks me, gets into his car, and drives off.

And that was that.

I finish getting gas and head back to work.

But as I’m driving, a thought suddenly crosses my mind.

I should’ve asked for his phone number.

Not for any weird reason, obviously. 😭

But because now I’m genuinely wondering whether this older gentleman, who was apparently navigating SoCal freeways at 5 in the morning, actually made it onto the 15.

And then I started thinking about how none of this interaction would’ve happened if I hadn’t forgotten my work boots. Or if I’d stopped for gas earlier. Or if I’d decided to just make it to work with the gas I already had.

Just a bunch of little inconveniences that somehow led to this random encounter with a complete stranger.
It’s such a small, insignificant interaction in the grand scheme of things, but for some reason, it stuck with me.
I don’t know where he was going, why he was traveling so early, or whether he ever found the freeway he was looking for.

I just hope he made it to wherever he needed to be.
And if you’re out there, sir, I really hope you found the 15. 😭

October is always a rough month for me [but that's beyond the scope of this sub] and I've been looking forward to getting paid today and going to the buffet. It was nice to go out for dinner after running errands today.

I had one of my favorite seats again, they have a line of mini booths right up beside the buffet and it's prime people-watching territory. As usual, staff recognized me and had my regular drinks on my table before I got back with my first plate without me even asking. Root beer and an ice water.

+My bus was running behind today and I got there later than usual. A lot of the buffet items were running low when I got there. But once I went up for my second plate, everything had just been freshly restocked!

+They had a mysterious "crispy chicken" on the buffet line today. Skinless, boneless thigh pieces with a dark, fried coating. Tasted heavily of white pepper. Tasty, I dunked them in the curry.

+There was a family there for a birthday party, they brought in a cake and a ton of wrapped gifts.

+Saw a mother leading her young son around the buffet line and pointing to every item as they went to get a YES or NO and every YES went onto the kid's plate.

+There was a table of seniors having a ladies' night out, enjoying the buffet discount and a bottle of red wine.

+There's a water fountain in the lobby; people toss coins in it that get collected and donated to the children's hospital. A lady was sitting on the edge of the fountain, fell back, and got pretty soaked. She wasn't hurt, just wet!

And my fortune cookie says: Be yourself, and you will always be in fashion.

Must have lasted at least 10 seconds. Bet it felt great.

Sunday night. Made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins for the week, and ate one fresh out of the oven for girl dinner. Looking forward to snuggling into a bed made of freshly washed bedding with my kitty babies.

Total opposite of sunday scaries.

bought carrot cake mix on sale a week(?) ago, and more recently got a bag of carrots intending to make a hearty carrot soup. looks like it's a carrot kind of week! we've got a fridge full of vegetables which is pretty rare for us these days, I'm looking forward to making the best of them. relatedly, the fridge is too full to host a bunch of carrot cake muffins, so I'm not sure how that's gonna work out...

Walked down to my doctor's surgery this morning to get my flu jab.

On the way down, this father and daughter are walking and the little girl is booted up for rain. It is not raining, but it did rain yesterday. They approach a large puddle. The little girl looks up at her dad and asks if she can. He nods. With the biggest grin, she jumps in that puddle and starts splashing around having a grand ol' time.

In the doctor's surgery, I take my place in line. I am very lucky to be next to a man with a guide dog (which I do not pet even though they look like the goodest dog). The man gets called in and that dog is SO happy. Like, their tail is just wagging and they're smiling and excitable. That dog clearly loves their job.

On the way home, I stop by a deli to get a hot sandwich. A guy comes in with his dog. This pair is clearly a regular, because a member of staff already has some meat waiting for the dog and the dog is making his way to the counter to receive their daily offering. I am pleased to say I did get to pet this good boy.

My eldest adult child, mid20s is visiting their significant other for a birthday.

Me: What are you doing for his birthday?

Child: he really likes arcades so we are doing that. Then he's going to show me things from his collections cause that's something he enjoys.

Me: yeah you guys are adorable. Go be adorable.

I also want to show people my collections.

Shopping at the market today, someone put googly eyes on the cheese.

( I think photos are banned in this community, so, no cheese tax available to view)

This is kind of dumb and a little sad. I think I made a new friend at work. I have always had a hard time making friends. There is this newer girl at work and she is super nice. Shes kind of like a younger sister to me though. I went on vacation the other week and when I came back she was so excited to see me and said she loves working with me. She asked me to come to her gender reveal party next month and also asked if I could hang out this weekend. I have not had anyone ask me to hangout outside of work in so long. I am going out of town so will have to be another day.

i work in a corporate complex and i don’t drive so the only food within walking distance is this one french restaurant/bakery place.

but unfortunately i am always accidentally packing bullshit for my lunch and so i’ve gotten into the habit of like once a week walking over to get a $4 cup of soup to go. and i’ve always sort of wondered if they’re not a fan of that because like girl who only gets $4 soup is really not the kind of regular i think places are looking for.

but then today as i step into the place it out of nowhere starts pouring rain and as they hand me my order they also hand me an umbrella and are like keep it, it’s been in our lost and found for months.

so now i have soup, a new purse umbrella and the knowledge that ive built some sort of rapport with this restaurant im always in lol. shoutout phil from the hosts stand who also handles take out.

i decided to run out and pickup some food after work today. the weather said “rain in 20 minutes” so i figured i had some time. i was so wrong.

halfway through my walk there, it started down pouring. i looked like i had just taken a shower. on my way home i was standing at the crosswalk of a long light and these two guys tapped me on my shoulder and told me to take one of their umbrellas. i told them “no it’s okay i can’t do that, but thank you so much”, they insisted saying that they would just share one, so i took the umbrella.

it was such a kind, nice gesture. it made me feel warm and fuzzy. i sometimes get wrapped up in the news too much and had been feeling really down and lost lately. i hope those strangers know how much i appreciated them. i wish there was a way for me to thank them.

I'm a little unreasonably excited that it's supposed to get down to 28°F/-2°C tonight. I discovered long ago that I adore cozy comfort and then discovered the Danes have a word for it. I love fall and winter.

My SIL is visiting, and so her, my mom and me went on a little shopping trip yesterday. I needed to go to the yarn store anyway, so I made them come with me.

I want to knit a wrap for myself and found some lovely red yarn. At the checkout, I was digging through my purse to find my wallet, and my mom said „you know what, if you can’t find your wallet, I’ll pay“. She’s extremely generous whenever we’re out in town, so I knew there was no discussion (and no reimbursing her later)…

Just then, she spotted a knitted sweater on display and asked the shop owner if they knew someone who could knit it for her. The shop owner has become an acquaintance over the years, and she laughed, looked at me and told my mom „I think I’d know who to ask!“ Then my SIL chimed in: „Tell you what, I’ll get the yarn for that sweater as a birthday gift [which is next week], and /OP/ can knit it for you for Christmas!“

So I went home with not one but two more projects and no expenses at all! I can’t wait to cast on that sweater for my mom, as a Christmas present and a thankyou for the red yarn.

ETA: I just remembered a moment a little later: I had choir practice right after that shopping trip, so I took my big bag of wool with me to the practice, and one of the elderly ladies came up to me, grinned and asked: "Did you just break into my car? I got a bag just like yours in there!"

It is autumn here, and sunrise isn't til 7.18 tomorrow. That means, I can stay in bed til 6.30 am for my Saturday hike. I like to go out early, it is a nice way to start the day and I can be home by lunchtime. But I don't love getting up early. So I like the autumn and winter, it is prime time for lazy morning hikers. I will see the mountain after I see my duvet for a bit.

I got myself some mortadella and really yummy bread, looking forward to it

We're doing demolition. I'm usually on the construction side of things.

Some years ago, I was in a bad earthquake. It hit as we were going downstairs, and the building started cracking. It's a rather distinct sound... and it can be heard as I walk on the stairs of the building being demolished.

It freaked me out the first time, but two weeks later, my reaction isn't "earthquake" anymore. It's just work.

I have a prominent tattoo of a cassette on my forearm. one of my coworkers, who's still learning English, was telling a music-related story and trying to think of a word.

"my dad had a bunch of those ... you know, they had the ribbon?"

me: points at forearm one of these?

her: yeah!

me: that's a cassette

you never know what will be helpful to have inked on your body lol

Every morning, I like to go to a special outdoor spot at my university and read tarot cards for the day. This particular morning, I went to my usual spot, and I found a lovely bunch of flowers laying right where I always sit. I feel very grateful for this existence :)

I was driving to work, and i was crabby. Then I wound up behind a schoolbus. I saw a sad-faced kid staring sadly out the back window.

Once that was me. So I put my thumbs against my head and made moose horns and waggled them.

He grinned and called his friends over and we all made faces and laughed until the light changed.

This week we've had every morning really interesting, but harmless weather. I've enjoyed my commute a lot because of this. On Monday, I was on the highway at the break of dawn, it was mostly a clear morning with streaks of fog on the lower parts of the surrounding fields, looking like lace curtains being dragged over the fields. Tuesday we had an insanely beautiful sunrise with a double rainbow. Yesterday, it was a cold, humid morning and a dense fog bank appeared and disappeared within minutes (not that harmless). Today, I took a different route up a hill and could observe with every meter higher, how the morning fog was clearing.

Weather really can be interesting and watching it adds joy to daily life. I thankfully life in a place where weather doesn't kill or destroy much (yet, climate changes), but it varies a lot

We have a squirrel that's been coming to the back door of our kitchen, guy doesn't seem shy or scared at all. I wake up pretty early and quite often hear his little hands slap up against the glass while I'm making my coffee only to turn around and find him staring at me while I go about my business. Thought maybe he was hungry so took to leaving him something good like some unsalted peanuts or almonds on the back step for him to find before I start my morning routine, but he generally just comes and slaps the glass before he's even checked for treats and regardless of whether he decides to eat what I've left him. Not sure, of the two of us, who is more interested in watching who right now, but it's certainly adding a pleasant texture to my mornings. 🐿️👀

i love that level of intimacy with people where the joke is that your joke sucks, you know. they know you’re capable of something better, so when you try to make a bottom-of-the-barrel-barely-even-a-joke-joke it endears them to you even more and they laugh just because of that. i was at spirit halloween looking for a costume part and listing off aisles like “pirate.. mechanic.. masks.. tights.. makeup.. weird smell” and i have no idea why but it made my brother laugh so hard people would have been staring if Spirit Halloween wasnt already extremely loud. sometimes i dont know whats going to make him laugh so i just say the first dumb thing that comes to mind and he always ends up saying “why would you even say that?? that is NOT funny” while laughing with me, and then he tries to do the same thing later. just absurdity.

So this morning on the bus, I was sitting on the edge of the seat like I always do. For context, I’m a pretty big dude (6’4”, 217 pounds), but I used to weigh 400 pounds, so having people actually sit comfortably next to me is still a relatively new experience. I spent so much of my life trying to make myself smaller so other people could have enough space, and I guess some habits just stick around.

Anyway, this random Asian lady sat next to me and just casually fell asleep on my shoulder. Like, FULLY knocked out. She was zonked on me like I was some kind of public transportation memory foam pillow, and she stayed that way until she reached her stop. I’ll probably never see this woman again, and she’ll never know that her little nap meant anything to me. But I couldn't help finding the whole thing funny and weirdly heartwarming.

Maybe she was just exhausted. Maybe I looked like a comfortable place to rest. Or maybe I’ve finally reached a point in my weight loss journey where I no longer look like some massive dude taking up everyone's personal space.
Either way, it made me happy in a way I wasn't expecting. I spent years being painfully aware of how much space I occupied, and today, for a few bus stops, I was just some stranger's pillow. Life is funny like that. Sometimes a little reminder of how far you've come comes in the form of an exhausted lady using your shoulder as a headrest.