Yeah, awesome, go...

My commute to work is about 4.5 miles and a good chunk of that is on two bike paths. There are a few exciting parts where I have to pass through busy intersections, but mostly it's cake. There are excitements of another kind, however, now that I commute at odd hours. I used to be heading out around 7, or 7:30 or 10 when lots of people were going to work. Now it's later, around the middle of the day when everyone is pretty mellow.

The first episode today was when I was heading very fast down a big hill. I saw an ambulance parked by the side of the road and an odd tableau came into view. Two EMT's stood, looking down with their arms folded at a man on the ground. The man on the ground was wearing only spandex shorts and running shoes. He looked like he was lounging because he was leaning back on one elbow, gesticulating high in the air with his other hand. Lastly, there was a cyclist, helmet on but unbuckled, bike against a nearby tree, also looking down at the man but more exasperated than the EMT's. I didn't have time to make up much of a story because I went by them as quickly as I could. My guess: a crash of some kind between runner and cyclist, but everyone but the shirtless man thinks that he's ok. The shirtless man feels that there's been an injustice.

Later that afternoon, as I was biking home, there was a guy walking his mountain bike up the short hill to the BU bridge. He kept wandering from side to side so I couldn't quite make it around him. I "ding-ed" my cheerful little bell to let him know I was coming around the outside of him. He growled at me "uh... Yeah! Awesome, go!" as I passed.

I passed the place where I always look for a deer by the road (I've seen her there twice) and was barreling through some trees that border a soccer field on one side when I saw a 13 year old girl in soccer clothes, standing around looking vague by the side of the bike path. Then, right as I came even with her another girl in a matching kit stood up and pulled her shorts up in one movement communicating "I just finished peeing outdoors" then saw me and said "Oh!" and I laughed out loud HARD.

Thank goodness Fredrick Olmstead worked so hard to keep these lands available to the public!

140 characters or less?

I recently friended an old high school friend from high school. He sent me a message "catching up" the last 15 years in a few sentences: NY, wife, baby, new album. Then he asked, how about you "Give me your life so far in 140 characters?"

I have to imagine that 140 is the max for a tweet. (I do have a twitter account but have tweeted a handful of times about 3 years ago... weirdly, I still get emails that people have started following me on twitter, many of whom are strangers. It must be very dull for them.)

Anyway, it's very difficult for me to do this sort of thing in any time. This has been a particularly challenging year, which somehow colors my experience. I started out and then took it back about 100 times. My deepest fear when I was an adolescent was being misunderstood. I didn't cut my hair short, or pierce my nose, or listen to Ani Difranco because I didn't want people to be able to write me off and put me into a box. In the same way, as I stared at my computer, excited to be in contact with an old friend. At first I liked the challenge, like a Haiku.
I gave up. I posted more than 200 characters:

"I live in Jp with my husband, Zak. I teach and I learn in equal parts. It’s been a challenging year, but I’m really blessed with a great community. I find great joy on my bike, in the woods, on my yoga mat, knitting, and in a glass of well-crafted beer…but not all at once."