~Monday~ I caught the 8:15 city bus, which I waited for in the heat and humidity until 8:25. My BlackBerry app, The Weather Channel, said that it was “81° out, but feels like 87°,” and I wanted to add, “And at a bus stop, with absolutely zero breeze, it really feels like 92°. And that reminded me of that fabulous line from Steel Magnolias uttered by Truvy: “In a good shoe, I wear a size six, but a seven feels so good, I buy an eight.”
At the first stop after mine, a white guy mounted his bike on the bike rack in front of the bus and took a seat cattycorner to me. He had on a white undershirt, with no shirt over it, such that a tuft of hair peeked out over the slight V at its neck, and up beyond his furry forearms, you could see up the sleeve of his t-shirt when he lifted his arm to hold on to a nearby hand bar. His backpack had a netted area, through which I could see a stick of Degree deodorant.
Under the bus route maps mounted on the wall behind the bus driver’s seat, in a Plexiglassed area about 12″ long by 18″ high, behind which people can slip fliers, there was this one:
| Calling all men to a Man-up Revival, Sunday, September 12, 2010, 4-6 PM at the Tarboro Community Center, 121 N. Tarboro Road, near St. Augustine’s College. Refreshments will be served. ~The Greater Highway Apostolic Community Church of Christ, Bishop Robinson, Founder/Pastor.~ |
At a subsequent stop, while I was spending perhaps a little more time than I should have thinking about all that a “man-up” could be, someone boarded and tapped me on the shoulder to say hello as she passed by me—Li’l Dino. Behind her, followed a tall, thin, shapely black women with mid-thigh shorts that were painted on, and she held on tight to a black, leather portfolio.
Sitting across from me was the girl last seen on June 22nd reading Uncle John’s Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader, today reading:
In my work inbox, I had an e-mail from the director of the organization that runs the Alternative Spring Break Trips programs saying he hadn’t received a form from me, but that I had turned in back in June, prioritizing where we’d like to go in the upcoming year’s trips. However, he wanted to see how I felt about returning to the Gulf Coast area again for next year’s Spring Break (March 2011) trip to lead another group of kids down there for a week of Post-Katrina Habitat for Humanity work.
After lunch, I met with my friend and colleague, Nick, to talk about the potential of changing the way we build and display our organization’s calendar of events on our home page.
After work and after dinner, I took a two-hour nap, after which I drove down to Cup A Joe Mission Valley, where I worked on Thursday’s and Friday’s blog entries until they closed at 10:30.