Been a long day...

Lesson went aight. I'm glad I don't have to write anymore for awhile, because I don't think I'll ever be completely comfortable as a public speaker. I'm just not very good at it. Then again these days, the rating of "good" could hardly be applied to my aptitude at most anything.

I had a weird little moment today.

It was while I was buying some takeout at my favorite local (and only decent) teriyaki joint, Miako's. I went inside, placed an order, then went back to my car so I could take it to the gas station and gas it up while they were making my order. I'm driving through the parking lot to the gas station, when I roll by Safeway and I see an employee pushing a line of carts toward the store. He's minding his own business, concentrating at the task at hand, but I see his face.

I recognize the guy... went to high school with him and I hadn't seem him since until now. I didn't know him that well, wasn't friends with him, but I had a couple of classes with him and he always seemed like a smart person, one of those nice guys that is remarkable for being unremarkable. Last I heard, he was going to go to the UW just like me... but here I see him now, wearing a clerk's apron and pushing Slaveway grocery store carts.

I wondered if he was doing what he really wanted to do, working as a clerk. Or if somehow, by some act of God or malicious circumstance, his hopes and dreams were set fire to and he was stuck back here, in the wasteland of ghetto Renton / Kent, to sort out the ashes. My eyes could see the lines of age on his face as he passed in front of my car... I slowed down and braked a healthy distance away. We made eye contact and he gave me an appreciate nod before he continued on his task of pushing the line of carts into the store. I don't think he recognized me. My hair was considerably longer and stupid-er in high school. And my eyes were less old.

But maybe when I looked at him, I was looking at piece of myself. What's the measure of a meaningful life, a significant existance? I'm not as sure of the answer as I once was.

The price of gas sucked donkey nuts. But at least the chicken katsu was tasty as always.
posted by G at 11:24 PM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33