Not sick of the rain yet
A cold, rainy night in Portland. I’ve spent the evening happily tucked into a corner of a cafe that does NOT play techno, drinking my decaf americano and writing. A good writing night, I’m happy to say, and now a very quick hello of a blog post and off to buy groceries and then go home to my guys. A character I had thought was going to make just one minor appearance in the early pages of the book has made a reappearance on page 110 and turns out to be far more interesting than I’d first thought when meeting him on page 40 or thereabouts. He’s bringing a twist to the story that I didn’t expect. I’m looking forward to seeing where it’s all leading.
I’m also looking forward to getting out of here now to go grocery shopping. For real. I love grocery stores. I was a cashier in a Foodtown in high school and you’d think that would have scarred me for life, but apparently not. I didn’t like the job much, but I did enjoy the voyeuristic aspects of it. Seeing what people bought, in what quantities, how often. Listening to what they said to each other. Seeing their addresses on their checks (this was pre-debit cards and very few people used their credit cards to buy groceries back then, at least where I worked) and making some guesses about their lifestyles based on the address. And then the regulars…having regulars and liking them. Old Mr. Masikoff, well into his seventies and an unapologetic flirt with his favorite cashiers (me and this girl Ann Marie)… The woman who asked me where I got my hair cut and then came back in a week later with the same cut as me–a suburban punk asymmetric cut (dyed a flaming red, of course) that was weirdly out of place on her middle aged head, even though she didn’t go for the red. The dad in his late forties or early fifties with the faded Levi’s and salt and pepper crew cut who would come in with kids about my age and my hands would shake when I gave him his change and even today I’m getting a nervous little rush thinking about him… (I wonder what he would have thought, had he known a 17-year-old had a crush on him?)
Ah…Foodtown…
You never know where a blog entry will take you when you sit down to write. I only meant to say that I’m looking forward to shopping without having to rush through and appease/entertain a toddler.
And now I must go and do said shopping and get home to my guys.
Have a lovely evening. And while we’re at it… Any nameless strangers from your distant past, the thought of whom can still make you feel a bit wiggly?
I love everything you write. I lurk and read your blog when I can. Stick with it you are really good.
Posted by: Jennifer
I love everything you write. I lurk and read your blog when I can. Stick with it you are really good.
Posted by: Jennifer
No, sadly I don’t have any nameless strangers that could do that to me. There is however a love from the 70’s who moved back to Germany of whom I think the odd time. Of course that’s kind of silly seeing as I have the best husband in the world. I hate shopping and by the way, I gladly trade your rain for our 14 inches of snow (and it’s still snowing)…ciao
Posted by: rositta
Oh, only one…it as a bookstore…and he became not-nameless the day I realized his 35 foot wooden sailboat was the one I’d admired for so very long…and he recognized me from the store…
Looking back, I really really liked the anonymity with the shy smiles much more than actually meeting him, and his wife (ugh).
Posted by: Mary
Glad you had better luck with the cafe this time, and got plenty done, it feels good to have those days!
Posted by: Sharon
Oh yeah. I worked in customer service at a small publishing company. There was a man whom I never met in person named Robin Sterling who had the most silky, gorgeous deep voice and Aussie accent. His ‘good afternoon’ could make anyone melt.
I always suspected he looked like Jabba the Hut because no appearance could match that voice, but damn – he sounded fine.
I can’t believe 20 years later I still remember his name!
Posted by: no-blog-rachel
Oh what a lovely post. I think these little slices of life are my favorites. I don’t know about nameless strangers who made me all aflutter in my past, but there was a boy working in a bike shop a couple of weeks ago when I was in to buy pedals who was so distracting that I forgot to look at the price of the pedals (and everything else I was buying) and ended up dropping over $100 that I could ill afford – and then was too embarrassed to ask him to cancel some of it…
Posted by: Lizbon
Oh how I remember those days of blissful grocery shopping all by myself. 😉
Posted by: Norma
No, sadly I don’t have any nameless strangers that could do that to me. There is however a love from the 70’s who moved back to Germany of whom I think the odd time. Of course that’s kind of silly seeing as I have the best husband in the world. I hate shopping and by the way, I gladly trade your rain for our 14 inches of snow (and it’s still snowing)…ciao
Posted by: rositta
Oh, only one…it as a bookstore…and he became not-nameless the day I realized his 35 foot wooden sailboat was the one I’d admired for so very long…and he recognized me from the store…
Looking back, I really really liked the anonymity with the shy smiles much more than actually meeting him, and his wife (ugh).
Posted by: Mary
Glad you had better luck with the cafe this time, and got plenty done, it feels good to have those days!
Posted by: Sharon
Oh yeah. I worked in customer service at a small publishing company. There was a man whom I never met in person named Robin Sterling who had the most silky, gorgeous deep voice and Aussie accent. His ‘good afternoon’ could make anyone melt.
I always suspected he looked like Jabba the Hut because no appearance could match that voice, but damn – he sounded fine.
I can’t believe 20 years later I still remember his name!
Posted by: no-blog-rachel
Oh what a lovely post. I think these little slices of life are my favorites. I don’t know about nameless strangers who made me all aflutter in my past, but there was a boy working in a bike shop a couple of weeks ago when I was in to buy pedals who was so distracting that I forgot to look at the price of the pedals (and everything else I was buying) and ended up dropping over $100 that I could ill afford – and then was too embarrassed to ask him to cancel some of it…
Posted by: Lizbon
Oh how I remember those days of blissful grocery shopping all by myself. 😉
Posted by: Norma
Oh yes, the nameless stranger – one of those instant wordless connections. I was…I don’t know, 20? 21?….anyway, waiting for the 14 UVic bus on Fort Street in Victoria, right outside Ward Music. Out comes this dude from the music shop, wearing a suit (?!). Young, handsome. Eye contact as he walked past me…heart went THUD and from the look on his face so did his. The bus arrived, opened its doors and I stepped on, looked over my shoulder. He was standing stock still, staring at me across the crowd. I felt like all the blood was draining out of my body through my feet. I smiled at him and for the next three months scanned the “I saw you” bit of the personals in Monday Magazine……but he never posted anything. Neither did I.
But I still think of him often.
Posted by: Shannon B
Oh yes. The guy behind the bar on the corner of my street. Like Orlando Bloom…but better.
Posted by: Jane in Camden
Think he would have been thrilled to know a 17 y/o had a crush on him. Thrilled in a good way not creepy way.
Posted by: Debbie
Tall, curly hair. The most gorgeous green eyes. Yes, I remember that stranger. WOW!!!!
Posted by: KaKi
I worked at a little neighborhood market when I was in my late teens. And I loved it for the same reasons. The regulars, the people that you’d remember how much lunchmeat they wanted or what kind of smokes they took.
The look on their faces when they realized you knew them was always priceless.
Posted by: Amber
Oh yes, the nameless stranger – one of those instant wordless connections. I was…I don’t know, 20? 21?….anyway, waiting for the 14 UVic bus on Fort Street in Victoria, right outside Ward Music. Out comes this dude from the music shop, wearing a suit (?!). Young, handsome. Eye contact as he walked past me…heart went THUD and from the look on his face so did his. The bus arrived, opened its doors and I stepped on, looked over my shoulder. He was standing stock still, staring at me across the crowd. I felt like all the blood was draining out of my body through my feet. I smiled at him and for the next three months scanned the “I saw you” bit of the personals in Monday Magazine……but he never posted anything. Neither did I.
But I still think of him often.
Posted by: Shannon B
Oh yes. The guy behind the bar on the corner of my street. Like Orlando Bloom…but better.
Posted by: Jane in Camden
Think he would have been thrilled to know a 17 y/o had a crush on him. Thrilled in a good way not creepy way.
Posted by: Debbie
Tall, curly hair. The most gorgeous green eyes. Yes, I remember that stranger. WOW!!!!
Posted by: KaKi
I worked at a little neighborhood market when I was in my late teens. And I loved it for the same reasons. The regulars, the people that you’d remember how much lunchmeat they wanted or what kind of smokes they took.
The look on their faces when they realized you knew them was always priceless.
Posted by: Amber
I have similar memories from my high school days as a cashier at (now long gone) Thrift Drug. Ringing sales there was a little more personal, though, and I used to get really embarrassed on a regular basis. I couldn’t handle it if someone was buying adult diapers or condoms! I would get so, so shy.
Posted by: Rebecca
A waiter who worked at Raoul’s in the early ’90s. I would practically stop breathing when I saw him.
just for the record, I too love to shop for groceries. oddly enough, this was something over which my ex and I bonded early in our relationship. Weird, i know.
Posted by: regina
I always wanted to be a check out lady at a grocery store. When I grow up one day….watch out world!
Posted by: Lorajean
I think his name was Paul, I was 26 and I was supposed to be interviewing him for the staffing agency I was at. One of the first things I noticed about him was what appeared to be a hand-knit scarf in the most beautiful sky-blue, which he told me later his mother had made for him. I have a BA in Spanish and this guy had lived in South America and studied for his MBA in Spain. The most incredible blue eyes, broad shoulders, intelligent, funny, his parents were both profs at my local alma mater…
The interview went for 45 minutes. My boyfriend had broken up with me several months earlier and this guy was the first one to make me feel attracted to anyone at all since and boy howdy! By the time the interview was over I could feel how bright red I was and when I walked out of my office I could have hyperventilated. The girls teased me about it for months. He never got in touch with us again, so I’m afraid I must have scared him off with the Interview That Would Never End. But he was so interesting…….. almost wish I would have had the guts to call and invited him to coffee…
Posted by: Melinda
Oh, so many fleeting crushes over the years. Um… the one that comes immediately to mind is a dreamy TA from my undergrad. Sigh.
This post *felt* like a rainy night in a cafe, which I appreciate on this snowy morning in my living room. xo
Posted by: alison
Actually, now that you mention it, your post got me thinking about my high school job at the movie theater. I loved that job and to this day I love movie theaters, I think mostly because of the years I spent working at one. I started thinking about my old co-workers and how I met a guy I dated at the theater one day when he came in and bought popcorn from me. Subsequently he started working at the theater too.
Posted by: Knittripps
I have similar memories from my high school days as a cashier at (now long gone) Thrift Drug. Ringing sales there was a little more personal, though, and I used to get really embarrassed on a regular basis. I couldn’t handle it if someone was buying adult diapers or condoms! I would get so, so shy.
Posted by: Rebecca
A waiter who worked at Raoul’s in the early ’90s. I would practically stop breathing when I saw him.
just for the record, I too love to shop for groceries. oddly enough, this was something over which my ex and I bonded early in our relationship. Weird, i know.
Posted by: regina
I always wanted to be a check out lady at a grocery store. When I grow up one day….watch out world!
Posted by: Lorajean
I think his name was Paul, I was 26 and I was supposed to be interviewing him for the staffing agency I was at. One of the first things I noticed about him was what appeared to be a hand-knit scarf in the most beautiful sky-blue, which he told me later his mother had made for him. I have a BA in Spanish and this guy had lived in South America and studied for his MBA in Spain. The most incredible blue eyes, broad shoulders, intelligent, funny, his parents were both profs at my local alma mater…
The interview went for 45 minutes. My boyfriend had broken up with me several months earlier and this guy was the first one to make me feel attracted to anyone at all since and boy howdy! By the time the interview was over I could feel how bright red I was and when I walked out of my office I could have hyperventilated. The girls teased me about it for months. He never got in touch with us again, so I’m afraid I must have scared him off with the Interview That Would Never End. But he was so interesting…….. almost wish I would have had the guts to call and invited him to coffee…
Posted by: Melinda
Oh, so many fleeting crushes over the years. Um… the one that comes immediately to mind is a dreamy TA from my undergrad. Sigh.
This post *felt* like a rainy night in a cafe, which I appreciate on this snowy morning in my living room. xo
Posted by: alison
Actually, now that you mention it, your post got me thinking about my high school job at the movie theater. I loved that job and to this day I love movie theaters, I think mostly because of the years I spent working at one. I started thinking about my old co-workers and how I met a guy I dated at the theater one day when he came in and bought popcorn from me. Subsequently he started working at the theater too.
Posted by: Knittripps
Not a nameless stranger, but definitely someone whom the thought of makes me a bit wiggly. Mmmm. Wonder where he is now….
Posted by: Emily
Oooh nice!!!
Not nameless but definitely giving me the shivers thinking about him just now…
His wife: not so great but then she left him! 😉
Posted by: Samira
Mmmmm
When I worked at Tower we used to have a regular customer who was so beautiful in an exotic, subtle, and gentle sort of way. He wasn’t over-the-top gorgeous so he must have had great phermones because all of the women went weak-kneed when he came in. He smelled like roses.
And he was one of those men who really looked at you when you interacted with him. That may have been part of it too.
I still get a little flutter thinking of him. Funny, it is the smell and look I remember. I don’t think I could pick him out of a line up.
Posted by: Laurie
Not a nameless stranger, but the father of an old boyfriend… when things seemed to get serious, I can remember thinking that I’d be very lucky if he aged into looking like his father. (Of course we broke up long ago, just before I met my now-husband whose father is also very handsome.)
Posted by: Jena (the yarn harpy)
Once when I worked at a bookstore, a nice boy my age would come in about once a week. He seemed interesting enough, like someone I’d want to be friends with. Then one night he asked me out on a date, and he was nice and genuine enough that I felt bad turning him down. I got laid off before he came back.
Now I work at a coffee shop, and I have a love/hate relationship with the regulars. Some are very nice, some are pushy, some are awkward, some are friends from high school.
Posted by: rach
Not a nameless stranger, but definitely someone whom the thought of makes me a bit wiggly. Mmmm. Wonder where he is now….
Posted by: Emily
Oooh nice!!!
Not nameless but definitely giving me the shivers thinking about him just now…
His wife: not so great but then she left him! 😉
Posted by: Samira
Mmmmm
When I worked at Tower we used to have a regular customer who was so beautiful in an exotic, subtle, and gentle sort of way. He wasn’t over-the-top gorgeous so he must have had great phermones because all of the women went weak-kneed when he came in. He smelled like roses.
And he was one of those men who really looked at you when you interacted with him. That may have been part of it too.
I still get a little flutter thinking of him. Funny, it is the smell and look I remember. I don’t think I could pick him out of a line up.
Posted by: Laurie
Not a nameless stranger, but the father of an old boyfriend… when things seemed to get serious, I can remember thinking that I’d be very lucky if he aged into looking like his father. (Of course we broke up long ago, just before I met my now-husband whose father is also very handsome.)
Posted by: Jena (the yarn harpy)
Once when I worked at a bookstore, a nice boy my age would come in about once a week. He seemed interesting enough, like someone I’d want to be friends with. Then one night he asked me out on a date, and he was nice and genuine enough that I felt bad turning him down. I got laid off before he came back.
Now I work at a coffee shop, and I have a love/hate relationship with the regulars. Some are very nice, some are pushy, some are awkward, some are friends from high school.
Posted by: rach
Nameless stranger…
For some years I commuted by train and bus every day to and from an office. I didn’t have many buses to chose from in the morning, so I almost always ended up taking the same bus at the same time. So did a bunch of people. And my eyes were especially focused on the guy wearing a cap. And he seemed interested in me as well. Looks. Smiles. After about a year (I think) we sat down next to each other on the bus and talked. And the magic just disappeared. He had a funny voice and seemed to live a life I wasn’t at all interested in…
Posted by: Anna
Not nameless, but I would have no idea where he is now. In 9th grade I had a student teacher in World History. Mr. Stanley. He was from New Zealand and looked like Pierce Brosnan! Whooo. . . I miss Mr. Stanley!
Posted by: aleakamh
After I had divorced my first husband and moved back to Park Slope I would take the D train at 7th Ave at the same time every morning. There was a guy. Honestly don’t really remember what he looked like: probably dark and tall. He would stand at the same end of the train as I did. I would look for him. We would exchange glances. Smiles? Maybe not. Remember hearing at the time about some mythical pick up scene on certain NYC subway cars. Watched him for months. He would disappear for periods. I imagined he traveled for work. My divorce was stressful and I was seeing a man from my office which made life complicated. This guy was my oasis. I fantasized about him regularly. Was this close to saying hi more times than I could count. Not sure what happened, whether I met someone, changed my commuting schedule, maybe it was the disruption on the D line after 9/11, but then the whole scene was gone. I had forgotten about him until I read your post. Thank you for reminding me. It was a sweet memory.
Posted by: Samantha
Ha ha ha! Out of the blue an old friend from cadets (who I had the most wild crush on and could never have asked out because what would he see in me?) called. I wasn’t home and Jim took the message. When Jim picked me up from work he asked “Who’s so and so (name changed to protect the innocent)?” and then my co worker said “Oh my god, you should see how red your face is!” and he hasn’t called again. I’m blushing thinking about him. WTF?
Posted by: Ande
Nameless stranger…
For some years I commuted by train and bus every day to and from an office. I didn’t have many buses to chose from in the morning, so I almost always ended up taking the same bus at the same time. So did a bunch of people. And my eyes were especially focused on the guy wearing a cap. And he seemed interested in me as well. Looks. Smiles. After about a year (I think) we sat down next to each other on the bus and talked. And the magic just disappeared. He had a funny voice and seemed to live a life I wasn’t at all interested in…
Posted by: Anna
Not nameless, but I would have no idea where he is now. In 9th grade I had a student teacher in World History. Mr. Stanley. He was from New Zealand and looked like Pierce Brosnan! Whooo. . . I miss Mr. Stanley!
Posted by: aleakamh
After I had divorced my first husband and moved back to Park Slope I would take the D train at 7th Ave at the same time every morning. There was a guy. Honestly don’t really remember what he looked like: probably dark and tall. He would stand at the same end of the train as I did. I would look for him. We would exchange glances. Smiles? Maybe not. Remember hearing at the time about some mythical pick up scene on certain NYC subway cars. Watched him for months. He would disappear for periods. I imagined he traveled for work. My divorce was stressful and I was seeing a man from my office which made life complicated. This guy was my oasis. I fantasized about him regularly. Was this close to saying hi more times than I could count. Not sure what happened, whether I met someone, changed my commuting schedule, maybe it was the disruption on the D line after 9/11, but then the whole scene was gone. I had forgotten about him until I read your post. Thank you for reminding me. It was a sweet memory.
Posted by: Samantha
Ha ha ha! Out of the blue an old friend from cadets (who I had the most wild crush on and could never have asked out because what would he see in me?) called. I wasn’t home and Jim took the message. When Jim picked me up from work he asked “Who’s so and so (name changed to protect the innocent)?” and then my co worker said “Oh my god, you should see how red your face is!” and he hasn’t called again. I’m blushing thinking about him. WTF?
Posted by: Ande