Fresh Fruit?

Farmers markets in Minnesota are usually filled with jolly farmers trying to sell their produce for a reasonable price to us city folk. In Boston the farmers market is a cut throat industry where it is not uncommon to hear the farmers telling us city folk they will kick are ass. Adrianne and I were lured to the market by the prospect of cheap avocados and strawberries. When we stumbled upon the market when walking to Fanual Hall we thought sweet, not only do we get to do some site seeing but we can also avoid going to Shaw’s for another day.

We were greeted by farmers yelling at customers to keep their disgusting hand of their fruit. The market was a maze filled with narrow walk ways populated with old Chinese women and their carts. While we did find good deals on fruit but we also found the task daunting. All we needed was 4 avocados for guacamole. When we found a nice avocado stand the farmer informed us that we could take the entire crate for $1. The avocados were overly ripe at best and at worst rotting. I tried to explain to the man behind the stand that I didn’t want an entire crate of avocados. He couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t want a crate of rotting fruit in our house. I finally made a deal for 4 for a dollar and left the market quickly.

Meetinboston

“If I’m not back by 1 am call the police.” These were the instructions I left Adrianne before I left for the bar. I have never gone to the bar by myself before. The entire idea of going to such a social place with no one to be social with was a bit intimidating. The bar was located about within a 15 min. walk from my house. Enough time for me to receive a pep talk from Dana. I took a deep breath and entered. The front of the bar was filled with Irish music and college kids on break. I ordered an IPA and stood next to a man who was gesturing and talking to himself. Good I thought, it will look like this man and I are in a heated conversation. About fifteen seconds after thinking this I realized that standing next to someone who is talking to themselves is not a good idea when you want to try to meet other people. I wondered to the back of the bar where a ‘80’s cover band was warming up. I stood around for a bit and looked around. Everywhere there were groups of people talking to each other and I wondered why wasn’t I one of them?

Not long after that thought a short man came up to me and asked me if I was looking for someone, I said no and that I had come here by myself. He introduced himself as the founder of meetinboston.com. (or something to that effect). He introduced me to a large group of people.

Short guy: This is_______ he is part of meetinboston
Me: Hi what do you do?
Short guy: And this is________ He’s from Michigan

Once I said I was from Minnesota it was over. The guy from Michigan wouldn’t stop talking to me about the difference between soda and pop. I excused myself to get another beer. One beer later the meetboston people told me they were going to go to some other bar to listen to more music. I told them it was nice to meet them and left in a separate direction.

Streetwise

After living in the same neighborhood for two years my feet could automatically run my morning jog without my brain having to think. I miss the quiet moments where it was just me aware of my body and nothing else. Now that I have relocated to a new place I find that this routine broken. A few times I have just started walking and when I look up I find that I have no clue as to where I am. Either I have already walked way past my house or forgot to turn somewhere and must back track until I spy familiar landmarks. I know with time I will begin to know where to turn and can watch my feet take the next step without worrying where it will lead me, but for now, I miss the security of knowing where I am.

I’m Swiss Cheese

So as it turns out, the first few days of a new job actually blow big time. Today we learned about good customer service. For three hours. After that little slice of hell I was able to sign up for health care. Now if I get hit by a car I’ll only have to pay for part of the medical bills (hooray!). On the down side if someone else gets hit by a car I have to help pay for their medical bill. After asking to have money taken out of my pay check I went to occupational health were they don’t believe that I’ve had any vaccinations and then tried to take blood to check my immunity. After 3 needle sticks and no blood they gave up and told me they would try again when I came back to get my TB test read. All in all this day was filled with boredom and pain. Someone wake me when I get to the floor.

Now I'm like your mother

This is my first attempt at putting my thoughts onto an online forum. I figure that since everyone one else is doing so should I. This will also hopefully help me stay in touch with people who I graduated with from various institutions and now no longer live within 15 mins. of each other. Well I hope you enjoy my musings.