my green thumb

Hola amigos, I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but my neighbors were too busy getting robbed. No kidding. Last night I came home from work to see cop cars out at the house two doors down and they were there hours later. I had concocted this whole story about how one of the older people living there had died b/c I don't even really know them. Turns out they're not old at all, and as I said, their house was ransacked and robbed. No one was dead. Scary shit esp given this neighborhood (read: bedroom community of suburban commuters). Luckily I have two dogs who will go 10-8 on anyone's ass who attempts to steal my latest acquisition: two boxes of Samoas and 1 box of Tagalong girlscout cookies. Don't tell me that if those were spotted on the counter, someone wouldn't pry open the window and risk dog attack just to snatch them. At $3.50 a box, they're like cookies made of gold. ps. Regarding Girlscout cookies, I finally, this year, admitted to myself that I really don't like Thin Mints and I just need to stop buying them b/c all they ever do is sit in their plastic sleeves in my freezer until I move and throw them out. Sometimes, it takes years to admit the truth to oneself but I think I've crossed a threshold to a new and more honest me.

What else? Oh yes, I think I am going to document on this here blog the evolution and growth of my first (potential) new friendship in this godforsaken city. It will be like an anthropological discourse on how cultivating a friendship is like growing weed = time, attention, and appreciation for the end product. Or so friends have told me. (Aside: Once, back in the 70s, my brother convinced my mom that the pot plant that he was growing on the roof was a tomato plant and she would water it for him. It became one of those family stories that is told at holidays and funerals. The punchline of course is that Mom blamed her lack of a green thumb for it never producing any tomatoes).

Anyway, we are discussing the growth of a new friendship here. You've come in at the infancy of this so you get to follow it from zygote to like whatever it will (or will not) become. Backstory: Last thursday, there was some kind of cosmic Metro delay coupled with my lack of being able to deal with it so I just gave up and decided to come up from Metro Center and walk to Gallery Place. In fact, I contemplated just walking around the city in like one of those movies where you see someone kicking down the sidewalk, braced against the cold, alone in their thoughts in a big city, trying to 'find themselves' etc etc. Instead, I decided to go for beer. There's a brewery nearby that's not bad (not great, but not bad) so I went and got a drink and exhaled. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, a conversation with a guy sitting next to me occurred. He is Australian, his wife got a job here, they just moved to the city a week ago. She joined us and we had several more beers, discussed politics and sports, joked about America and bonded over LJ. Our tiny tiny friendship became a seed. We emailed the next day, we texted over the weekend, and on Thurs, we made plans to have drinks again. I now have a potential new boy and girl friendship. I will call them the Aussies and will update you all on our growth. It will be like our science project: Can I actually make a friend in this town? Wish me luck!

How's your world?