Monday’s are nuts sometimes, I wake up at 5:00am with all intentions of completing the list of to-do’s carried over from Friday.
And boy has it been an accelerated day. Don’t read me wrong; this is not a complaint, just an observation and my motivation to conduct a late day priority check with it being the beginning of a very busy week.
I’m sure you’ve experienced the accelerated day syndrome… You know them, days where the clock, through some mysterious act of physics, moves as if attempting to mock your organizational skills while confusing your head concerning the true duration of an hour.
What…! Five minutes ago, it was 2:00pm, how in the sake of all that is wholly can it suddenly be 5:00pm…? Am I loosing my mind…! or does it just take that long for me to do __________________________? You fill in the blank.
Why this phenomenon occurs…? I know not? Maybe its age, could be due to deep focus of task, or possibly the distractions of phone, email bings or door knocks. But whatever it is… today is the day the mystery of time suck has visited my abode.
But in the eye of the minute storm, I manage to find a fifteen-minute window of still waters.
Here I am, corner of Sherman Way and Remmet. And no… I’m not walking the streets selling my wares. I’m on my way to pick up my daughter from her acting class at a nearby studio. With the cost of fuel at over $4.00, I can afford a little shoe tread wear. Plus I need to work off my sitting at the desk belly bulge.
Can’t help it, I love food, and the mixture of a day of computer time (retouching an assignment that I am delivering today), and a cupboard full of microwavable delights, my taste buds are in full gear.
Five minutes down, ten minutes of time left, and with my solitary stroll close to an end, I encounter the sweet and wafting aroma of a savory stir fry carrying itself under my over stimulated nerves of food consumption.
Where is this bouquet of culinary temptation emanating from, I explore… and in my visual excavation of the storefronts I detect the source of my aromatic seducer.
Who doesn’t love their secret hole in the wall restaurants? And today I think I have found a new off the beaten path haunt, a funky little neon faced Vietnamese eatery on the curbside of Sherman Way, just East of Remmet.
I inspect the rating, “A”… that’s good in my book. And as examine the photo menus in the window, a restaurant patron exits to check his parking meter.
I can’t resist, “How is the food,” I inquire.
The guy glows as if I have found his dining nirvana, “Its really good and cheap, and I come here four or five time a month.” He emits.
We chat food for a while, and what the heck, I’ve found a new place to eat and a stranger who shares in my passion for hidden dive food, why not invite him to be a 365 friend. I ask the questions?
And today we get a first, a personally written set of short responses from our friend of the day, Gavin.
As we begin our interview, the door of the restaurant opens and out comes a waitress caring Gavin’s take away order. Plus, in five minutes I must pick up my daughter, so we are concise in our conversation. Still, even though our chat is brief, Gavin writes us words to live by and to consider or destiny.
Per wisdom, Gavin quotes William Butler Yeates.
Regarding the future of humanity, he has an optimistic point of view. Yet as optimistic as it is, there is a dark side to Gavin’s predictions; predictions that he has first hand knowledge, working at a premier health insurer, Blue Cross / Blue Shield.
And for those of you who are enraged by the insanely unfair increase of coverage over the last few months, take note and do not attack Gavin.
He brings me up to speed when I tell him of my dissatisfaction with the rate hikes of my policy.
“That is Anthem Blue Cross, I work for Blue Cross / Blue Shield. We are separate companies, with our own policies. My job is to help people, and that is what I like about what I do.”
I’ve now got three minutes left before my girl is ready for pick up, and with Gavin wanting to enjoy a hot meal, we bid farewell.
Gavin, thank you for your street time, a pleasure speaking with you.