Last night was a late night watching horror movies with the roommate and his lady-friend. They started with Hackers and eventually moved onto Night of the Living Dead and finished up with The Fly, starting Jeff Goldblum.  While they were on the couch, I was in back of them on my computer, looking at Boardgamegeeks.com for a specific boardgame, and local store locations where I could find it. One store was mentioned as a great place to find deals.  They said it was next to a store I frequented quite often.  I thought, “Well, if I’m in that area, I’ll definitely stop in.” I gotta get my boardgame fix sometime soon, and Fury of Dracula is calling my name.

The next morning, I headed downtown to take care of some errands.

While walking across the street, in search of a cheap electronics store, I saw a familiar face. It was not someone I knew well, but definitely someone I had conversed with.  Judging her by her dreadlocks, I assumed I knew her from 10 years prior, when I used to drive up and party in this city. I locked eyes and she had a look of, “Can I help you?” in her eyes.

When I reached the other side of the street, I walked up to her and said, “I know you.” and she said, “Oh yeah?”

I immediately recognized the voice.

I through out some names and when I mentioned a specific artistic individual, she immediately lit up and replied, “Didn’t they throw parties a few years back?”

Haha!  I knew it! We did know each other!.

She was on her way to the Occupy gathering and I told her I was looking for Futureshop.  She told me that we were going the same way, so I asked if she wanted to walk together and chat. We were an odd couple, her with her dark skin, dreads, and BMX bike, while I was clean-shaved, wearing a button up with cuff-links. I mentioned how I liked that the Occupy movement was not setting any demands.  I told her that I recently have been trying to give up labels and definitions and that it has opened up so many more possibilities. She had differing thoughts, but we had a great dialogue.

I had mentioned to her that my neighbor had a terrible accident and that she might have heard about it in the news.

“She was your neighbor?  Really?  I know her!  She was my teacher!”

I laughed and said something silly, like, “It’s a small world.”

Eventually we reached a point where we had to travel our separate ways.

As I continued my path, alone, I thought of our conversation. After a few minutes, my thoughts were distracted by some toys in a store window.  I took a step back and… what?  “Wait?  This isn’t supposed to be here, I thought it was on the other side of town.” I thought.  It was the store I had been researching the night before.  As it turns out, the store that it was supposed to be nearby had two locations. I popped in and found the game I was looking for, and it was significantly cheaper than anywhere else I had looked up online.

Perfect.