I made Keshav breakfast today, but I did not take a picture of it. I don't know if I forgot, or just didn't feel like it. I think I was still feeling less than 100% after putting on my Oscar Watch Party this weekend, and the subsequent cleanup. These elaborate events are going to be winding down, I suspect, simply because they are too much work at this stage of my life. Keshav always reminds me that I don't have to do "big", but I don't even know what that looks like. The part I actually enjoy MOST is the preparation and setup--it is the party itself and the cleanup that tires me out these days. Now I have to take away the part I enjoy? No thank you!
But his heart is in the right place--and he is right in many ways. Nobody expected to have a "red carpet" on the stairs leading up to our apartment, but I had one there anyway. Nobody expected me to make three homemade dips for the crudité platter, but I made them anyway. I could have done with just one, realistically, so why did I make three?
My therapist has asked me if I know why I feel the compulsion to work so hard at everything, and I have not come up with an answer yet. But it is a good question--a very good question.
Anyway, today I made Keshav a delicious blueberry-spinach smoothie, and paired it with a small bowl of granola from Trader Joe's. I like making this smoothie because the only way he will eat blueberries, which are so good for you, is if they are pulverized. He doesn't know it, but I also snuck some avocado into the smoothie, which makes it creamy smooth, and of course adds good protein. I should have taken a picture--the smoothie came out a lovely purple color. Perfect for Spring.
*
THE LADY
Last Thursday, in the middle of prepping for the Oscar party, I decided to take myself out to the movies in the evening. It was the first time I had been out of the apartment that day, having no clients scheduled, and it was beautiful weather, so I decided to bike down Sunset to the theater. This was around 4 in the afternoon.
Sunset Blvd. is tricky at that time of the day. 4pm is the time that the streets open up the "parking lane" to traffic so that those who are getting off work have more road to get home on. That's all fine and dandy, except for those on bicycles who prefer to ride in the street. When there is a parking lane on the side of the street, it offers some shelter from the cars in the main lanes, though one needs to be alert for opening car doors, of course.
But after 4pm, the parking lane opens up, so any cyclist riding there has to deal with impatient drivers coming up behind them. It seems the impatient ones always take this lane, hoping to whiz past everyone else who may not realize the lane is open and available. I am a fairly assertive cyclist, but some days I just don't have it in me to "take the lane" and all that goes with that assertion. This was one of those days--I just wanted to leisurely ride to the theater without competing for space on the street with aggressive drivers who don't want me there.
In West Hollywood, where I was riding, the law says that cyclists are allowed to ride on the sidewalk if there is no dedicated bike lane, as long as they follow the flow of traffic and give the right of way to pedestrians. I do both of those things when riding on the sidewalk, but it seems it is never enough because pedestrians are generally tuned out to their surroundings and totally focused on their phones. As a cyclist approaching them from behind, it feels like I am coming up on a zombie who I hope will continue to move forward along the same path as I negotiate my way around them.
Zombies don't always follow the anticipated path, however, because they are zombies and zombies "don't think". Pulled by whatever catches their interest, they move in ways that disregard anything else around them, making my negotiations, tricky at best. I have a horn on my bike, but it has proven useless since everyone wears headphones and doesn't hear anything but what they choose to hear. Most of the time I succeed making my way down the sidewalk, always aware that it is up to me to make sure everyone is safe since I am the only one paying any attention.
On this day, as I was riding to the theater, I came upon a lady, in a pink jacket, walking down the sidewalk in the same direction I was going. I steered to pass her on the right, and just as I started my pass she also veered to the right directly into the path I was taking. I don't know the reason for her change of direction, but I have seen this before, and anticipate it as "zombie behavior". Fortunately, I was not moving very fast and am used to anticipating these things, so I cleared her by more than a foot and even said "Excuse me!" as I passed.
That should have been the end of the story. But she was not having it.
(to be continued)
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