relaxedIn my ongoing quest to refine and enrich my writing abilities and experiences, I've experimented with different location within my apartment where one can write. Writing on my regular computer is fine, but as I have no desk or chair, I sit on the ground and it is not comfortable to write that way for any length of time. There is a second computer, this time on a desk, in the bedroom, but many times I want to write at it, Tandra is sleeping and I wish not to disturb her. There's also the small issue of the desk being covered with stacks of clothing and old papers. I've recently began carrying my laptop from room to room looking for the most comfortable place available to just sit and write. I finally settled on writing outside on my balcony. It's very pleasant sitting here on my little wooden bench with the smells of early spring surrounding me, along with the sound of the rushing river and oh so many birds singing.
In the hour in which I've been sitting here I've done more people watching than I have in a long time. Being next to the river, there are many people who pass by my apartment while walking or bike riding along the greenbelt. Being that the greenbelt is closed for the river's annual controlled flood, all of the people who normally walk along the greenbelt are walking past my balcony instead. There have been many interesting things to see.
Usually when I stand on my balcony watching people pass, it's because the girls' track team from the university is running by on their daily jog. But college is out of session for the summer, so I've been watching the world go by with my attention less narrowly focused.
Today a minivan drove by with three dogs all sticking their heads out the same window. Now they're at the end of the street and the owner is throwing a ball into the river for the dogs to fetch. Then there were the two dachshunds that passed by. One, I think, was only half dachshund as it was the size and shape but had a beautiful flowing white coat. I've never seen a fuzzy wiener dog like that before.
Most interesting was when three bicycle cops rode past and I caught one saying in conversation to the others, "I used to patrol this area, and it was a freaking cherry patch, man." Not skipping a beat, I pulled up Google and searched "police slang cherry patch." It seems a cherry patch is an area where a cop is able to write lots of tickets with little effort. I could see this place being like that. After all, with all the apartment buildings, it's one of the most densely populated parts of the city, and it's only a couple of blocks from the BSU campus, too. Also, that's good info to know. Thanks, random bicycle cop who wasn't talking to me. And thanks, technology for enabling me to learn what he was saying almost instantly. I felt like Trinity in the Matrix downloading an update into her brain.
