I
spent my last weekend in the Northeast area out and about with friends;
putting off the last minute details of my epic US road trip until the
day I was set to fly out to the West coast.
It
seems that every month or so, there's someone here that hosts some sort
of demonstration (food, jewelry, bags, candles, etc...) to get everyone
together for some fun and to spend money on unnecessary stuff. We had
one such demonstration on friday evening (food product related), due to
start at 7:30 pm. We arrived at 7:39 and felt little guilt about being
late....these things NEVER start on time, it's like herding cats to get a
room full of women to sit down and to attention on time.
We
entered the split level home to find the main floor deserted and as we
descended the steps to the lower level...everyone was seated, at
attention, with samples already in their hands and mouth. But before we
could take in the fact that this was THE first demonstration to ever
start on time....the first few people we saw were wearing surgical face
masks. My friend Michelle says "what's with the masks?!" And one of her
cousins replies from behind her mask "we're sick". Standing behind me I
hear my friend Lauren say quietly "maybe we shouldn't be here". And then
a girl we didn't know sporting a buzz cut hair style, who was also
wearing a mask, turns around, pulls her mask down and meekly says "it's
because of me. I'm recovering from chemo and they didn't want to
compromise my health". And there I was thinking...would it be wrong if I
put a mask on...the sick girls sounded terrible and I certainly didn't
want to compromise my health either. I opted to go without the mask, but
I definitely kept my distance for the remainder of the night.
That
same weekend a friend's band was playing at a dive bar called The Cool
Cricket in the middle of nowhere New Jersey saturday night. Before
heading out for the night, I put on my leather jacket, slipped my hand
into the pocket and pulled out a paper clip. Wtf?
As
I moved to throw the paper clip out, Lauren stops me and says "keep it,
it might be good luck and who knows if it'll come in handy"...as if we
might get locked into a room later that evening and my trusty paper clip
would pick the lock to release us.
We make our
way to The Cool Cricket and take an exit that puts us near an air force
base. Shortly after taking the exit, the landscape becomes more barren,
there's limited lighting, our cell phone service goes black and the
only sign of life on the street is the parking lot, decrepit bar and
neon name sign. We exit the car and Terri mentions that she's got a
family friend with the nickname of 'cricket' and how she'd love to get
something with the name on it from the bar. Well, this certainly didn't
look like the type of place that would invest in branded
merchandise....so I looked up at the neon sign and laughed thinking how
cool it would be if the release mechanism was the perfect, paper clip
sized hole and we could take the sign for Terri's friend.
The
Cool Cricket ends up living up to its name....cool crowd and music.
Late in the evening a young looking boy came over to say hello. After
exchanging pleasantries he asked my age, I replied and he gave me his
(22)...at which point I said goodbye. When I recounted the story to my
brother he said I might have turned away from destiny too
quickly...because what if he too, was holding a paper clip in his
pocket. Ha!
At the JAB show.
Me and the girls before the show.
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