The Serendipitous Life of Laptop Bob....Part 1
Serendipity: The faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.
I was scheduled for a psychological evaluation last Friday on the Northern end of Downtown Seattle, and instead of checking the web to figure out exactly which bus to take to get as close to the address as possible, I just jumped on the #15 at the stop closest to the bowling alley and got off as the bus turned away from Queen Anne hill. I figured I was a few blocks away from my destination and had 45 mintues to get there, so I pointed myself in what had to be the right direction and set my walking pace to liesurely. I was a couple blocks into my walk when I passed Twice Sold Tales, one of Seattle's many top notch used book stores. I was three steps beyond the front door when my brain said STOP. I stopped, but only to admonish my brain...
"Dude, you're fairly low on cash and on your way to an address a still undetermined distance from where you are...do you REALLY need to go into a bookstore?"
But...but they might have a copy of "The Man Who Folded Himself".
"Hmmm...yeah...good call brain." I spun on the heels of Bobbys voice, "We just saw it from a different point of vieeeew". I'd been looking for a copy of David Gerrold's time travel masterpiece for months. Sure, I've read it at least 6 times, but millapants had asked me to read it to her, which I thought would be great fun. I set my bag down behind the counter and found the science fiction section. Heinlein(back), Gemmel(forward), Gerrold..."War Against the Chtoor", "Voyage of the Star Wolf".....
"EEP!!" I let out a little bitch scream that would have made Fox Mulder proud. There it was. I looked toward the counter to see the cashier looking at me quizzically. "Oh...heh...um...that wasn't pain or anything," I said as I walked towards her with my treasure, "I've just been looking for a copy of this for months." I set the book, an original "Popular Library" paperback edition with a cover price of 95 cents on the counter. She smiled and rang the book up.
"That'll be $7.68."
"Ouch...now...that's painful," I grimaced and quickly added, "But worth it." I fished out the money, thanked her, and walked out of the store. I got five whole steps away before I spun again at the behest of my brain.
Your bag, Dummy
"Boy, you really are excited about finding that book, aren't you?," the cashier said as I reached down and retrieved the bag that holds about 75% of my worldly possessions.
"Yeah, well...it IS the best time travel story ever written. thanks again." I headed east again, replacing my headphones and releasing my CD player-the one that had been Todds-from the pause position, to the sounds of the exit interlude of "Tangled Up In Blue." Next on my mix cd was another tune from Mr Dylan(surprise surprise). It was "Like a Rolling Stone", Dylan's scathing, sarcastic masterpiece that had become a song of ironic joy for me in the two years and 4 days since I had become homeless because of the chorus, which I sang with extra volume and gusto as I walked past the Seattle Center Opera house....
"How does it feeeeel, how does it feel
to be on your own,
with no direction hoooome,
like a complete unknoooown,
like a rolling stone."
It felt even better than usual.
Now....some of you might surmise that I'm stretching serendipity semantically there, but since the trip was not specifically about seeking the book which was so agreeable and valuable to me, and since this is my berloody blog, deal with it :) I'll get to something more classically serendipitous in part two, coming at ya shortly.
I was scheduled for a psychological evaluation last Friday on the Northern end of Downtown Seattle, and instead of checking the web to figure out exactly which bus to take to get as close to the address as possible, I just jumped on the #15 at the stop closest to the bowling alley and got off as the bus turned away from Queen Anne hill. I figured I was a few blocks away from my destination and had 45 mintues to get there, so I pointed myself in what had to be the right direction and set my walking pace to liesurely. I was a couple blocks into my walk when I passed Twice Sold Tales, one of Seattle's many top notch used book stores. I was three steps beyond the front door when my brain said STOP. I stopped, but only to admonish my brain...
"Dude, you're fairly low on cash and on your way to an address a still undetermined distance from where you are...do you REALLY need to go into a bookstore?"
But...but they might have a copy of "The Man Who Folded Himself".
"Hmmm...yeah...good call brain." I spun on the heels of Bobbys voice, "We just saw it from a different point of vieeeew". I'd been looking for a copy of David Gerrold's time travel masterpiece for months. Sure, I've read it at least 6 times, but millapants had asked me to read it to her, which I thought would be great fun. I set my bag down behind the counter and found the science fiction section. Heinlein(back), Gemmel(forward), Gerrold..."War Against the Chtoor", "Voyage of the Star Wolf".....
"EEP!!" I let out a little bitch scream that would have made Fox Mulder proud. There it was. I looked toward the counter to see the cashier looking at me quizzically. "Oh...heh...um...that wasn't pain or anything," I said as I walked towards her with my treasure, "I've just been looking for a copy of this for months." I set the book, an original "Popular Library" paperback edition with a cover price of 95 cents on the counter. She smiled and rang the book up.
"That'll be $7.68."
"Ouch...now...that's painful," I grimaced and quickly added, "But worth it." I fished out the money, thanked her, and walked out of the store. I got five whole steps away before I spun again at the behest of my brain.
Your bag, Dummy
"Boy, you really are excited about finding that book, aren't you?," the cashier said as I reached down and retrieved the bag that holds about 75% of my worldly possessions.
"Yeah, well...it IS the best time travel story ever written. thanks again." I headed east again, replacing my headphones and releasing my CD player-the one that had been Todds-from the pause position, to the sounds of the exit interlude of "Tangled Up In Blue." Next on my mix cd was another tune from Mr Dylan(surprise surprise). It was "Like a Rolling Stone", Dylan's scathing, sarcastic masterpiece that had become a song of ironic joy for me in the two years and 4 days since I had become homeless because of the chorus, which I sang with extra volume and gusto as I walked past the Seattle Center Opera house....
"How does it feeeeel, how does it feel
to be on your own,
with no direction hoooome,
like a complete unknoooown,
like a rolling stone."
It felt even better than usual.
Now....some of you might surmise that I'm stretching serendipity semantically there, but since the trip was not specifically about seeking the book which was so agreeable and valuable to me, and since this is my berloody blog, deal with it :) I'll get to something more classically serendipitous in part two, coming at ya shortly.