Day 2

Yesterday was Day 2. I decided that walking to work would be a good thing to do this month. I have about a 1/2 tank of gas in my car. The only way to get more gas is going to be to barter for it, the ideal situation would be to meet someone at a gas station and trade the item for gas right then and there. I have no idea when that opportunity will arise, so walking to work is a must.

I spent the morning packing for the day. I carefully chose my lunch items from what was left in my fridge(string cheese,apple sauce, almonds,v8 juice). I grabbed my uniform and my purse, which contained a useless wallet, phone and sunglasses. I had also promised to bring brownies to work that day. I now regret taking them in the heavy glass dish I baked them in. I loaded everything up in a duffel bag I randomly found in my closet. I fed Sam, took her out, and put on my running shoes.

I was about to walk to work for the first time in my life.

I divided the walk into sections in my head. When I reached the train tracks I had been walking for 10 minutes. At the tracks I took a left to head along the main road. About a third of the way up, the sidewalk ends and it is all prickly weeds and tall grass the rest of the way. I passed a fire hydrant and looked at the time. 3 minutes had gone by since the tracks. I reached another fire hydrant, 3 more minutes. I was walking against traffic with an airstrip on my left and the main road on my right.

I was at the intersection. I wondered if there was a crosswalk. I had driven to work for nearly two years and had never noticed whether or not a crosswalk existed. There it was. On foot, I had a completely different perspective of the roadway. I pressed the big silver button and waited for the light to change. I scanned across all of the little people in their big cars at the red light. Did they notice me? As soon as I stepped onto the street, the white man turned into a red hand again. I scurried. Walking along the road felt safe, but the transition into the mall parking lot was like reentering civilization. My two feet felt out of place among the parked cars. I was still in the pedestrian mindset of avoiding cars at all costs, and I had a nervous feeling as I navigated the evenly spaced rows.

I was 20 minutes early to work, time enough to cool off and change. It was odd knowing I was at the store, and my car was at home. I felt more "on my own" and independent than usual. In retail, a feeling of accomplishment usually comes from beating a monetary goal, or fixing a merchandise display. Today it came from walking to work.

My lunch hour was spent trying to find a way to print a coupon for dog food. There are a lot of really nice people working at the mall and as soon as i stepped off of the stairs I saw a familiar face. An older man, dark skin with dark hair, impeccably dressed, waved at me as he passed. We both worked at the mall, and we both knew it, but we had never actually spoken. I thought now was a good time to up our relationship. I waved at him and stopped him in the middle of the walkway to say hi. He told me he worked in the Jewelry department at Neiman's. I asked him if he knew of any place in the mall I could get access to a free printer and he offered to take me upstairs to the jewelry repair shop where his good friend worked. I thanked him and as we walked we talked and I told him a little about my project. He seemed intrigued by the whole thing and when his friend was unable to get online, he promised to do what he could to help. I thanked him and told him I would trade him one of the brownies I had brought for a coupon if he could get it. I went to eat my lunch and stopped in at Aveda, a store in the mall that offers free hot tea and a 5 minute massage. I learned free massages feel about 10 times better than regular ones, probably because they come without the guilt of spending money on yourself. A few minutes before my break was over I decided to swing by Neimans and see if Vincent was able to somehow produce a coupon. I was so pleased when he came out from the back with a few peices of printer paper. Unfortunately, the only current coupons on the website were for medication. I thanked him for going through all the trouble anyway and told him he could still have a brownie if he wanted. He said he would keep trying and would come up to the store later that evening but he never came.

By the end of my shift It was raining and had dropped 20 degrees. I was about to make my way to Petsmart when my boss offered me a ride. She said she couldn't let me walk home in the rain in good conscience. We decided she could drop me off at Petsmart while she went to the grocery store, and then take me home. Even though I was unable to find a good coupon in time, I used the $27 gift card on a good brand of dog food that was on sale, had enough to get some treats too, and I still have about $4 left on the card. When she picked me up the rain had died down, and in its place there was possibly the biggest rainbow we had ever seen.

When I got home I was pretty hungry. I looked in the fridge and found some less than fresh vegetables that I would have normally thrown out by now, but it was time to get creative. I roasted the cherry tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower in a pan with garlic and olive oil, and mixed it all with some whole wheat spaghetti noodles, salt and pepper. I ate half and saved the other half for later. I'm going to have to find a way to get more food eventually, but for now I like the challenge of cooking with what I have, its sort of like Iron Chef except the secret ingredient is...a bunch of random stuff.