Random Luck

Ew. Bird poop just landed on my head...and my purse...and my shoulders...and, yuck, down the sleeve of my North Face. "Oh great!" I mutter, up to the bridge above me, hoping that darn bird will hear my pain. I pull a used tissue from my pocket and begin wiping the disgusting goo off of my jacket.
"Here, let me help you," says a Greek man, about 30 years old, who I noticed walking near me, and must have witnessed the whole crime go down. "There's some on your back, too."
"Oh, thanks," I manage a courtesy laugh: "Haha. What a way to start the day, right?" I joke. I'm not mad. I mean, I guess it could be worse. And, I'm only on my way home, not off to a job interview or anything like that.
"Here," Greek guy says as he takes my used, dirty tissue, with snot inside and wipes the dirty bird goop off my shoulders, "let me help."
"Oh, thank you. That's nice of you. Thanks."
Should I feel uncomfortable right now? Or grateful? Weirded out at all? A stranger is brushing my shoulders.
"Do you have another one?"
Huh? Another dirty tissue? Yea - but do you really want to have it?
"Yea." I pull out a second used, dirty tissue from my pocket, and he takes it to wipe more green stuff off of my tainted jacket.
"Haha. Thanks, wow, that's a lot, huh?" How much poop can a bird possibly have inside of him? Aren't they small animals?
"It is good luck to have that."
"What?"
"It means good luck. You will have luck come to you now. Maybe with your boyfriend, your husband, or career."
"Sounds like someone just made that up to make positive out of this situation. Cuz there's really nothing pleasant about this." You know, like whoever said "It's not about whether you win or lose," obviously lost. And the guy who said "There are no small parts, only small actors," was clearly a five foot man playing Servant #4 in one of Shakespeare's tragedies.

Either way, I decide I could use some luck in those departments - who couldn't? "Well, I'll take the luck." I tell my new friend, as if this Greek guy is going to now offer me 3 wishes.

"Yes, it is a very good sign."

Now we're awkwardly walking side by side. I can't just take off ahead and speed away. He just used my dirty tissues to wipe bird poop off my shoulders for cryin' out loud. What a guy.

"So you go to school or work?" he says. As if this is all normal. The walking together. The bird poop. The tissues.

"Both. I work at a school. Yourself?"

"I work. I'm going there now."

"Cool." Ah-ha! The weather! Default stranger conversation starter. "It's cold out today, huh?"

"That is good for me."

"Oh?"

"I hope it snows. It's good for my business."

Wouldn't it be great if this story ended with him saying he was joking about the snow, and would I like to go with him to Greece and marry him and live happily ever after?

Only in a fantasy world. Where things like birds pooping on you doesn't exist. And neither does snow. Now, THAT, would be lucky.

We reach the end of our journey together.

"Good bye. Enjoy your luck."
"Good bye. Thanks for your help."

I'm not sure why moments like this fascinate me. Maybe it's because I think there's something so special about strangers sharing genuine moments. That strangers can have genuine moments. Or maybe it's because growing up in a small suburban town, where everyone knows each other, you don't have these moments with strangers. Or maybe it's like in the movie "UP" when the little boy is reminiscing about eating icecream cones and counting red and blue cars on a curb with his dad and he says, "I know it sounds boring, but it's the boring simple stuff I miss."

These simple things fascinate me. The fact that a bird using you as his toilet supposedly brings good luck. The fact that a stranger doesn't mind helping you clean yourself off. And that these 3 minutes this morning have inspired me to write a blog.

So...here's to embracing random moments with random people. And making the most out of what could be bad day triggers. Here's to my good luck!

Oooh, a quarter on the ground! That is lucky!!! And I sign to take this jacket to the laundromat sooner rather than later.

It's a Man's World

I love being a girl. I love wearing heels. I love watching George Clooney movies. I love going to aerobics classes. But gosh darnit, sometimes I want to be a guy.

I went for a walk in the park this morning because it was 40 degrees out and saw a bunch of guys playing a game of football. I was jealous. I want to play football. Why can't girls play football too? When I was little, I spent my weekends playing soccer, riding my bike, playing with my sisters in the yard. Most kids in town participated in organized sports. Sports for girls, of course. On a team with other girls. Against other girls. I never had the desire to play football or be a guy because, well, I guess I was getting my fill of outdoor activity.

Now I run and go for walks to get my daily dose of Vitamin D and soak up good weather. And when I'm bored, I go for another run or walk. Walk after walk after walk through the park by my house. On a really nice day I make up errands for myself just so that I can walk down the street. Like even if I have dish soap already, I'll walk a half mile to CVS to pick up an back-up. Or I'll walk all the way to the post office to mail something instead of just putting it in the mailbox across the street. Maybe I should get a dog so that I don't look so silly walking in circles by myself all day long. If I had a dog, he'd be a good excuse to go for lots of walks. I wouldn't look so silly power walking for hours on end. Yea, maybe I'll get a dog.

I hate dogs. But maybe I could learn to love mine?

Adult guys are lucky. They can play pick-up games of football and basketball with their other adult guy friends. They can even join leagues! And play hockey or softball or soccer every Wednesday night at the YMCA. The Young MAN'S club! They can even go to the park and just play catch with each other. But not girls. No. Adult girls don't play pick-up games of football on randomly warm Saturday mornings in January. We go to the gym for our aerobics class. Which don't get me wrong, is tons of fun, but it's just not like a game of pick-up football. And after my aerobics class this morning, I still had the urge to go for a walk in the park.

So why not play with the guys, you ask? Well because I've tried. And I'd like to think I'm athletic since I run half-marathons and go to those aerobics classes and all - but guys who play pick-up football are ... not like the girls in my Step Class. One time a boyfriend asked me if I wanted to play football with him and his friends one day, because he knew I secretly wanted to be him. I went, even though no other girls went, and said I'd only play if they had an uneven number and needed me to play, and then prayed that an even number of guys showed up. Let's just say, athletic or not - I lack a couple of things guys have. Like a competitive this-game-is-the-most-important-game-of-my-life fight, really strong arms that can throw footballs really far, the knowledge of all the rules of football, and no concept of how much it hurts a 120 pound girl when you pummel her to the ground and all 200 pounds of you falls on top of her.

One girl cannot play football with 9 guys. Well, I can't. Maybe you're out there somewhere, Awesome Girl, but for now, I'm just advocating that we athletic and optimistically outgoing girls get together and start a football league. Or a walking club. Or do our Pilates Class outdoors. Anything that remotely resembles an attempt at an organized sport outdoors. Hey, it would give me one more reason to enjoy winter. And one more reason not to get a dog. I really don't want a dog. I hope it doesn't have to come to this.

Wicked Winter

January 1st
New Year's Resolution 2010:
To fall in love with winter.

Why? Because I hate winter. I hate everything about winter besides hot cocoa and my leather boots - but those are two things that I'm not exactly longing for in summer. And for 24 winters of my life, I've just accepted the fact that I'm not a winter person. But I realized that winter in New York is 4 months of my year. That's 1/3 of my year. That's 1/3 of my life! That's a long time to be miserable. In an effort to be more positive, I am going to fall in love with winter. And try to love it just as much as summer. Maybe I'll find I love winter so much that I'll actually look forward to it! Maybe when people ask me what my favorite season is, I'll now have 4 to choose from! Maybe my friends will think of me as the winter-loving girl. They'll say "Oh Jodie's always in a good mood. She loves all seasons. She's such an any-weather-loving girl."

Good-bye to my list of reasons why winter sucks!

WHY WINTER SUCKS:
1. It's cold.
1a. You always wish you had one more layer on.
1b. You are uncomfortable walking anywhere.
1c. You feel lazy for staying in your apartment because you are too cold and uncomfortable to walk anywhere.
2. It's dark.
2a. Less time for playing outside.
2b. It's proven that the Vitamin D of the sun makes you happy.
3. Hats make my hair flat and static-y. (Is that a word?)
4. I takes forever to put on hats and gloves and scarfs and coats and long socks. Time that could be spent doing more enjoyable things. Like sipping iced tea on my porch in the summer.
5. Snow
5a. Snow makes sidewalks slushy and dirty, which make your shoes gross.
5b. Snow turns to ice, which makes you slip and fall.
5c. Snowstorms cancel things, like school and after-school activities.

(Ok -- yes I was the kid who was upset on snow days. When other kids were excited to build snowmen and have snowball fights, I was secretly sad that I could not go to school and see my friends and learn things. And snow was always getting caught between my mittens and my coat and it would be so cold. My mom would sometimes cut a whole in a plastic sandwich bag and then secure it between the elastic of my coat and the elastic of my mitten. I don't remember it working too well.)

"Why Winter Sucks" continued...
6. You think winter will end in March...but it doesn't!
7. There aren't any fun holidays in winter. (Don't kid yourself that Valentine's Day is fun.) And Christmas just passed, so now what do we do?
8. I like tank tops.
9. Beach trumps everything.
10. My radiator is 100 years old and clanks all night long and I don't sleep. At all. For 4 months.

But I am not dwelling on the negative anymore! New Year, New Me, New Favorite Season. There are a lot of things to enjoy in the winter! My sister and I went for a run today, New Year's Day - not to kick-off most people's resolutions of exercise in the new year, but to kick-off our Fall in Love with Winter Crusade. Hello list of reasons why winter's awesome!

REASONS WHY WINTER'S AWESOME:
1. Running through a snow-filled park - when the sidewalks are clear and it's not too cold out - is really pretty.
2. When there's snow on the ground - and it's sunny out - it's pretty.
3. My winter coat is pretty.
4. You can drink hot cocoa.
4a. And have a cookie with it.

That's all I have for now. I'm sure I'll find more as the days continue.

January 2nd
WHY WINTER IS AWESOME TODAY:
1. It's not snowing today.

January 3rd
WHY WINTER IS AWESOME TODAY:
1. It's not snowing or raining today.