post from a train

I’m riding on the Amtrak towards Boston, after an autumn weekend in Dover, NH. The weather really got chilly today, and I wished I’d dug out my winter coat before coming up. James and I did a little of this and that over the weekend, starting with a tasty pizza dinner on Friday evening after I arrived on the train. I happily scored a free ride up to Dover by accidentally sitting in a seat that had already been marked for a destination, causing the conductor to not check my ticket. Since I have the 6-ride pass, this meant I didn’t use one of the rides! Yay! Thus I involuntarily stick it to the man once again.

We tore ourselves out of bed on Saturday at 10:45am to bike to brunch with James’s roommate Dana, who is part of some kind of biker gang. You’re probably imagining some kind of leather-jacket-clad Harley group, but in fact the type of bike in question here is more like a 1970s cruiser bike, with curved handlebars, and a long multicolored seat. I borrowed his other roommate Christine’s blue flowered bike and we all ate a tasty breakfast at Harvey’s. Interesting times, eh.

I had a few things to buy for my upcoming trip, so James and I hit the mall in the afternoon. Who knew a little shopping could stress me out to the point that my anxiety leaked out of my head through my eyes, in liquid form. Perhaps that was due to the purpose of the shopping trip, namely to purchase business-casual shirts that would be appropriate to wear in a very conservative Muslim country. This is stressful, and monetarily taxing. And every store in the mall selling button-down shirts had few options that would button all the way to my neck, leaving me little choice to agonize over. Anyway, I was glad to get out of there.