a chain of strangeness...

seeing that my life has been lacking in exotic or rare spices and excitement, any strangeness can be considered as very strange. yesterday, tuesday, was definitely one of such days...

i woke up in mid-morning and felt like all my joints and muscles were in pain. a tired or worked out pain, not arthritic or neuropathic pain... so i suppose i should be grateful. i have been feeling easily tired and sluggish a lot lately; i sleep at least 8 hrs (with or without a nap) so that is more than enough sleep. it's probably the crazy heat wave from last week. anywho, since i've felt this way for more than a week now, i suppose it is not too strange.

*****

yesterday was my day off, and actually all i had to do was going in to starbucks for a few hrs in the evening to setup the merchandising for the summer phase 2, since this WAS kinda my pseudo job and the assistant manager, jack, that's kinda in charge of it hates doing it! ha! anywho, so i agreed to come in and at first i was like, hey you gonna bring me pizza!? i asked cuz i am greedy and this assistant is one that would bring us pizza occasionally. he was like, i will buy you dinner, how's that!

so i guess we pseudo had plans (it didnt end up happening, but please read on) for dinner after i would be done with the merchandise and him done with the labor scheduling. anywho, i thought it's weird. it'd be fine if it's a group of people to socialize, otherwise i think it's weird to dine with a boss unless you are already good friends.

*****

strangeness ensues. this guy, who looks like a crazy body builder and is always wearing cut-offs and plunging cleavage shirts that are *worse* than mine to show off his bulging musculature and such, comes into our starbucks very frequently. i've recognized him for a long time, but i have never chatted with him, cuz he's scary looking. anywho, he approached me and asked, hey, do you go to UIC pharmacy school?? i was like, yeah, why? what's strange was not that he asked me a question, it was that somehow that he knew that i go to UIC pharm! what the... how does he know?? and why would he know???

he explained that he's been taking some classes and doing the pre-pharm. he's a bit older so much of the info isn't very familiar to him right away. he asked if it was really hard to get in and what he needs to do! he was very worried, because he just wants to get in "SOOOO BAD"!!! i just told him that if his grades are okay and PCAT decent, with application showing a good intention, studded with fun interesting experiences, he'd be fine. man, he was sooo worried!!! i was like, you can have my PCAT books. how weird-- why would a strange body builder/actor know that i go to pharmie school!???

*****

strangeness further ensues. mishaps in the backroom on the computer! i guess jack accidentally spilled his drink (too much fancier than his usual trippio since the baristas tried to be creative) on the keyboard. oops. the computer froze and the keyboard went out and the functions/commands are unresponsive. he called up to the second city or other offices in the bldg, no one was around anymore to lend starbucks a keyboard. there are some other regulars (connie, peter, jamie...)that live across the street that come in ~once every hr, jack was hoping to run into them and borrow it. no luck. then he was like, i have a keyboard at home i can probably go get it but it will take a while.

then i was like i probably have jamie's number, let me call him! lo and behold, that's why you should take down phone numbers when people give them to you!! he let us borrow his keyboard!!

jack and i went across the street to the "artist building" to find jamie and his keyboard. man, what a weird bldg!!!! basically, it's for tenants of art. any form of art: painting, drawing, art teaching, music, performing, dancing, tiling, landscaping, hair dressing. it's two bldgs converted to one, with a connecting hallway and some communal bathrooms. it gives the feeling of a dorm as each resident has small room that is pretty much the condition or size of a bigger dorm "room." since these people are artists, the rooms are quite interestingly and cozily decorated. still, the atmosphere was very strange. i could probably live there when i was in college, but not at this age anymore. and many of these people are in their 30s or later!

jamie, connie, and few others were hanging out on this deck that was also nicely dcorated with icy christmas lights and fun plants, and a parasol. they were just drinkin' and smokin'.

*****

after we got the keyboard, returned to starbucks, and fixed the problem, we bought some wine and returned to this artists' bldg with starbucks patrick. unfortunately, jack had some problem with his cards so i had to dish out $30 for the two bottles with my newly received tip money. well, it's either that or wondering what to do next. :p we joined the artists to drink again... most of these people actually frequent starbucks all the time. crazies. then as always, jamie asked me, christine, do you have a boyfriend yet!?

then i said, jamie, why do you ask me this question every time you see me!? blah blah, well i just thought that you know, you are a really cute girl and i dont understand why you dont have any boyfriends yet. i didnt say this to him, but i was thinking- well, jamie, unlike you, sometime we choose not to disclose that we were dating someone or having friends with benefits! besides, your grandma of an ex-girlfriend and her experiences probably put me to shame. sheesh, leave me alone!!

*****

anywho, after downing wine on an empty stomach, i started to feel a bit woozy, in a good way (unlike the wknd wedding). not sure how i drove home. but i got home, and then i realized that my elbow was scraped and bleeding. actually, my friend had to point that out. what the...!? i didnt not recall bumping into anything, but it was hurting like a mother!

what a very strange evening, i was happy to find my bed after my friend left. mmm...zzzzzz... hey, at least i am refreshed now even though i am still writing like i am stoned...??