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Tuesday, August 09, 2005

my adventurous friday....

last friday was quite the day - began with a ride in a cop car and ended with the in-person performance of one of my fave artists - eminem! whew. while starting my work from home day at 9am, i was on the phone with the studio when a man scaled the fence of my tiny back patio. ironically and in the shock of the moment, i shook my finger at him and shooed him on his way. i shook my finger at him???? amazing what one does without thinking. i continued my conversation and 10 minutes later, he appeared on the other side of the patio, scaling that fence.

now, i begin to get concerned. having moved from a 4th floor walk-up to a first level condo last year, i've been nervous about feeling so exposed. well, friday reminded me why. at this point, i'm concerned. he's eyeing my beau's bike (which was not locked the night before for the first time ever....) and i'm calling 911. i watch him evaluate the situation, i describe him to the dispatcher, and he did not bother looking in through the glass doors this time - guess he was over the finger-shaking antics. he knew what he wanted. while i was on the phone with 911, i also called my beau, had him on speaker so he could hear what was going on and he began rushing home. after a few minutes that seemed to last much longer, he disappeared again. at this point, i was on the phone with my 11 and noon appointments, telling them i had a slight change to my morning plans, and had to reschedule. the only thing i regret is not using my digital camera to capture my nimble little friend's image. we keep it out at all times because one never knows when our baby black pug louis will do something spectacular.

so, the dispatcher calls back, they caught someone matching the description at the corner. yay! justice! he had given up on the bike at that moment (really too much work for not a ton of reward - bike is nothing fancy and the snatch bit involved a high fence, brush and more effort then he was probably up for on a leisurely morning stroll through the alleys of dc). the police pick me up and take me to identify the suspect. riding in the back of a police car was not how i intended to start my day! however, i felt so empowered for handling the situation somewhat gracefully (finger shaking, 911 calling, exclaiming "so you caught the little booger" when the dispatcher shared the news), so grateful that the police acted quickly, and so hopeful that this fence-scaler would look into purchasing his future bike rather than taking others'.

as we get closer, he matches the description to a tee - literally, except his jersey didn't have red letters and i swear there was a red number on the jersey of my fence-scaler. bummer. what are the chances that two people who are dressed so similarly (head gear and all) would be at the scene? i assume they let him go as i was almost certain about the red numbers and felt sorry for the poor lad who matched the fence-scalers description. when the police joined me in the alley to assess the scene, we noticed that my pal had pried open my neighbor's fence and used their ladder to scale my fence the second time. talk about determination. he's got that going for him. i now have visions of riding around with those nice men in blue and helping them catch fence-scalers and more.

after this drama, i got to go for my third adult cavity filling. i ask if they have the gas, not a big fan of needles in my mouth. she laughs and blames the rise in adult cavities on too much spring water drinking. i know the truth, i have a slight (ok, BIG) sugar problem.

my finale for the day's adventures was to see eminem in concert. i have this amazing fascination with a man who has shaped and gained such respect in an industry where he is a minority. i love to see underdogs make a statement. think tiger woods with golf. think oprah winfrey with entertainment domination. the crowd was eclectic - mainly young kids from the burbs - and he put on an entertaining show. as we left with hope of beating the insane nissan pavilion traffic, he sang lose yourself - truly an inspirational song! lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it, you better never let it go, you only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime. yo!

friday's adventures left me tired and pensive this weekend. sometimes it takes a small shake-up to make you less complacent, more mindful, and more grateful. we've locked up the bike. i'm keenly aware of my surroundings, cutting down on sugar, and listening to more inspirational tunes along the way.

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