Walking stuff

Well, I decided to go see a movie tonight so I caught the last bus at 8pm to the theater. The theater's only 3.6 miles from my apartment but it takes an half hour to get there by bus. Some guy tried to engage me in small talk. There seems to be a lot of mentally...unbalanced/handicapped pople around provo, and since they don't normally drive because of whatever their condition is, they tend to take the bus to get to and fro. I still have not learned my lesson and I continue to sit in the front of the bus, which is where, I've learned, these people like to sit. I've noticed all the normal people that get on, go to the rear of the bus straight away. So these types of people always try to talk to you if you sit anywhere near them. One time, while going to the mall, some guy accosted me and asked me where i was from. I told him. Then he wanted to know why I was in Utah. I was reluctant to tell him my whole life story and didn't really want to get into my reasons for being where I was versus where I came from, etc... so I just said something totally bogus, like "I guess I came here because I was tired of where I was". He looked excitted and said loudly - "Tired of WEREWOLVES!?", me - "No, I said 'WHERE - I - WAS'". Him - "Oh, I thought you said 'tired of werewolves'." Me - "well, to tell you the truth, I was pretty tired of them too." Him - "Yeah, I hear you buddy. they're crazy!". Anyway, I went throught the same kind of strange conversation tonight with a similiar fellow. He wanted to know where I was from and I told him Florida. He said, "I hear they have all kinds of fresh water creeks around there but then the fresh water flows out and the saltwater from the ocean gets all mixed up with it." I replied, "Yeah, that's probably true. They call that Brackish water." He looked at me as though he thought I was trying to play a trick on him and said, "Brackish water? Yeah, right! Sure..." Shortly after, I arrived at the shops and bid him goodbye. I went to the book store first and picked up a graphic novel. As I was walking the aisles, some strange woman suddenly approached me and shoved some piece of paper in my face. It kind of scared me and I thought she must be some nut proselyting at the book store, trying to save me from the devil comics or something. But it turned out to be a 25% off any book coupon. She said "I don't need it!". Well, I gave it to the cashier and sure enough, they gave me 25% off my book. Cool... Next I went to "The Happy Sumo" to get something to eat before the movie started. I sat at the sushi bar where all the other loners that are eating alone go. One curious thing: This one guy that was beside me was eating alone and three people that he knew walked in. They seemed really happy to see him and I gathered from the conversation that he had been living elsewhere and just recently moved back. After chatting for a few minutes, the three went back to their table. I thought it was strange they didn't invite him to sit with them since they seemed so well acquainted. Anyway, it seems that while sushi is pretty much popularized in most other cities in the U.S., in Provo, it is still a novelty item. You can't find it in the grocery store or at any gas stations and everyone at the sushi bar seemed absolutely geeky over it, exclaiming stuff like "ohhhh!, what's in it?" and "you mean it's raw?!". Afterward I went and watched 'Serenity', which was really pretty good. The movie got out at midnight. I tried calling for a cab but the voicemail picked up saying, "You've reached Yellow Cab. We can't come to the phone right now. Please call another time..." Pretty typical of things around here. They don't make it easy for people without cars. It's like most of them can't even comprehend that. They have the attitude of "why wouldn't you have a car? Is it getting repaired right now or something?" Sometimes when I'm walking to or from work (a 20 minute walk each way), a co-worker sees me and stops to offer me a ride. I always take them up on the offer. Though the other day, one of my co-workers drove by me as I was walking home. They honked and waved at me. I was boggled as to why they were considerate enough to get my attention and wave hi, yet not pull off and offer me a ride. Then I realized, they were probably just as boggled as to why I always chose to walk to work instead of driving. Anyway...So it's midnight on a saturday and the cabbie isn't answering the phone. It's about an hour walk home so I get started. It was a creepy walk cause there was no sidewalk, just some sort of wierd biking/nature trail. So the choice was, walk practically in the road, or take the parallel trail. I chose the trail but the thing that makes it creepy is that it strays from the road and goes off throught the surrounding woods. It's pitchblack and utah is of course teeming with wild life, rattle snakes, deer, coyotes, mountain lions, etc... I hard something rustle in the dark off the trail. I used my cellphone as a make-shift flashlight, as you do. Finally the trial ended and merged back with the road. I saw a sidewalk on the opposite side of the road so I went over there. To my chagrin however, the sidewalk was very short and only went about a block, just long enough to cover a short spurt of shops...then it abruptly ended at the woods. The sidewalk was far enough from the shops that no one would use it. It was like it was a decoration or something. A totally empty gesture. I walked dangerously near the passing cars after it ended. To my left was a ditch and to my right, the road, with practically no walking space at all. I soon came to a sign that had a figure of a walking guy with a cross through it, like this: It was a sign literally meaning, Don't try to walk on this busy road with no sidewalk. I mean it's not like a "don't walk on the grass" scenario or anything like that and this is just a common sort of road, it's not the interstate or a major highway. After thinking about, I concurred with the sentiment of whatever fellow put this sign up(probably after some guy got ran over in the dead of night on the way home from the theater), and I decided to find an alternate route. I took the next road and found my way home easily enough. Although that road didn't have a sidewalk either, it was atleast, not a busy road. I guess Sushi isn't the only novelty in Utah. Add sidewalks and pedistrians. There's plenty of sidewalks right around the BYU campus of course. Some poor students don't have cars. But the university campus is compact enough that the, make way for the pedestrians attitude peters off pretty quickly the further you walk from it. Oh well...I got home safe at the end of the night and I didn't have a bad time of it as much as I make it sound.