new routine
i. like the boy, i share a love for the road. though i can’t say doing circles at top speeds at the velodrome is my cup of tea, i am comforted by zig-zagging my way to work, through the many perils that occupy downtown chicago.
those who know me best still shake their heads in disbelief at the conquest of what used to be one of my biggest fears – bicycling in chicago, let alone, downtown.
at any rate, my new job puts in me in a position on the east side of the loop, where the stop lights, pedestrians, cabs, messengers cannot be avoided. each one adding seconds to the overall commute time. my first day back commuting to this part of town led me to believe that my lunch hours spent trekking home and back, all for the sake of shaun the dog™, would soon be disbanded. but getting to know the company and my peers as well as reevaluating my biking abilities has reassured me that my separation anxiety from my pooch can be cured. sure, i’ll run into days where he’ll have to run amuck for 8 hours without any sort of check-in, but then again, everytime i return home, he’s in the same spot: head propped up on a pillow while laying on the couch.
ii. i am still pleasantly surprised. when i left my “pod” at work to get my bike, i noticed i didn’t have my helmet. thinking on the way down that surely it was gone, i was already making plans to head to performance after work to buy a new one. i mean really, what was the remote chance that not a soul had removed it from where i left it hanging on my handlebars? whelp, apparently some decency is still left in the world (or perhaps it’s just society’s myopic/tunnel-visioned tendencies – me, the pessimist) because lo and behold, my helmet was miraculously where i left it.