• Betraying the bananas we brought on our road trip [8-30-18] by considering buying a new, fresh banana at the gas station.
  • The eery Steve Jobs-lookalike dropping off his son at college.
  • Being mistaken as a student many times on my brother’s college campus.
  • The sweaty students accidentally blowing their B.O. into my face by standing in front of a room fan.
  • The nervous but passionate professor presenting about curricula to parents. Feeling her balled-up energy in my mirror neurons.
  • The rock kid with his rock parents, wearing all black, with long hair and tattoo sleeves.
  • The sound technician with long, curly, bleached-blond Dog-the-Bounty-Hunter hair, running a PA for the student welcome ceremony.
  • The strawberry squished into the metal sidewalk plate (one of those ones with the diamond tread pattern).
  • The automatic gas pump malfunctioning, squirting gas everywhere. I stepped in it and then the car (and hotel room) smelled like gas for the rest of the trip.
  • Finding an amazing farm-to-table restaurant in a tiny mountain town, having a freak-out over the caprese salad. I’m not a foodie but it moved me.
    • The patron with a pager on his belt.
  • How every hotel in the region was sold out because of a football game. Driving a hundred miles to find one with a single room left.
    • At one sold-out Holiday Inn, the front desk staff lighting up talking about a local, family-owned amusement park. ”They never sold out. They’re not out to rob you.”
    • The elephant-themed lobby decor of the hotel we finally settled into.
  • The neon Sapp Bros. Coffee sign emerging from the fog, giving the sky a red glow around it.