I Can Get No Peace

The weather is beautiful today. Sunny skies, 68 degrees Fahrenheit (don't ask me to convert it to Celsius for you Metric users), the birds were chirping, etc. etc. Since I live near the Kamo River I decided I would go again and chill out on a bench, and do some readings that I have been procrastinating about since last December for my research. Packed some green tea in my thermos, brought and orange, whole wheat crackers and bought a new highlighter, and I was off and running. Or rather, riding.

The usual suspects were along the Kamo River: dog walkers, elderly couples, a few tourists on bikes, young families, old biddies cleaning up the trash, college and high school students. I was minding my own business when a man walking a Shiba Inu (a Japanese dog, I want to get one - or an Akita - and name it either Daisuke or Miyako/Miya for short) took a look at me and started to walk in my direction.

"Hello," he said in a pretty clear voice.

Several things ran through my mind:

1) Ok, I am a mild sucker for Shiba Inus, and I like to look at them. He has a nice dog.
2) Hmm...his English isn't that badly accented.
3) Oh dammit - AGAIN strange people are talking to me! Please, just leave me alone.

Luckily for me, I was actually packing up my things, because it got too windy. I politely answered his question of "Are you a student?" (pretty obvious because I was wielding photocopied text and a highlighter) and turned back to put my bag in my bike basket. I guess he got the picture that he either probably freaked me out or that I was leaving so he just walked away and threw his ball with his dog.

I then rode my bike up along the bike path on the eastern side of the river under the blooming cherry blossoms (not totally out yet) and bought some tulips from a houseware/Home Depot/Ikea-ish store that is near me.