Sara Vowel, you narrative enchantress.

Because of you, I missed my bus by about 15 seconds, chasing it down the street wildly waving my arms.

This is really funny because I was listening to you quasi-criticize public radio (and say what you want about Garrison Keillor, the man knows how to tell a story) at Illinois Wesleyan University before you took a question asking if you drive and I thought, “Drive. No car. Bus. Soon. Maybe now. Gotta go,” as I ran from the hall.

As quickly as I could walk/run in clogs, I made my way to downtown Normal, where I missed my transfer by about two minutes.

I would have to walk the entire 2.8 miles home in the dark and cold. And I hadn’t even worn a coat, although I had a warm sweater because, despite evidence provided in this blog and elsewhere, I am not a total idiot.

And then I started thinking about how Sara Vowel talked about walking around Washington, D.C., after dark, about how she felt muggable and how a murdered person is often judged by the contents of his pockets. Abe Lincoln had two pairs of glasses and a knife.

I had 75 cents in my pocket, saved from bus missing. I had a bag with my wallet, cell phone and New York Times Sunday Magazine, although this is not usual. My regular bag is of the diaper variety and contains about 15 pounds of diapers, cups, bottles, spare pants, hair gel and a host of other objects that vary from day to day. One day it's WD40. The next it's three apples.

I like to mix it up.

That would be a more accurate portrayal of my life, I think.