Deviant behavior
May 5, 2011
Yesterday on my walk home from work, I engaged in behavior which, in my mind, was surely worthy of receiving an ASBO. I thwarted my initial plan because I couldn’t overcome my self-consciousness to act in the location I really wanted to (Nicollet Mall and 5th Street South/Light Rail). There were just too darned many people milling about waiting for buses, waiting for cross-walking right-of-way, and the like at that unpopular time of day known as rush hour. Someone would, at the very least, see me, and at the very worst, be curious and stop to ask me about it. I chastised myself, didn’t change my mind, and moved on.
As I contemplated its execution a little further down 5th Street (at 3rd Avenue South, in front of the Qwest building, if you must know), I came to notice just how many security cameras we really have in downtown Minneapolis. I guess that’s not exactly a bad thing; a few years ago, a violent criminal was apprehended because a citizen phoned 911 immediately and authorities were able to track the suspect on sequential cameras as he ran away.
For my own little plot, I got nervous because Gotham City Hall is across the street, and also because after noticing the cameras, I figured somebody was watching me take photos near a sensitive building and would be swarming out to disappear me, in light of the Osama bin Laden developments over the weekend. I didn’t wish to take any chances. I put my head down and hightailed it onward.
For a couple of blocks, I felt like an utter, pansy failure. Then I had The Brainstorm. I’d have to be patient, but I would still have the opportunity to perform my duty in a location well-traveled by desirable types. I spent the next fifteen minutes walking another three-quarters of a mile to the bike trail that connects Downtown East to my home neighborhood.
And then I did it.
I drew in chalk on the pavement.
Me, right now
September 18, 2010
Take a photo of yourself right now! Even though I looked pretty rough, I regret that I censored (and deleted) my very first “right now” this morning. But I was embarrassed by the result of too much beer and too little sleep last night.
Instead you get my second, third, and fourth right nows. I came back to the camera after I had had my shower this morning and was feeling clean, if not a little fresher than half an hour earlier. I tried to get my cat CJ to join me but she was too busy buttering me up for her breakfast to pose nicely.
During the day, some people posted followup photos to their first ones, and in the seventh inning of the Minnesota Twins baseball game at Target Field tonight, I decided that would be the perfect scene for another shot. You can see that I and 40,000 of my closest friends are enjoying ourselves, despite the Twins’ subsequent loss to the Oakland A’s.
The weather was iffy today, and if there’s a chance it will rain, I park my bike at a nearby building under its overhang for shelter. (My office and Target Field are within a few blocks of each other so I just leave my bike where it is when I go to a game.) I guess because it’s a utility company they have good security, including a camera that monitors the front where the bike rack is. And something in its software motion detects and draws a red box around the mover. That’s me! I find it a little creepy that it can do that, but at the same time, sometimes I dance around a little just to see how the square changes size. I had snapped this picture to share my thoughts about it elsewhere, then couldn’t resist also sharing it with the other right nowers.
And now to bed so that I won’t have to be embarrassed two mornings in a row.
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