Hello, Stranger

I wish I could say that the above title is the worst I will ever come up with, but I know myself, and I know there will be worse.

The reason it came to mind is because there is a guy who comes here who always says "Hi" to me as if we know each other outside of Avery. This makes me anxious not because I think he is being v. forward (in the quiet quiet that is Avery, things like a personalized "Hello" can seem like a marriage proposal), but because I feel senile. At 3rd Ward this weekend, we ran into a friend-of-a-friend I arrived with, and whom I did not recognize. Evidently we were well acquainted enough for him to kiss me on the cheek, though, and remember my name, while I stood there gawking and saying things like "Nice to meet you."

Which makes me think, do I know said patron from somewhere else? He does look familiar, but I think it is only because he is here all the time, and I assume he looks all the more familiar because he is always saying Hello and Goodbye in that smiley, wavey sort of way! As if it is not to any of the other GAs, because he is not friends with them.

Perhaps next time I will ask him if I know him from somewhere besides Avery. I am fairly confident the answer is no, and that I am not going senile but just look at so many "familiar" faces at work that I can't keep track of "familiar" faces that aren't at Avery.

He just walked back in. He did not have his ID out. I told him, "I know you were just here." (Because you waved good-bye to me on your way out.) "Yes," he said, "I left my laptop in another building." "What?" "I left my laptop." (I am deaf.) "What?" "(pointing at laptop) I LEFT MY LAPTOP." "Oh, ok." "It is hard to write an essay without one." "True. I used to write all of my essays by hand, and then type them up." "(groans) No!" "I know, up until only a couple of years ago, too. I'm writing my thesis this year though, so there will be none of that." "What are you studying?" "Art History. Are you a graduate student?" "Yes, I am getting my PhD in Philosophy." "Oh wow, that sounds much more interesting than my field." "Not as practical." "Nothing at Columbia is practical. Did you do undergrad here?" "No, I have only been in New York City for a month and a half." "I remember my first year here; it kicks you in the ass a bit but you'll stay. Where are you from originally?" "Montreal (explains the hint of a French accent), and I went to a tiny undergraduate school there. And you?" "Los Angeles." "West Coast! What about...San Francisco, do you like it?" "Yes; my father was born near there. But I prefer here for a city." "What is your name?" "THIS." "B." "Well, I'm sure I'll see you around; you are always in here." "I am. Take care."

He probably read what I had written before the conversation because it was right here, in front of him. Such is life.

And just said Hi to yet another patron I saw at 3rd Ward. And just remembered that I saw a Barnard "Senior Experience" tote bag in one of the rooms. What the hell.