Flying Solo

Wednesday 10:02am 9Aug06

It's my final day off and I'm back to work tomorrow. For once, I finally made good use of my free days. I went to Caribana on Saturday, hung out at Harbourfront for all the free concerts both Sunday and Monday, and I went to Canada's Wonderland yesterday. I did all these things by myself. If I waited for someone to join me on my outings I'd never go anywhere. Everyone wants to have done what I did but most times it's after the fact. Making concrete plans with people seems harder and harder. But there are benefits to doing things alone.

One of the great things about doing things by yourself is that it gives you an opportunity to meet people. You are less likely to notice other people when you are with at least one other person because your focus is on that person, but when you are by yourself you watch people watch you, like at Wonderland, "Is she by herself? Did she come here by herself? She's riding that ride by herself?"

You get the looks once you get past the looks people start to approach you. One stand out person at Caribana was chatting with the man that knew my mother, my Angel visitation that I wrote about a few days ago. Another stand out person at Canada's Wonderland was Scott. He drove in from London, Ontario with his 13 year old son and the son's new girlfriend. He saw that I was by myself and I was getting into the front of Top Gun and he joined me in the line up. He said, "Do you mind if I ride with you?"
"Of course not. Now I won't be the only leper in the front, now we can be a couple of lepers."

He cracked up and from there on in we were throwing quips back and forth and cracking each other up. He told me how he was keeping an eye on his 13 year old boy and his new girlfriend. Making sure he kept tabs on how serious their relationship was becoming. He wants it to progress in a non trouble causing way. The regular conversations he's had with his son, "What are you up to? How far has this gone? You wear a helmet when you play hockey, you need to wear a helmet when/if you have sex with your girlfriend."

We shared our near death experience on Top Gun. Screaming, "Oh Shit! Oh Shit!" We laughed at my hands shaking so much that I couldn't undo my seat belt at the end of the ride.

So yes being alone has it's benefits, once you get passed all the people who stare at you for whatever reason. The staring that you notice less of when you are with someone else. The staring that may say that you are pathetic because you're alone, because of what you're wearing, because they may think you're cute or even worse ugly as sin. The staring for a multitude of reasons. Staring at you for reasons that you may not be able to guess at. Once you get passed all that you can also meet some genuinely nice and funny people.

Tonight, I go to see a play with a friend who can make plans. : )

EY