Observations from Yesterday

Yesterday I was so caught up in the awesomeness of the rally that I forgot to mention some observations Jennifer and I made during our adventure.

The first is that when you stand shoulder to shoulder with the same people for an hour, you begin to notice smells emanating from them. The woman directly to our right smelled really bad; not the smell of perspiration but just a general un-washed smell dressed in un-washed clothes. The man in front of us had forgotten to apply his deodorant. The woman behind me needed to brush her teeth. Yuck.

The second is that some people decided walking 2 miles to the end of the entrance line was too much for them. We had made about a block's progress when Jennifer motioned at a guy slightly behind and to her right. She asked, sotto voce, if he had been there all along. I murmured back that he had not. I think he noticed our noticing because he tried to strike up a conversation and make friends then. We didn't care that he had cut in line behind us but we weren't going to become his new best friends, either.

Finally, there's this tidbit. When we boarded the bus to go down the 16th Street Mall, there was a man already standing in the aisle. As the bus filled up quickly, I had no choice but to stand right next to him. He smelt strongly of liquor. His eyes were red, watery and swollen and I suspect that it was not from crying.

I had been next to him for less than a minute when he asked Jennifer and me if we'd ever had breakfast at Dixon's. We said no and he went on to explain that the eggs Florentine look like breasts. Apparently the restaurant serves them with sliced olives placed just so, on the poached eggs. Lovely. Then he chuckled and said, "I know that's a weird thing to talk to strangers about, but I think it's funny."

He asked us where we were going. When we replied that we were going to the Obama rally he said he was going to work. "Yeah, I'm a designer and I am meeting a client about a bid this morning." Mmkay. I hate to break it to you, dude, but I don't think you're going to get the bid whilst reeking of liquor and looking like you haven't slept in 3 days.

After an awkward pause he said, "Do you like brie? You know, brie cheese? I had way too much brie and wine last night. But it's so good. So good."

I felt bad for the guy. I have no idea what drove him to drink so much all night; it could have been something really bad. Or maybe he's just a drunk and doesn't need an excuse to drink. Whatever the reason, he obviously felt bad about it and wanted to cover it up.