It’s been a busy week. Tuesday night we caught a band playing in one of the local clubs. Thursday we sat by the Lachine canal and listened to another band for free while we sipped on beers. Friday I went out to the restaurant by myself. The waitress approached me and said “you seem in a hurry, you can relax and take your time there’s no hurry.” In all honesty I was just relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere. I found it slightly amusing that she thought I was stressed.
Later in the night I was in a different part of town. I made my way through alleys on the way home, just listening to my music and thinking how weird it was to be walking through alleys at almost 2 am alone. Perhaps oddly, I wasn’t too concerned about my safety. Garbage, homeless people sleeping, graffiti, tags, and who knows what else, I was just passing through. I suspect one of these days I’ll get mugged, but in the meantime I try to be smart about which alley I walk through.
The above being said, It was still an all around strange night. I had a nice filling meal and entertaining conversation at the restaurant. That in itself was a nice change of pace for a Friday night.
I left the restaurant and took the metro to Guy-Concordia and walked around the neighborhood while I waited to hear from my friends. I walked past several Korean restaurants. Despite not being hungry at all, I got the strong urge to sit down and order some food! The smells, the atmosphere, the Koreans, it all brought me back a few years. I can honestly admit I have been missing Korean food and culture.
I met up with my friends on a patio of one of the local dive bars. We were sitting at a picnic table when one of my coworkers looked at me and said “you look so zen”. The music was playing somewhat loudly which meant I wasn’t able to hear him properly. Initially I thought he said “you look so stressed” which would of freaked me out seeing as the waitress had earlier mentioned the same thing. I asked him to repeat what he had just said and then I clearly heard “you look so Zen”.
This I was happy to hear. Because at that moment I was simply enjoying “it”, the “moment”. The weather was nice, we were on a patio sharing drinks and it seemed like there were no worries in the world.
Although the rest of the gang was heading out to keep drinking, I not so politely excused myself and walked home. Zig zagging through the alleys, listening to music and while taking random pictures, I was once again reminded why I love this city so much.
I go to sleep content.
mtl_dokkaebi
