wildcat

Mid-sneeze, crossing Broughton, shoes caked with mud from walking through the raised garden, on my lunch break, I ran into a girl at the top of the stairs at Japanese Village, having decide that was perfect for lunch, The girl turned her head just so and I turned my head just so and there she was - Keely. I went to high school with Keely. She was at UVic for part of the time that I was there, as well, although we only ran into each by accident and she was in Japan for a while and then she was going to get married and then she wasn't, and I think that time stack could be shuffled but. But there she was with her hair grown out a little bit (she used to look like Anais Nin and wore her hair like that, a frame of black that swept under). She had on a smart long grey coat, and I had one of those weird moments where it's not just that we're out of high school but we're adults occupying the same point in space-time.

She's doing Law & Public Policy at UVic at the moment. She actually quite enjoys Law but sidelines on Public Policy because you never know. We talked about me still being in Victoria and possibly going to grad school in a year and a half. We talked about Roz, who she saw a little while ago for the first time in four years. Roz was another of the high school friends, and she finished her geography degree -- remember that? I nearly got one of those, before I decided to THROW IT ALL AWAY and pursue starvation dieting burlesque dancing cannibalism a fine arts degree in creative writing. Roz is apparently at UBC right now, doing her Masters in Midwifery. Which was one of those horrible moments where you realize that something's perfect for someone.

I scored Keely's number so I can hear meaningless Prince George gossip (why do I care? Everyone I care about left because all roads lead away from Prince George) and maybe we can do something sometime.

I sometimes wonder -- well, when provoked -- what would have happened to me if I'd ended up finishing my geography degree and gone into urban planning. Probably wouldn't have moved down to Victoria, which is an irrational thought for all kinds of reasons. I would have designed Tim Burton cities. I would have specified there be shanty towns built into the downtown core, like bizarre Mad Max urban recycling programs.