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Picture of the Day

Tuesday
October 14, 2014
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yesterday today i got schooled in patience in some petty, first world problem ways. i don't mean just the usual stuck in traffic homicidal urge, but real honest to goodness face to face interactions with frustrating people in public situations. it was fun! what was my hurry, anyway? i'd just dropped sarah off at OGG and was doing my "city" errands before returning to upcountry volcano slope redoubt where i wouldn't be seeing much of anyone for a month. so, at costco i asked a simple question at customer service desk and went into a Kafkaesque limbo as the floater who volunteered to help me simulataneously ignored me and held me hostage with some weird magic of body language. ok, what's a few more minutes on concrete floor under tweaky warehouse ceiling lights? i was into it! it ended too soon and i was on my way to maui federal credit union to ask why they charged me $5 inactive account fee. hell, i was there to deposit cash anyway. i removed my hat and sunglasses before entering (they're very particular about that). hey, no line! step right up, sir! and there i stood for the next 40 minutes or more, getting several different answers to the same exact question. it was as if the clerk and i were speaking different languages. but we were both game and smiling, like tourists with no common tongue thrown together trying to figure out a foreign toilet. the time passed slowly in the carpeted AC of the hushed bank. a violent film played muted on a giant wall screen TV in the waiting area as my hapless clerk to and fro'd to her boss's office each time i reiterated the same basic question. after more light comedy the issue was finally resolved by the boss herself and i was kind of sorry to depart. time had stopped there for a while as i stood at the stolid counter, so reassuring in its solidity, as the life of the bank flowed around me, the way people in a time lapse movie rush like water. ok! enough business, time for pleasure at Maui's great gem, the Pu'unene MFOL. filled a bag with quarter classics and was ready to pay but another patron lingered long after completing her purchase. i waited, then turned and browsed some more. oh, poetry. langston hughes, amiri baraka, and A-bomb tanka. by the time i got to the lone cashier i never wanted to leave. i guess in the end i'm kind of sad i didn't take the opportunity to act more impatient. maybe next time. there'll be other chances... +