In Which I Am Once Again Stopped on the Street

Y'all.

Y'all.

It happened again.

Toward the end of my walk, I passed by this teenage couple lounging on their front porch. They then proceeded to chase me for half a block and then wanted a picture with me. Turns out I look like the girl's brother who currently lives in Vegas. If this keeps up, there's going to come a day when a group chases me down to mug me and I cheerily stop and ask if they wanted a picture or chat. Maybe that's what's really going on in this town- they're lulling me into a false sense of security. That must be it.

The walking continues to go well. I did some forward scouting of another potential walking area; turns out the Neuse River Greenway Trail is close by my house, so that gives me miles of new territory to explore. The weight lifting and body weight exercises continue to get better. To be honest, I felt pretty miserable during it today; motivation was kind of low. On the bright side, I can feel it becoming easier to do them.

I intended to make carnitas for real this time tonight, as I managed to get my hands on some pork shoulder. Unfortunately, I forgot to pick up an onion. Resolved to amend this error, I took a detour on my walk for the local mart to pick one up. They didn't have any. BUT. The lady running the store pointed me in the direction of another store that would carry onions. Feeling close once again to delicious carnitas, I waved goodbye through the bulletproof divider and walked down the street. The store I arrived at immediately brought up nostalgic feelings of my time in Arizona. There was a taco truck out front, there was a panaderia (Hispanic bakery) nestled up right beside the grocery store, the grocery store itself had aisles upon aisles of spices, sodas, yogurts, seasoned meats, and chips that I hadn't seen in years. And onions. Truly this is a discovery I will be taking full advantage of in the months to come. Happily, I went home with my onion.

Then I realized I needed orange juice.