Monthly Archives: April 2014

Apr9

I’m being chased by Ramona Flowers

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Wednesday, 02-Apr-14

 

So, when I bike to work in the mornings there are a few little “temporal milestones” that I try to hit.  Events that happen at specific times, and at specific places, along my bike route.

  • First up, we have the commuter rail, picking up all the little high school students from Belmont center.  This is the earliest one, and if I hit this (or see the kids still waiting for the train) then I know that I’m running early / on time.  I almost never see this one.
  • Last on the route are the two middle / grade / preschool bus stops; the bus follows my route along a parallel path, and so far I’ve only missed the second stop one or two times.  If I’m running early, then I sometimes get in before the kids even start waiting for the bus… but usually I see them with their parents hanging out at the end of the street.
  • And the middle event, the one this whole post is about, is when I see Ramona Flowers waiting outside the bank.

Seriously, look up a picture of this character from the Scott Pilgrim movie.  Offhand I don’t know what actress plays her, but this girl is a dead ringer.  Green hair, cut in the same style.  Jacket, backpack, and bracelets.  I am 100% certain that she dresses up like this on purpose.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers, from IMDB

But aside from that, I know nothing about this person; why she sits on the front stoop of the bank, why she’s always writing in a notebook, or why she looks to be high school aged… yet doesn’t take the commuter rail that everyone else takes.  In fact, she’s usually at the bank after the train leaves…

 

So, when I drive into work, I generally don’t see Ramona.  Except for one time, when she tried to drag-race me down Waltham street.

Ok, so it wasn’t her who was drag-racing me.  But close…  I was sitting at a red light, and when it turned green I took off.  I love my Mustang, and so I generally accelerate a bit faster than is absolutely necessary – it’s fun to feel the power that the engine can put out, and it makes my commute a bit more bearable.  And not many cars can (or try to) keep up when I leave a stop line.

So this one morning, when I saw a Rav4-style car holding pace next to me… well, that’s a challenge.  And we did have an open road in front of us… so I opened up the throttle a bit wider, and left the little Rav behind me.  I kept following my usual route, and soon enough was ahead of the Rav, pulling up to yet another red light with them pulling in behind me.

Only when I looked in the rear-view mirror did I see Ramona, sitting in the passenger seat, staring straight into my mirror.

Unfortunately we never ended up next to each other again, but I can’t help but wonder if she recognized me… if, for some reason, she was the reason that a Rav4 was racing a Mustang down a street in Lexington.  I can’t help but wonder…

 

Why am I being chased by Ramona Flowers?

Apr2

A wink and a nod, and you’re in the door…

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Wednesday, 26-Mar-14

 

Wink and Nod is a new pub/bar/restaurant in the South End, that I heard about through a friend of mine first.  It seemed fun, though a bitch kitschy, and maybe worth while to see.

Then I saw it on my facebook feed.

Then I looked at their site, and saw some good drinks and good food.  And then, I invited a few friends to come with me to check it out.

 

For once, I arrived before anyone else.  So I waited outside, chatting with the bouncer for a bit.  Actually… I shouldn’t call him a bouncer.  He was an older gentleman, in a nice suit with a solid overcoat on to keep the chill away.  He looked like he could still kick me to the curb and back, but he didn’t have the “I am just waiting for an excuse to hurt you” look that most ‘bouncers’ have.  But we chatted for a while before Allison arrived, and we headed through the door, down the stairs, and into the bar…

Turns out, on a Wednesday night it’s a great date bar… but that’s about it.  Quieter than I thought, and the three of us (Emma, Allison and myself) had a little booth to ourselves by the back.  But everyone there was either a couple, or two people who were debating becoming a couple.

The drinks were interesting, though the waitress was trying to convince me to buy a glass of $50 scotch, because “there are only two bottles in the world, and we have one”… mmhmm.  I’m sorry, but if there are only two bottles of a specific scotch… your bar doesn’t have one.  Some old dude has both, and every once in a while he looks at them while reminiscing on how obscenely rich he is.

But that aside, they did have a nice scotch selection, and they had a shooter called the “Sharknado”.  I mean… at the end of the day, what more does a person need?  A shot called a sharknado, a cool bouncer, and food that comes served in a mason jar full of wood smoke… pretty solid place.

 

Link: https://www.facebook.com/winkandnod