Bixby's Observations

I realize that because my trip is now over that technically this [travel] blog should be complete as well. I find myself at home again and completely over my jetlag (though I still tell people I am jetlagged just so they don't judge me for going to be at 10 o'clock every night over winter break), so I feel like a conclusion post should be in order. However, I am not in the mood to conclude this, or to even sum up my adventures. I'm sure that will come at some point in the near future. At this point in time, though, I am going to tell a little story.

I took my car in to the auto repair shop formerly known as Al & Lou's today. Apparently the brake light in the back window was burned out and, because I am headed back to school tomorrow in this car, the repair of this particular feature made it onto my to-do short list, along with getting a throat culture and buying an adapter to allow me to play my iPod in the car.

To pass the hour where Clyde was in the possession of the maintenance man, I headed over to Bixby's, ordered a Jumpin' Monkey, and settled myself into a black leather armchair by the window. I cast a cursory glance at the people surrounding me, most of whom appeared to be hard at work--a few were with their laptops.

It wasn't until I had turned on some Blink, for old time's sake, that I really examined my surroundings. It was during this second examination that, in the middle of What's My Age Again?, I found my attention drawn to the cover of the laptop of the girl sitting closest to me. A hot pink post-it, partially covering the Toshiba logo, was what had drawn my attention to her.

Before I say anything else, I will admit that I am a fan of using post-its as reminders. They are the paper created purely as a reminder tool; they stick to mostly everything and come in an assortment of colors to ensure that your attention is drawn to them. In general, though, I do tend to keep my private post-its...private.

It was obvious to me, in reading this girl's post-it, that she too was a strong proponent of post-it use, though perhaps the privacy issue for her was not something that took such a prominent place in her mind. Written in large green letters on the hot pink post-it were the words,

"Plan B!!"

I realize Plan B could mean many different things, but given the current contraceptive connotations of the phrase combined with the reminding nature of post-its, I nearly felt obligated to do my part as well and be a reminder, in addition to the post-it, to ensure that she would not miss that important 12 or 24 or 48 hour (or however long it is) mark. After this brief consideration, however, I instead opted to just take a picture of the situation, using it as a kind of congratulatory device for myself in that I have never allowed my private post-its to become public.