I had to get out of town today. I spent too much time inside my own head, while I was taking some rest days, and I needed to be out and about. I picked up my daughter, and we went to downtown Boulder to wander and find food. We learned once we were there that a Fall Fest was under way, and over the course of the evening, hundreds of people lined the Pearl Street Mall. Perhaps not as many were there as on any given Friday when there is a Stampede (the night before a home football game), but crowds were definitely evident. As we walked up and down the mall, through throngs of people, I wondered, why is it that I am having such a hard time meeting people? I'm fairly gregarious. I was surrounded by smiling faces loosened by alcohol and entertainment. How is it I just fail when it comes to picking up new acquaintances, of any gender, age, or social status? I try to put myself out there, to gain friends or clients. I go to group events. I must throw off some sort of porcupine-quill-covered aura that keeps people at bay. I don't mean to. I generally want to seem approachable. I thought my demeanor was relaxed, as I chilled on a rooftop terrace with my daughter and meandered through the crowds. Maybe I need a gimmick, one that people will use as an icebreaker.
I didn't have a distinct purpose in mind, other than to be around people and look at things I haven't seen in a while. There was a Santana cover band playing in front of the courthouse, which was a nice diversion. We wandered through a couple stores, including a tiny corridor of an establishment selling imported clothes, incense, and brass statuettes of Hindu deities. It took a lot of walking to find a restaurant that seemed worth the risk for my dietary needs. And I found my next piece of jewelry that I will buy when I have money to fling around (there were beautiful, large, citrine pendants at the rock shop we frequent). If all I needed was a change of scenery and dinner, I scored on both accounts.
I noticed as we left downtown that the moon was full and deeply golden. I recalled that it was a Harvest moon, and that there was some talk of an eclipse tonight. It wasn't until I was all the way home that I learned it was more of a southern hemisphere thing. But I did take the scenic route home through the country, and tried to force a little cell phone camera to take decent shots of the moon. Someday, there will be a moon setting on these things, so that people like me can do this without struggling to remember what the "pro" settings on the camera mean and do. There is only so much you can get from a photo of a fuzzy white dot on a black background.
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