Friends, Neighbors, PokéStops

When classes are in session at the nearby University, it’s impossible to find a place to park on campus. Student parking passes are required and strictly enforced by campus security. So, when I realized this was a 3-Day Weekend with classes suspended, campus security not caring who parks where, I thought I’d aim for getting to the campus early, beat the heat, and load up on game items all three days.

So far so good this Day 1.

Leaving the complex with 31 PokéBalls, I returned with 112.

The 1.40 miles of slow walking also netted:
107 Potions — medicine for treating wounds of pokémon injured in battle
62 Revives — medicine to revive fainted pokémon
36 Razz Berries — sweet treat to make pokémon easier to capture

I did not call the young woman who wants to team up, to see if she wanted to join me for “safety in numbers”. Instead, I put a jogger’s taser in one pocket, pepper spray in another, and took my chances.

Campus was completely deserted. I did not see a single soul, but felt safe as I could pretty much see what might be coming from every direction.

It was peaceful, quiet, and some of the PokéStops were interesting.

The buildings were locked up tight so, not being able to get inside for eyes on the actual structures, I settled for standing close enough to load. Except this stop’s structure was outdoors, so I was able to capture a photo in real time.

A half hour in, a handful of people began popping up here/there. Fortunately, none of those people was new friend.

That would have been awkward.

How do you tell someone you don’t want to hang out with them?

In the three years our paths have crossed, new friend has come across as friendly, outgoing, and terribly interesting.

Born in the United Kingdom, she’s a wife, mother, anthropologist, has traveled the world, enjoys cosplay, is a Walking Dead enthusiast (like myself) and, unlike myself, is a Star Trek aficionado. She’s super intelligent and can spout facts up the wazoo.

From photos posted to facebook, I see she also has a dad who lives in the area of the Blue Cut Fire, very near my coworker friend's cabin.

Dad is cute, single, his photo piqued my interest ... and my interest is not easily piqued.

If it worked out with new friend, I might have met her dad in person but it's not going to work out. There was a facebook conversation on her page which gave me pause, and alerted me she's too far back on the path, spiritually speaking, to hang with me.

A close friendship with her would require my walking on eggshells, keeping my mouth shut, and I promised myself in an earlier post I was done with having to do that.

So no.

Would you believe, however, I did run into someone I knew?

It was the dumpster diving neighbor – the woman who lost her income of caring for her mother when family took mother away and put mom in a care facility.

Mother has since passed away – sadly, they usually do rather quickly once taken away from family and placed in a facility. Having no income to speak of, dumpster diving neighbor has somehow been able to get the financial help she needs to remain a tenant.

After giving her a hug and asking how she felt about Nurse Ratched's departure (it was thumbs up), since Dumpster Diving Neighbor doesn’t drive, I asked “How did you get here?”

“I take the bus.”

There is a stop right at the entrance to the university. I guess, since neighbor got in trouble for dumpster diving at the complex, she does her diving at the university.

So that's it for Day 1. Unless the Universe sends me in another direction, the plan for tomorrow is to explore and collect from a different area of the university.