Mike Doherty coined the term "Saussagio". I forgot about that. So, there's that.
Day 2: I wrote, puttered, and wandered to King's Place, a terrible mall in downtown "Freddy Beach".
When I was in high school, 'Freddy Beach' was a popular nickname for Fredericton. It was cheesy, but their rugby shirts were cheaper than the Roots rugby shirts which were hugely in fashion at the time (we'd just gotten our first Roots store. fredericton still doesn't have a GAP, to my knowledge). The Freddy Beach store was at King's Place, and briefly provided the sad sack mall a resurgence. I bought anti-histamines, deodorant, and toothpaste. I hope my purchases keep King's Place alive, giving the retired men wearing G-Sus and FBI hats a place to drink.
I ran into an old friend at the mall. It's hard to know how to feel when you see people you haven't seen in nearly 20 years. I've been gone as long as I've been "away". We don't look the same. We don't know each other. We had to say 'hello'.
I am not good at small talk, and I don't know how I would have managed any of this without Facebook. Seriously. I feel blessed to have been able to say, "Oh, you work with X! I saw that on the Facebook! How lovely!", or "You got married! Crazy!". I think I might make it through / enjoy this trip solely BECAUSE of Facebook. I hate giving Facebook positive credit. Ugh.
That night, I saw that friend again, along with several others, at a local "must-see" weekly live music night. I said presumptuous things about his marriage, and drunkenly gloated when I was proved correct. Later, I ran into a couple of my first boyfriend's closest friends. The chats were lovely, and absent of the thing that had coloured the bulk of our interactions over the last 15 or so years. And...I got this soundbite, "You look hot. Seriously. I don't remember your hair being so shiny."
Day 2 was a success, I suppose.
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