What a Wonderful Smell You've Discovered!
September 14^th, 2003
10:40 P. M.

What began as a moody and introspective day progressed into, then finished with many (minor) personal journeys. In order to boost my mood, I got up a little earlier than usual, to go to the gym, then on to the library. What I didn't count on was it being Sunday. This city's streets must have just unrolled about an hour before I got moving this morning...because after I got out, I saw very little going on. And I was out at 10:30 this morning (local time).
So, I got to the gym, parked in a prime spot (two spaces away from the door to the elevators).
At this point, I should possibly clarify something. I don't know if I've written about it or not (I don't even care enough to research my own posts here), but the gym I go to is on the top floor of a parking structure right in the middle of downtown. During the weekdays, I can't get a great parking place to save my life...no matter how early I get out. Now, I'm normally an advocate of finding a spot, and just putting the car there. Most of the time, however, I will try to get as close to the place I'm going to enter, simply so I can see my car as soon as I leave. I've actually lost my car for about 40 minutes once in a mall lot. I though that maybe I would have to wait 'til the end of the day before I would see it again. Add this sort of inattention to a multilevel garage, and you're looking at a man in mild panic every time he enters the premises!
Like, I said, I had the prime spot (easy to remember), and went to the top floor...only to find the doors to the gym closed. The sign said it would not open until 12.
Shoot.
What do you do in that case? I decided to see what time the library would open. 1 P. M. I looked down at my watch. The trip only took 5 minutes.
Dang.
Still the better part of an hour and a half to blow. So, I just took off walking...at random. Just to see what downtown Lexington had turned into since the last time I really walked around down there (about 14 years ago!

It was kind of sad. The place I used to do Christmas concerts at in Junior High School was mostly deserted. What was once a thriving mall in the heart of downtown is now mostly empty. There may only be one or two places left in there.
Halls that were once populated by the smells of many different restaurants, are now stale of fading memory. It looked and felt like a ghost town (I suppose even ghost towns have a Starbuck's in them now....)
Seeing and smelling that Starbuck's made me happy. I thought that maybe it would bring some interest back to the building it occupies. The halls that once echoed with the merry bustle of weekend shoppers may do so once again...perhaps it will stay that way until I have children singing in their choirs down there.

From there, I hiked over to the new courthouses...where construction was on hold for the weekend, and someone had forgotten to replace a storm sewer cover they had moved. I wondered why the park in front of the library stank. Lovely Hydrogen Sulfide...yumyum.
Reminded me of the job I had at the sewage treatment plant. Fascinating place. I really miss the people I worked with. They were a great group of guys. Yeah...I can think of only one woman that worked there with us. I wonder why there weren't very many more?

I even wound up walking down to my old college. I went to places there I hadn't seen in more than five years (other places I hadn't seen in almost 10). I stopped in front of the main classroom building for freshmen. There is a preserved tree stump there that was discovered in a coal mine in 1933. I stopped and read the plaque, and took time to really look at the thing. I tried to remember the first time I laid eyes on it.
It was a field trip in second or third grade. Perhaps it was earlier...maybe on the order of 23 or 24 years ago. It felt strange to me...am I old enough to recall things from that long ago? Yes, I am...
I thought about how much I had changed of those past 24 years...and how that old stump remained much as I had remembered seeing it the first time...maybe it had a little more algae here, a small chip missing there...but those details would be hard to notice when you're trying to remember from last year, let alone two decades ago.
According to the plaque, that the stump had been on display in that spot since 1961. I tried to think of what could have changed about it since then. There are a couple of places where it is obvious that concrete had to be used to keep the thing whole...it has a couple of seams where time may have ravaged it. Then again, could that damage have been done in '33 when it was removed from the mine?

I walked on through the campus. I passed next to what used to be the library where I wasted a lot of study time playing in Multi-User Dungeons on the computers. I can't remember doing a whole lot of anything productive there at all. From there I walked down the nice, wide walkway that lead down to the building that still houses the registrars offices. Lots of time spent in long lines there...And the name is quite memorable; Funkhauser. One of my first nights walking on campus with friends of mine I remember encountering and commenting on a bad smell in that area. The smart-ass of the group pointed out the name of the building...and I haven't forgotten it since.

From there, I hit Rose Street, but not before I stopped at the Chemistry/Physics building. That was an enchanting place to me. It harkens back to a time, 20 or more years before I was born, that was more optimistic (if not dangerously naive). I could imagine offices in that building where professors would be organizing research data that would be largely ignored for those old "Duck and Cover" films.
I thought about my first vain attempt at a college education. I entered college to major in Physics, so a lot of my time would have been spent there in the next few years...had things worked out between me and the realm of pure sciences. And, let's not forget all the math involved! I realized today that I, too, had been optimistic and naive...
...in many ways...
That line of thought actually helped me feel better about where I am right now...in the past ten years, I have learned what I am not. That's not such a bad thing to know. There are always going to be certain avenues that are closed to me...and I would like to think I will know which ones those are the next time I set foot on one. It would have been nice to have that figured out by 19...but who at 19 knows that sort of thing? At 19 I was all about persistence to the point of stupidity...Persistence with inconsistent effort.
That might have closed several avenues right there.

I passed by the Chemistry/Physics building, on the way back to the gym. Another half hour would pass before I would get back there. But, in that half hour, I passed by the center for performing arts...where I had seen many performances of the Lexington Philharmonic. It was also a place where I had been in a few performances myself. Gee...those were swell times. I loved performing....I would be happy to do it again one day.
If only I could find the time.

The rest of my trip back to the parking garage passed in mental silence. I felt at peace with where I was, and what I was doing at the time.
Mostly, though I was getting myself prepared to take a shower in the gym's stalls. I've never been much on nudity in places as public as a locker room. I think I would be more comfortable if I were in better shape...but I think not.
Today wasn't so bad...there was practically no one there, so I showered in relative comfort. All the other guys were working out, and I had just finished mine. (Walking around town for an hour and a half is tough, man!)
After the shower, I decided to take a look at the whirlpool. It was much like the others I had used before...once you've seen one, you've seen them all (in a certain price range).
In the area with the whirlpool, there was a sauna (I've used one of those before) and a steam room...
I've never used a steam room before...
After an initial shock (I opened the door then shut it quickly after the humidity hit me) I stepped inside. I understand the allure of those things now. Breathing became easier...kinda like being in a room with one of those old fire haz...er...humidifiers my parents used to run whenever I got the flu.

Then I went to the library.....I'll have to write about that tomorrow. So far, writing about this morning (and part of the afternoon) has taken longer than the adventure itself.

I'm getting tired. Bed calls.