Had a totally random experience just now. While I was out on my routine walk during my 10-minute afternoon break, I passed by this awkward-looking (but cute) girl who was decked out with hiking gear. She smiled and said 'hi' as I passed her and I returned the gesture. After I reached my turnaround point, I walked back toward the office and noticed she hadn't gotten very far.

As I passed her again, she struck up a conversation, which I engaged her in. I asked about her gear, and she proceeded to give me a spiel about her "odd life circumstances" and the need to get away from it all, so she was basically retooling her life as a wayfarer, traveling from city to city on foot. As interesting as such a person is, though, she seemed quite interested in asking about me, and we started talking about metal (thanks to my Kreator shirt), which led to her coax the tale of my musical aspirations out of me. We walked on until we hit the liquor store at the edge of the highway (my break had probably been over for like 5 minutes by that point) before we bode each other farewell and good luck.

Suffice it to say, I don't often have encounters quite this interesting during my quiet, uneventful walks. It was kind of nice to have someone to talk to, even if she was a little awkward (again, in a pretty cute way), and I kind of wish I'd asked her if she'd like to keep in contact. The thing that really stopped me was the assumption that she probably didn't have phone service, or access to the Internet for that matter, so at the time it seemed like a silly thing to ask. Still shoulda done it, though.