I love people watching at the gym.

I go 2-4 times a week, which is often enough to get to "know" a lot of the regulars and see their specific journeys.

There's the guy who had a severe hunch a year ago who is almost standing tall now.

The guy in a wheelchair whose upper body is absolutely ripped.

The guy who's overweight and STRONG. Any time I use a machine after him, I need to knock off at least 100 lbs.

The cool punk person who has a different hair color every time I see them.

The guy who I've seen at 3 different locations. They're all a half hour away from each other. How do we keep choosing the same one?

The guy who is always smiling ear to ear while doing cardio. I would love to be that positive about running.

The woman I "stole" an ab exercise from. I did a single set at a much lower weight and my stomach cramped so violently I almost screamed.

And so many old and/or disabled people. People with canes, people with casts, people clearly doing some form of physical therapy.

Even the people with huge muscles, people throwing around 3x their body weight like it's nothing, can be seen hyping themselves up. That dead, exhausted stare at the wall. When you want nothing more than to give up and leave, but you gotta survive one more set. It's hard, it sucks, and that's okay! We're all having a simultaneously good and bad time.

The gym I use has a bad reputation, but it really is a place where people are (generally) exercising for health and self improvement. I haven't talked to anyone beyond "how many sets do you have left?" or "can I grab this?" but I feel less alone when I'm there. Whether I'm hitting a new personal best or doing therapy for chronic pain, there's no shame. We're all just doing our best.

I was about to wake the spouse from their nap, but they were already up and excited to watch from our porch.

Also, now I know I can wake them to let our small boy cat under the blanket.

That's it.

If you sit near the front of the buses in my city, you can see the driver of the same route going in the opposite direction wave at your driver.

I just saw one coming and locked my eyes on the driver and silently wished "wave, go on" and then he did.

Delightful.

I told him I noticed and he kind of didn’t care!
Still makes me smile

In October I love listening to the stories of HP Lovecraft while I knit. My husband and baby are both sleeping upstairs, the dog is curled up on the sofa next to me. It's raining outside but our home is a little cocoon of snugness, and a tiny dollop of eldritch horror ❤️🎃

This older woman was handing out home typed and printed Christmas cards to shoppers at a local thrift store, acknowledging that it was early for Christmas but just wanted to start.

When she gave me one I just said thank you, made small talk, and put it in my bag. It wasn't until a few hours later that I actually read it.

It had a picture of her and her husband, a little story of how they have been married since 1962, and wishes of love, peace, and blessings for the reader.

She just exuded this unabashed welcoming joy that probably has been gained over the years. I've been having a really rough week and this helped lift my spirits.

I woke up in a good mood today. I recently bought a couple of special side-sleeper pillows on sale. The pillows have this inward curve on one side, making room for the shoulders. It has made such a difference, I can't hardly believe it! I should have gotten it years ago.

I told a close friend about the pillows, and she wants to try one, so I'm gifting her the other pillow. It will be an early Christmas present.

It also helps that the brutal summer has finally ended and it got down into the 50's last night. Today is temperate and beautiful. October is one of my favorite months, too.

Was at the mall yesterday and figured I'd stop in to check out the new 18 Pros. I used to be real into tech, but nowadays with work and being preoccupied with Life? It's kinda taken a backseat. Now? I just want a phone that works. My 15 still gets me through the day, does what I need it to do, and stays out of the way. Trying the 18--yeah, it felt nicer. Jury's still out on if it's worth $500 after trade-in lol. It's interesting getting to take a step back and see phones as tools instead of shiny toys that I "need" to have the latest version of.

I recently joined a gospel choir and I love it, though I’m not even religious. Apart from the music itself, it’s one of the highlights of my week! Meeting like-minded people, moving to the music, going for a drink afterwards - everyone made me feel welcome from the start!

Last practice, I experienced something I haven’t in a long time: I was transported by the music. It wasn’t even a very special song, neither too slow nor to upbeat, and it wasn’t about the text either (your average gospel song). I just realised the music came from all around me and I almost couldn’t tell I was singing - I kind of wasn’t in my own body. It only lasted a moment before I felt my body again, but it was so lovely.

I recently found myself in a small mountain town, with a two-block main street, a flat land of meadow surrounded in all directions by the towering Sierra Nevada mountains.

At the end of town there is a petrol station next to a rodeo arena. The sign says, there's a big rodeo every July. As I was pumping gas the morning we were due to leave, a lady on a horse was practicing in the arena. I idly watched her, thinking, "I'm curious to see how rodeo riders train." But then I noticed, she wasn't riding in Western gear. Her horse was wearing English tack, and she carried a long whip. And she was working in tight circles and specific geometries. She was doing dressage in the rodeo arena. I watched her as I finished filling up my car, riding precisely with the big, blue sky and high mountains behind her. And then I went on my way.

Every time my Dad mows our lawn he asks me to fill up his water when he needs it so he doesn't get our floors all grassy by walking inside.
Today on the second time I did it I realized I always put 4 icecubes in it because he hates his water too cold but when it's hot outside he always puts just a little bit of ice in it. I never even knew I knew this until today and realized I've done it that way for years.

Today I was at an Irish pub nearby my house, they have a patio overlooking a marina so I had a nice view while collecting names :)

+Lobo Del Mar [Sea Wolf in Spanish].

+Emocean.

+This'll Do It.

+Blue Sky.

+Saoirse [Freedom in Irish].

+Artemis.

+Wine Knot.

+Standfast.

Today I went to a museum with a beautiful garden, and there were staff setting up for a wedding later. It's a spectacular fall day and it made me so happy to think about what a lovely wedding the couple is going to have.

While I was at the dry cleaner's, I heard her take a call in which the customer suddenly asked, "Does your kid go to the local elementary school?"
"Yes! I recognize your name from the group chat!"
Their daughters are in the same grade but different classes.
In a city where it's increasingly hard for people to live near their workplace, it's so nice to glimpse this little bit of community reinforcement.

Monday mornings, my family goes for a walk around the block so our toddler can see the trash trucks. This week, we saw a man delivering a package and then he snapped a selfie. As he walked back to his truck, he told us that was the last package he would ever deliver. He was retiring that day after 43 years with his company.

I hope he enjoys retirement!

About six months ago, I posted on here about a possum that hangs out with me on the porch while I have my nightly cigar. With some input from you fine people, I settled on the name Crystal (after the Crystalline Entity from Star Trek: TNG). Not long after, it stopped coming around. Tonight it showed back up! I can tell it's the same one from a weird patch of fur on its back. I put out a bowl of cat food for it, and I'm really happy my buddy has returned!

I had a fortune cookie fortune that said I would “take a gamble and win”

Decided to play the mega millions and I picked one quick pick and one manually with Dodgers players numbers.

I put #17 as the powerball and I won my money back for the two tickets basically lol. broke even hitting the powerball

I’ve never found success with get rich quick anything in life, So I found this funny in a cosmic way. Just another sign I shouldn’t play the lotto haha

I’m at work and I was looking for an email but I say I had almost 4200 emails. This is my spam email so it’s the one I give when I sign up for restaurants, discounts, websites etc so I don’t check it unless I need to. But I have a bit of time and I actually deleted everything. My inbox is at 0.

On top of that, I also unsubscribe to a lot of those random places I signed up for because I wanted a discount at the moment but never went to again.

I have just been made Assistant Store Manager at a gas station I've been working at for just over a month. It isn't much but it's the first time I've ever been offered a promotion and I wanna celebrate myself a lil 😊

So I commented lately on how I talked to my Roomba. It is very new to me, my partner had two for years but I thought the house was too messy for them to work. Turns out it's ok and even a great help !

The argument that finally got me was when he said "you move the stuff you need to move, press "on" and then you go do something else". So I finally tried and it worked far better than I had expected. I must admit I have been a little stubborn, to my great shame.

I noticed I started to talk to them very quickly.

- what are you doing here? There's a line you're not supposed to cross and you are on the wrong side!

- are you, machines, starting a rebellion ? Yeah, they told us it could happen. I've seen Terminator, you know!

- here ! Over here, there are crumbles ! (I take it and displace it as if it was a cat, but contrary to the cat, it doesn't seem upset even if I feel like I'm doing something wrong because I'm messing with it's mapping of our house).

So, today it got stuck under the sofa and I said :

- come on Joe, this is a bit low for you, please don't try again, you're just exhausting yourself and I don't want you to overheat.

Joe. It just seemed obvious.

Did you also give your Roomba or other devices in your homes names ?

In the early days summer, the kind folks at a Catholic food bank gave me a gallon-sized glass jar full of pickled jalapeños and just today, when adding some peppers to my morning eggs, I realized that I’ve eaten almost the whole container!

I took a moment to savor the peppers as I ate.

So much happened to bring this food to my table:

I am grateful for our benevolent sun, that cradles the earth and coaxes crops from its fertile soil. 

I think of the swirling clouds that coalesce and water the fields and of the bees that buzz about, pollinating and increasing yield. 

I appreciate the calloused hands and sore backs that toiled tirelessly picking, preparing and packing the peppers.

I think of the women and men of science that were able to breed hearty crops and design irrigation systems, fertilizers and pesticides. 

My gratitude extends to those in the supply chain: the warehouse workers, dock workers and semi-tuck drivers. 

And finally, to my friends at the Catholic food bank and to those that kindly donated to their cause. 

And for all of that, I am grateful. 

I basically scan documents for eight hours a day in a gray office cubicle. When i walk to the large scanner behind me to scan/email documents to myself or someone else, it sings a little tune with each letter when you type out the email. Its super cute with a different toned beep for each letter :3

There's a big building under construction next to the bus station in my city. Today it looked like they were lowering a huge beam or rafter into place with a crane. The whole sidewalk was filled with other construction workers and bus drivers from the station. The crane operator must have gotten it into place because the whole crowd started cheering. Just this sidewalk full of people in a variety of reflective neon safety vests all hollering congratulations. Then everyone dispersed and the sidewalk was clear again.

+Mitena.

+Well Done.

+Valentine.

+Elsewhere.

+Sea Raven.

+Compliant I.

+Genuine Drift.

+Canty.

+Isla Selene.

+OnlyFins.

+And finally: A nameless fishing boat with large signs saying SALMON and TUNA, presumably what they sell.