W.C. O.C.D.

My friend's text insisting she would pay for a treatment for me: "Happy birthday, merry Christmas, happy vegan-butterfly-chakra day!" {smiling emoticon}

In the bathroom of a doctors' office building:
"This building is pretty modern."
(I nod.)
"It's so nice.  For Sebastopol."
Me:  "Yeah, I have gone to a lot of appointments in old Victorian houses."
"I know, right?!  I went to this chiropractor and the whole place would shake any time someone walked up or down the stairs.  And the floor had a really bad slant."

Practitioner:  "Green drinks are good.  You live in Sebastopol.  You probably drink a lot of green drinks already."

While I was waiting for a to-go order, an older couple strolled slowly down Main street.
"Can't we go to a regular jewelry store?"
"This one looks all right."
"No... the jewelry here is too political."

From a friend of a friend:
"This guy I know is really into astrology and so is his girlfriend.  His daughter is seven and I know she is growing up around a lot of astrology talk, but it's still so amusing to hear her say, 'Well, what do you expect from a Scorpio?'  Or 'She has a temper, I wonder what her rising sign is?'"

This is from a New York post, but could have so easily been a local conversation:
Overheard at Whole Foods while eating lunch. Well coifed affluent mom on the phone apologizing to husband totally seriously: "I shouldn't have had that toast. I'm sorry I screamed. It was the gluten talking."

A customer before me in a grocery store asked the cashier to put on gloves to handle the produce he was purchasing.  After he left she said to me, "Sebastopol people are so weird and needy!  And I was born and raised here, so I have the right to say that!"
I laughed and asked if that was common.
"These things happen all the time!  There are a lot of O.C.D. customers."
Me:  "It's west county versions of O.C.D."
"I know!  Tell me about it!"

A Facebook post a friend passed on to me (names deleted to protect the enlightened):
"Happy birthday glorious lady!  Sending you so much light on this beautiful day!"
     "Thank you!!"
  "Lots of love and loads of light and pockets of preciousness!!"
     "To you too!"
  "So much light for this year!  Glistening gobs of light gently raining each day of the coming year!"
     "Got it!  I'm good.  That's enough light!!"


License plates:
GEEK LOV
BO HIWAY*
CATS MLK
WYN SNOB
LOFTY




(*Bohemian Hiway)







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Sebastotots

A reader told me she does not have Sebastopol encounters very often.  However, her neighbor's young daughter did crack her up when she complained during a visit they did not have any mantra chanting CDs.  "I'm asking my husband, what is a mantra chanting CD anyway??"

"Don't worry, this is Sebastopol.  His parents will talk to us about this.  Parents here don't even give kids sugar without talking to you first."

On our way to a friend's house (in my Camry), my niece asked:  "Does she have a Prius?"
Me, amused:  "Yes, actually she does."
Her:  "Priuses are good for the earth.  Not like this car."
And my niece commenting on two of her neighbors' recent haircuts:  "They both got their hair cut really short!  Their hair is as short as Quan Yin's!  For reals!"

A friend of a friend told me a story about failing to realize how Waldorf-pervasive her son's playgroup was.  "I showed up with snacks in plastic bowls.  There were a few toddlers and parents just staring at them quietly and I felt like I'd done something terrible.  Like taken Percoset out of my bag and handing it out to the children." 

I didn't have much cash with me and was purchasing lemons and a chocolate drink.  I was counting out change and informing the cashier, "I'm not sure I have enough.  If so, the chocolate drink is going to win."  Fortunately I had enough quarters, and as I walked out another customer told me she had a similar experience when she had left her credit card at home.  She had to choose between leeks she needed for a soup she had already started making and chocolate truffles she couldn't bring herself to put back on the shelf.  "When you're hungry and have truffles in your hand all of a sudden the organic veggie bean soup you've been making all afternoon doesn't matter any more."

In a downtown store I heard a woman conversing about people who own horses in west county.  "When I lived in the Central Valley the horse names were Stud and Daisy and Brandy.  I move here and everyone's horse has names like Moonbeam and Sky Rider."

Late evening delirium at Whole Foods (after a long day) between two cashiers and I, one of whom I have quoted before.
"I'm sorry I can't ring you up, I can't log on to the system right now."
Me:  "Well, that's not funny.  I can't put that in my blog."  (some laughter)
She explains to me why she can't log on for technical reasons.
Me:  "Can't you say your chakras aren't in alignment?  Or that there are planetary reasons?"
(more cackling)
"Well we are going through some gateway into Leo and are experiencing a shift today."
Me:  "That's what I'm talkin' about....  Although it seems like we are always going through a shift.  There is always some trine happening, or something coming out of retrograde or--"
(All three of us are laughing now.)
"Yeah, it's like there is always some shift happening!  And you tell a person there's something shifting, and they are like, 'Yeah!  That totally makes sense!  Everything makes sense!"
Me:  "Well, I'm so glad you told me about the shift.  My whole life makes sense now!"
"I'm going to go call my family!  Something is shifting.  My whole day makes sense now!"



License plates:

PEAS 2U2

FRESH 4U

FRST LYT

COWBOY U
GT WIZARD