Cravings

Cravings, originally uploaded by nicolemonet2002.

First things first... How yum does that look? I woke up this morning with the distinct craving for good pasta salad. And while I had the pasta and the spinach, that was ALL I had.

So to the grocery store I went! Well, first stop was actually to get coffee... But THEN to the grocery store I went.

Now, generally I hate grocery shopping. I'm never quite sure WHAT I should buy so I usually end up with choice overload. Resulting in me buying bread, lunch meat, half & half, and spinach. However, today was different for some reason. I think it may have been, subtle excitement for the pasta I'd be making when I got home.

Like always, I shopped slow. Seriously, slow. I'm sure I'd never be able to shop with someone else because they'd quickly get frustrated with how long I take. But what can I say? I don't like being rushed. And after about an hour and a half... I'd finally got everything. [Or rather, everything I felt like buying. Whether it was enough remains to be seen.]

I slowly make my way to the cashier, while listening to my ipod and feeling thoroughly pleased with myself. Now, whenever I'm in a position where someone may address me, I take one headphone out. Just so I wont seem rude. So while I'm putting my food on the belt I can't help but over hear some of the conversation between the cashier and the woman in front of me. For the most part the conversation is little more then background noise. However, just as I'm about to put my Cranbery Juice [With CALCIUM!] on the belt I hear the cashier say, "But that's just that fundamental darkness..."

And my head snapped up. Fundamental Darkness? Was this woman a SGI member?!

I should point out that she was an older black lady. And while this may be an unfair stereotype, I always assume older black women or Christian. It's a hold over from my youth when all the older black people I met WERE Christian. Baptist to be exact.

So of course, I'm hopelessly intrigued and the second the other woman walks away I basically word vomit my question... "Are you a buddhist!?"

Haha. The woman looks at me and she kind of opens her mouth to respond. Pauses and then explains that she's not supposed to talk about things like that at work. Which basically translates to yes, so I'd had my question answered. However, a moment later the woman looks at me and asks me why I asked and I told her it was the phrase "fundamental darkness." I've not heard it anywhere but in Buddhism.

So she nods and asks me what I am. And of COURSE I'm grinning and feeling even more pleased with myself so I say... "Buddhist. SGI." [Imagine me saying.. Bond. James Bond. And you get the picture]

Anyhoo, I found out the woman practices in my district [read: area; it's not big]. We talked a bit and it was just really awesome. I can't really explain WHY it was so great... But it made my inner Buddha quiver with glee