Well That Was Fun

Earlier today, I was sitting at the computer in the living room when Giles came in the front door. He took a look at me and stood transfixed with a blank expression (except for wide eyes) until January entered behind him. At this juncture, he changed his position only enough to extend one digit in my direction, continuing to gawk idiotically at me.

January spent a moment taking in the scene with slight grin on her face, then exclaimed, "Hey! Why does Nana have hijab? I want a hijab!"

Then, I went out because I had errands to run, still in the state in which January and Giles found me because I'm not done with this yet. I went to Publix to pick up coffee and creamer before I could run out and scare January again. I had to park at the back end of the lot and walk up to the building. At least two drivers nearly rammed other cars because they were looking at my head instead of using theirs. In Publix, I was greeted with friendly but confused expressions. People clearly weren't sure how to treat me.

What is this all about? It comes down to one simple thing, which not too long ago would have been assumed, rather than a change in religious beliefs. I had my hair up in clips and put a scarf on my head to keep it all covered up until I'm ready to take it down. January, I know was simply amused and was playing with me, which amused me.

Everyone else I encountered, not so much. To them, I say. Get over it. It's a scarf over rolled up hair. I'm not going to speak a foreign language at you or preach to you about what you consider to be a heathen god (even though it's really the same god, but I'm not going there right now).

To the cashier and bagger who assisted me, I say, "Way to keep up friendly and professional behavior." They behaved exactly the same as they did with the customers before me and after me and didn't give me crazy confused looks.

The adventure isn't exactly over yet, but at least I know what to expect when I drive over to Cocoa for today's Red Dress Run with BVDHHH. Of course, I'll be taking it down before the hash begins, but I'm sure a few people will see me before I reach that point. Or maybe I'll leave it on as part of my outfit... On-On with a Hijab-On!

April Fool All Day

Today's energy was really weird and not very good for a lot of people. For me, it started with discovering a major road on the way to work was blocked off because there had been a shootout and an officer was shot and someone (not the officer?) died. Then, while that was still going on, some guy got himself arrested by the cops working the blocked intersection, and was laid out on the road with handcuffs with more cops called to the scene to assist - I'm not sure why they were needed except to cart they guy off to jail, but apparently it takes 5 more cars and all those extra bodies to carry one guy away. I have no idea what caused the arrest.

Work itself was very challenging today, not just because it was a long shift. It was a long shift where most of our equipment was barely limping along and the place was very crowded with customers. Thankfully, very few of those customers got upset at us, understanding that things had gone awry due to having lost power for 12 hours yesterday during a thunderstorm. I have to say, though, that the owner's wife and I should be awarded medals for keeping up with the flow of customers in spite of everything. We gave each other a High-5 at the end of the day and joked about finding a happy hour involving lots of martinis and chocolate chip cookies. So at least it ended well. ;-)