Are You From Outer Space?

There are days when it feels like everyone thinks I must have just dropped in from outer space. In many ways, I can understand and appreciate their perspective, especially since I’m close to 2 meters tall (6’7”), am obviously ‘white’, and insist on traveling around the neighborhood on a Kickbike when ever possible.

Today was one of those days. My first “are you an alien?” stare came from the cat down the street. I was on my way to the local bakery, noticed the cat on the top of the fence, and stopped to chat.

That would have been okay, except I didn’t realize that the cat’s owner was bent over behind the fence doing some gardening. My second stare of disbelief came from the owner as she stood up to see what nit-wit would be trying to carry on a conversation in garbled Japanese with a cat. . .

Then, a few minutes later, I happened upon this set of twins just outside the bakery. They gave me stares number three and four, and it wasn’t even 9:00 am yet. . .