One of the strangest recurrent sensations I have is this: When I walk down an unfamiliar street in town, I am often hit with the feeling that I could be living in a foreign country, that I might be residing in a town 1,000 miles away from my true home. I don’t know what this means. Sometimes it feels a little like déjà vu. Or as if I were walking through a set in some film I have already seen.
I like this sensation, inexplicable as it is. It is one of the surest ways that I think my brain tells me: You are on your own now.
♦ ♦ ♦
Things I have recently gotten into:
- Italian mineral water.
- Looking up words in the physical dictionary.
- Twitter.
- Keeping a planner (even though Google Calendar sometimes makes me feel redundant).
- Reading children’s books out loud with Guion (currently: A Series of Unfortunate Events).
- Wearing heels to work.
♦ ♦ ♦
This warm weather is freaking me out a bit. I love warm weather, but it is not supposed to be 70°F in Virginia in January. I’ve taken advantage of it, though, by walking Pyrrha at night when I get home. We see the neighbors, we stalk the cats, we daydream about houses that we’ll never be able to afford. Last night, another German shepherd almost jumped out of a truck window after us. Pyrrha paused and looked at him and I think she said, “Hello, distant relative. Bring it on.”
Little Stories 
I know just what you mean! I can get really down about this city, but suddenly I’ll walk down a street new to me and the architecture flooded with sunlight reminds me of old-world Europe, and I feel that spark of magic again.
I love opening the dictionary up to random pages to look up the meanings of words. The fact that you included this makes me feel a bit less weird!