I love my baby, my baby don’t love me..

March 2, 2008, 8:53 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized

I had a weird experience at the grocery store today. I was standing in front of the fruit and vegetable display, debating whether to get broccoli or cauliflower when a man came and stood to the right of me. I stood staring at the green florets, but I could tell from my peripherals that he was staring at me. I turned to meet his eyes, and without taking his eyes off of me, took a head of broccoli and handed it to me and said, “You seem like a broccoli person, cauliflower would be too bland for you, plus it is on sale”. And as he pushed the vegetable into my hands, his hand grazed mine, and we both looked down to our hands, he suddenly withdrew his, smirked slightly, and then walked away. I put it back on the shelf, deciding that neither would be a good choice, and continued onto the nectarines.

Now, I have had quite a few strange experiences with the people of Ottawa since I moved here; I was in a hit and run accident with a bicycle, a woman and her 12 year old son invited me into their home to get a band-aid for my scrapped knee from the aforementioned bike meets body and then runs over body incident, I was told my eyebrows were the best feature on my face, I was given a free coffee and cookie for saying that the server’s hair looked amazing (she was having a bad day, and I was the first person to be nice to her), I`ve been in a shouting match with the receptionist man who looks like Jesus for my dorm building because he wouldn`t let me into my room, I`ve had to report an accident which I witnessed when a man drove down the wrong way on a one way street and collided with another car, I have been shown how to properly put on nipple clamps, I have been offered 25$ for my shoes, I offered my scarf to a child on the bus, I`ve been on a bus that slid down a hill and into a ditch and then stranded for 25 minutes while we waited for help, I had the most interesting and profound conversation with a taxi driver, I performed 3 Incubus and 2 White Stripes songs with a complete stranger on the side of the Rideau Canal, and many others, many of which I cannot mention because, well they are XXX or involve some sort of law being broken, but I would have to say that the broccoli moment is by far the strangest moment so far.

I just keep replaying it, he did not make me feel uncomfortable, or queasy, but still, why me, why on earth would he come to me, a complete stranger and tell me to choose broccoli…

So, here are some facts about broccoli; it is high in vitamin C as well as anti-cancer agents such as selenium, there is an urban legend that broccoli was born when cauliflower and a type of pea were germinated together, but it has since been determined to be false, it is believed to have it`s origin in ancient Rome, and was a popular vegetable in Italy long before it became popular in the United States or Canada, only becoming a house hold food in the late 1920`s, during his presidency, George H.W. Bush stated that he did not like broccoli, and in response to his claim, an agricultural group shipped 3 tons of it to his house, and it was found that large amounts of it can reduce the growth of highly agressive prostate cancer.