Do You Have Fire?

i think i figured out why i enjoy the places i vacation to so much. When on vacation i walk everywhere. When you walk you are more likely to interact with other people. At home we drive everywhere just to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible but that also means we don't interact very much.

Entertaining things always happen when i'm just walking around. Tonight i needed to go to two places in the local strip mall at opposite ends. i parked near one and just walked to the other. On the way back to my car two girls stopped me. One said, in a very thick eastern block european accent, "do you have fire"?

This was great on so many levels. First, when walking around people usually just ask me if i have drugs. i'm not quite sure why but i guess i must look like i'm always carrying. This was a refreshing change.

Second, in a way this was a girl asking me if i had a light... in her own trying to communicate in a strange foreign language kind of way. It made me think of a teenage me trying to flirt with ice cream shop girls in Germany knowing about three words in German. It's my birthday and i'm feeling old so this short memory jaunt to younger times made me feel good.

Lastly, "do you have fire"? This is sooo much cooler than asking for a light. Such a beautiful direct translation. Primal. To the point. i may just start smoking something so i can ask people if they have fire. Or maybe i'll just carry around fireworks in my pockets everywhere i go, ask people if they have fire, then light one up and give them a show. Yeah, that sounds like the way to go.

Thank you former soviet union.