When I was in college and slightly after, I wrote down a lot of hilarious lists. In fact, a friend and I used to fill entire notebooks with lists, until access to technology allowed us to start filling floppy disks instead. When that technology started to disappear, I printed out the good lists I could find and put them away with the notebooks. I've completely forgotten the majority of the lists, but one popped into my mind today.

The list was "Things in Contention for Being Our Favorite" and it was very long. It included all kinds of great things like old men with huge glasses, rodeo clowns, and gale-force winds. When we looked at the list, we could never tell you what our absolute favorite thing was (it was futile to even guess) but every item on the list was definitely in contention.

Anyway, today as I was walking down the street, not really knowing where I was going, not really having any kind of plan about what I should do for the rest of the day, I thought, "This is in contention for being my favorite." Meanwhile, people rushed by on their way home from work or to the grocery store or to pick up their kids from daycare. They all had things to do and deadlines to meet. The biggest decision I had to make was whether to turn left or right at the next block.

Don't get me wrong; This doesn't happen very often. Normally, I'm the person driving down the street frowning at all the lazy bums who are moseying along without a care. Which is I why I love being the bum. I scowl at them out of envy.

I remember seeing a 1960s movie on TV, when I was in high school in the 80s. Who knows what the movie was, but I vividly recall a scene in which a couple of guys pull their car up to a couple of girls who are sitting on the sidewalk. "Wanna go to San Francisco?" One of the guys asks. The girls look at each other and shrug. "Sure," they say, and climb in the car. Even though my teenage brain was fascinated by such casualness, I never went on to build my own life in that way, and truth be told I wouldn't want to live like entirely like that. Still, plenty of balance in that direction is essential to my happiness.

Around the time when we made the lists, another thing I enjoyed doing was getting lost on purpose. It's great in a car, but even getting lost on foot or on a bike is fun. The whole time, I'm wondering "Where the hell am I?" and "What the hell goes on in that place?" and "Who are these people?" Meanwhile, those people are looking at me wondering what I'm doing in their neighborhood and what I'm looking for. The best and worst thing that can happen in that situation is for someone to actually ask you what you're looking for.

"Salvation," is the best response, even though I don't even know what that means.