travelling monks and subway pizza

Today could easily have been one of "those" days. I woke up in a weird mood and with a bit of a headache, and had to literally drag myself out of bed, into my clothes and off to campus.

I was stressing about some arbitrary issue as I walked to my first lecture, when a man stopped me in my tracks. He looked a bit ragged, and I was about to shrug him off and continue until he produced a book from his bag and handed it to me.

"I'm a travelling monk", he said.

I wasn't really sure what to say.

"You look like a smart guy, what do you study?"

"Music and Psychology" I replied.

"Ah ok, so you understand what causes stress then? This [aforementioned] book is about meditation and de-stressing, a concept that's misunderstood in the west. I'd like you to have it."

Now he seemed like a nice guy, but I'd already been warned by a friend that sometimes people in Toronto make it look like they're giving stuff away then try to make you feel guilty and pay for it after you accept.

"I don't have any money on me to pay for this" I said, "I used a subway token to get here and I've got one to get back and that's it."

"Oh that's ok, most people just pay a small donation."

"Yeah I'd like to, [I didn't want to] but I don't have any money at all."

"Oh. Some people like to swipe it?"

And with this, he pulled a card reader out of his bag. Now I was already a bit confused by the whole travelling monk idea, but a travelling monk with hi-tec banking equipment in his satchel? That tipped me over the edge.

I handed the book back: "Thanks for showing me, I'd like to help but I'm here on exchange so I don't even have a card yet. Have a good day."

"Oh. You too", he said, then we went our separate ways.

Someone please explain why things like that happen? It's so weird. The plus side to the encounter however was that it made me feel a bit less glum. Somehow the monk's meditative mindset must of rubbed off on me, as I felt better from then on.

Another mood enhancer came at the subway station nearest where I'm staying. The smell of pizza was wafting through the station when I alighted, and when I emerged at the top of the escalator, I saw a pizza stall staffed by TTC employees. Fresh, warm, pepperoni pizza at $1 a slice, which naturally I couldn't resist.

After my first slice, I remembered reading in the paper that with the generously priced monthly pass the TTC offer, they lose ~3¢ on each fare. I thought I'd help them make up the loss on the last 33.3 fares by buying a second slice (what a good Samaritan I am!).