Day 2 of diary

Oliver had sat down next to me at the diner. But I'm taking a break from telling you what happened next, mainly because I myself took a break from that counter. I was feeling a bit queezy and needed to get some fresh air. I took my red cardigan off the back of my chair and headed outside. I asked the waiter if he'd watch my plate and coffee and excuse me for a moment. He obliged and kindly patted my napkin as I headed out the door. I had just finished my first contract project designing a client's new penthouse apartment and I was curious whether she was going to refer me on to her corporation to design their entire building's interior. I realize this would have been something to simply be excited about. I was a bit thoughtful about it. I'd never done anything so big. In fact my designing projects were born by accident. I had had friends over to my own apartment, they snapped pictures and it landed in one of their boss's hands. She gave me a call. So here I was a student at UC Berkeley, in my third year, with the prospect of designing an 8,000 square foot corporate building. I just wanted to take a moment to take in the fresh, beautiful air, and enjoy the stillness of the air. I looked at the grey blue sky, the soft white clouds also tinged in grey, and felt the smooth air touch my face. People were passing me by. I didn't look at them, to see whether they looked at me. I just felt and saw the cool air and the beautiful stillness of the sky. When you look up, past the tops of the buildings of any city, it seems it's quite beautiful. I haven't been to many cities, but in any city, I always do this. It's a vision that is always beautiful. I headed back inside.

Today, Day 1

I was sitting in the diner, waiting for my salad and toast when the doorbell rang. I turned my head to see who had entered. It was, who I would later learn, Oliver Scotts, a big name tech guy, who headed a company that produced automated social media content. You simply snapped photos of what you were doing and the program generated the subject matter for you. Why this was so popular, I wasn't sure, but everyone was buzzing about it. I suppose it was because the content was nicely written, more interesting than one might write it themselves, and always accurate to where you were. Pretty impressive stuff. I was sitting with my iPhone waiting for the salad, as I say. I loved social media, don't get me wrong, but to not be able to type my own content? It was a trend I wasn't jumping on, not yet at least. I had just watched You've got Mail and felt like the small shop owner rivaling the big box corporation. Oh well. I had never seen Oliver Scotts in person, just in photos, and he wasn't immediately recognizable. I swirled by coffee, added some sugar, and continued to wait. Oliver sat next to me and ordered some eggs.