I guess I tell a lot of stories in my real life, so I don't really think I haven't had a chance to tell any that I wanted to.

However, I have had some strange things happen to me that seemed surreal, that nothing really came of.

For example, I was once hungover as fuck in Paris during my study abroad and late for a class trip to some museum or other, (not one of the major ones) and I thought I could make my way there by taking a side street. So, I'm walking and smoking and trying to maintain my bearings and I round the corner and I almost run into a little person (is that the correct/accepted term?) who is also an albino and dressed completely in black and wearing a black beret.

He nodded at me in acknowledgement and trudged on his way to wherever he was going. I have often wondered where he went and what he did when he got there.

Another time a friend and I were talking about our troubles with women and pregnancy scares, how we were unsatisfied with the company we worked for. It was a sleepy kind of day and we were chatting in a deserted bocce/boules court surrounded by a gate, just back from the street. I don't recall exactly what I said, but I do remember that it put us both into a contemplative silence. Then, out of nowhere, a butterfly landed on my lips and stayed there for about a minute. I slowly turned to my friend and shot him my "do you see what I see?!" look. Eventually it flew away, but for the rest of the day I had to keep telling myself that there aren't really such things as omens, but a worm of doubt crawled into my brain and laid eggs. It made me think about what I know and question my certainty of "knowing" things.

Yet another time, I was swimming in some really fantastically clear water off a beach about an hour from my grandmother's house. The beach was much cleaner than the one I frequented at the time and I remember remarking on that to my cousin and my then-girlfriend. After about half an hour, the tide brought an object close to us. I couldn't see very clearly as I didn't have my glasses, but I kept squinting at it to make sure it wasn't some kind of gigantic jelly fish. For one, the color was wrong. It was white and kind of orange. I called my cousin over and I said, "hey, doesn't that look like a cat?" He immediately begins backpedaling, because with his superior vision, he could see that it was not a cat, but a cat skin.

I have no idea why anyone would want to skin a cat. They aren't even very good to eat. My girlfriend was pretty grossed out too and I guess a little disturbed. I couldn't stop laughing when I thought of it though. Not because I advocate cruelty to animals, but just the absurdity of the situation and how not long before I had been under the impression that the beach was incredibly clean and welcoming. Oh well.