Extending my pseudopods beyond Scott Hall...

Today after the daily dose of brain lidocaine they call lecture, I dared myself to go find Eastern Market, scope it out, and then find my way home without getting lost. If you look at a map, it shows Eastern Market spread out over several blocks - it's absolutely massive and intimidating. On Tuesdays during the summer, they actually have a very scaled down version of the weekend market that seems almost manageable for a noob like myself. Since I don't have a GPS thingy yet, I found directions online and memorized how to get there and how to get home from there. It's only 1.5 miles from the medical campus, but the route isn't very pedestrian-friendly. The parking lot was full, but I managed to find a metered spot on the street. Historically, every parking meter I've tried to use in Detroit has eaten my quarters without putting any time on the meter, and the piece of shit I parked in front of this time was no exception. The secretaries in the Immuno & Micro department had cautioned me about parking on the street, saying that they film the show "Parking Wars" in the area and the meter maids here don't fuck around (I'm paraphrasing). I had visions of me coming back to my booted (or absent!) car, so it was a quick trip. I went looking for raw honey since my source for super cheap delicious honey in Glennie (Northern MI in the middle of nowhere) isn't there anymore. I found honey, but they were selling it at Ann Arbor Farmers' Market prices. Um, hello - this is Detroit! I ended up buying a couple of cartons of strawberries and walked away feeling kinda weird about the fact that the label said they were grown in California. I got back to the car (still there, no boot, yay!) and found my way to I-75 going the right to way to get me to I-94 and home! I was so proud of myself for risking getting totally lost, but going out anyway and having a successful trip. Tomorrow, I'm going to the Wayne State Farmers' Market on main campus. This time, I'm going to try taking the campus shuttle to see where it goes. I have a rotation interview at 2:30, so I have some time to kill after class lets out at 11:45.