Mind Games

Or maybe it's Joaquin Phoenix!  Noooo!

It has gotten to the point where I'm blending every dark haired, slightly chubby guy with a bushy hipster beard into just one guy.

I see him around.  "Oh, there's that guy parking his car," I think when I"m walking down Glenwood after the gym.  Hey, there he is at The Coffee Studio, huddled over a Mac with a bleach blonde graphic designer.  He is making out with his bear boyfriend in front of the leather bar.  He is shopping at Edgewater Produce with his tattooed girlfriend.   

When I lived in Lincoln Park, there was a guy I referred to as "the chief extra in my life."  He lived in my building, frequently rode the same bus as me to Michigan Avenue, where he'd get off at the same stop as me and walk into the Wrigley Building just next door to my office.  I'd see him in the neighborhood, but then I started to spot him all over town.  I noticed him at the next table when I was on a date at Clark Street Ale House and I saw him couple of times in Logan Square.  I became convinced that if I actually spoke to him, the universe would contract and I would bring about the apocalypse.   I think he said hi to me once in the elevator and I responded with a sound somewhere between a yelp and a cackle. 

I haven't seen him in ages.  Maybe he got reassigned and this group of bearded ones has taken his place.