not belonging & grandfatherly advice

some people I ran into from my sketchy-cool neighborhood were going to some midnight show in an old theater building-- so I decided to venture out and go too since I knew people I knew would be there. it was a hipster scene, so I got all dressed up in my edgiest clothes-- tho I feared they were sadly out of date and low-quality and -rent. it was an enormous old space with industrial galvanized metal circular stairways between levels, and the place was packed with the uberhip, and I started to regret coming.

I also visited my conservative friends in their big suburban houses and left feeling like an alien.

I went to work at a new place in the front offices of something like a sam's club or costco-- and I was busy, but other people were overwhelmed, so I offered to help with checking food in in the back-- the guy said, remember, you have to touch it and look at it-- presumably to see if it was bad. i went to try to find the bathroom and discovered an entire employee lockerroom facility with a big pool and people swimming laps.

my grandfather picked me up and took me to visit my father-- we were driving on side roads-- he was driving so slowly it made me nervous, especially as we were coming up on a merge onto the highway-- it was clear though, so he cut over without a problem-- and seemed to keep going as if he wouldn't stop before he was in oncoming traffic lanes-- I said, stop! here!-- and he was already correcting, in the lane for the lefthand turn, I now remembered belatedly that we were supposed to take-- he took it, and I realized just how very long it had been since I had visited. I said something about this and how I wanted to more adventures, and he said, you should, it's good for you to go explore little islands.