Day 19: Sweets and Tea

I woke up a little groggy today but bounced back quickly over an aloo parantha and chai. Once again I went into the city to seek my fame and fortune, and by that I mean gorge myself on all things in sight and find Ayurvedic products for my hair and skin. I succeeded in doing both. Around the same time I quit alcohol I also quit my minoxidil and finesteride regime, but upon the depressing sight of my thinning scalp I figured why shouldn’t I fool around with some placebos and throw random oily crap onto my head. It’s fun! While I was at my fourth sweet shop of the day a cute Israeli girl popped in and was all like “oh uh excuse me what is that tehe”. I knew the game she was playing. I put some sweet in her mouth but I didn’t realize I had chanced upon a not so great sweet. I apologized immediately. The fish was still on the hook though. We sat down on a bench as I drank my tea. She’d just arrived in Leh and was doing a little wandering about. Not your average Israeli part of a big group of IDF graduates but a solo 27 year old. How wonderful. After I got over her prettiness though there wasn’t too much substance in her personality, and by that I mean her English wasn’t good enough to comprehend my famous wit, and so the conversation was a tad dull and I had to repeat myself and admit I was joking way too often, you know how it is talking to foreign women who don’t have such great senses of humor. Anyway, I probably would have kept at it regardless and adapted my personality to be more agreeable because I have needs, but Joe and Adam from the hostel happened upon us and joined in on the fun. This got pretty awkward pretty fast and she eventually said she wanted to go take a nap. I wasn’t really enthused enough to ask for her number and was more content to be with the bros. We got Thukpa and Momos, even though I’d just eaten, and then they went their way back to the hostel. I looped back into town to eat more sweets and I even drank some coffee which made my heart nearly explode. I had to use a public 10 rupee toilet, it was just fine. A persistent Kashmiri who I had accidentally promised the day before to examine his wares rushed me into his shop to show me his pashmina, but I reassured him I had absolutely no use for such things. I’m getting more comfortable with rejection, where I am the rejecter. I found my soap and my hair growth concoction and came back to the hostel. I was a little upset because there had been a plan to play soccer today but it was canceled. I must engage in more sports! I still walked enough to feel satisfied and my prostate continues to improve. I’m a little worried I’ll just experience the pain again as soon as I mount the old bike, but c’est la vie. You only get one prostate in life and you may as well shred it into string cheese on a bike seat, as the old adage goes.