When I lived in Chicago, I developed and perfected a method of walking that, every time I do it, I feel defiant and free. It's the ambulatory equivalent of telling the world "I don't need you to define myself; I don't even need you as a point of reference for my actions; I am completely independent of you and your moods"; or alternately, "Fuck off. I got my own thang".
The technique is based on the idea that I won't slow down or stop for anything or anyone. Nothing is allowed to get in my way, and my every motion, not matter what it is, is as deliberate and premeditated and fluid as a cat's. No matter what I just did, "I meant to do that".
That means, no slows or stops for traffic lights, other humans, cars or any other possible distraction. I am going where I am going at my own pace and nothing and no one shall interfere. You are all invisible to me. Better yet, you do not exist.
There is of course a significant amount of strategy involved to pull this off seamlessly. Traffic lights, if I am to create an illusion of not acknowledging them, must not only be noted many yards ahead, but their patterns anticipated well in advance. My course must take into account the arbitrariness of a light turning red or a light turning green at the exact moment that I appear on its intersection. If I know the light will be red, I have two choices: immediately adjust my pace so that my arrival coincides with it turning green again; or use the green light at the opposing corner as an opportunity to turn left or right. Either way, I do not wait for the light, and the trick is to make it magically appear (with careful foresight and absolute premeditation) that the traffic patterns part like the seas before Moses. I don't go with the flow: I create the flow; and I am immune to its vagaries.
This is how a cat dances in the city streets, without ever being detected.
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