So this is what Jason Bourne feels like...

Quick little story. I was walking around downtown the other day - which is so cramped now with tourists that its literally not even worth it to try and do anything - and as I'm aimlessly squandering through the streets I made eye contact with this man. Nothing out of the ordinary, but his face registered in my mind and I moved on. Then I proceeded to wander through more streets, and mind you I was totally lost so the route I was taking was the farthest from logical. Then I notice this guy behind me again as I approach a fork in the road; I choose one, walk down a few paces, rethink it, and choose the other. Greasy sunglass wearing man agrees with my first choice, kills time by looking at his phone when I change, and keeps it going by choosing the other fork after I do.

So he is keeping his distance, but it felt like he was trying not to be noticed and therefore he was being noticed. I let it be for a while but tried to be aware. Without going into too much detail, after wandering through more neighborhoods and after losing track of him a couple times, he kept popping up. He was always in front of me or behind me, everywhere I went, but I went into a store to shop and he went to, what I thought was, board the tram. There we go - odd interaction, but it was over with.

NOT SO FAST. After spending time in the store and walking another five minutes to a random bus stop, CREEPY MAN APPEARS OVER MY SHOULDER. He stands there for a while, then walks away out of sight, then comes back to the stop and resumes waiting for the bus. At this time, I'm totally freaking out. I dont think I would analyze this on this level unless it was really this scary, so please know I'm not exaggerating.

My mind started running wild. Was this guy tracking me? Did I do something wrong? Was he going to follow me back home? Was he just a crazy guy who was going to kill me cause I looked at him bad in the street? Was I going to be a classic case of traveling far away from home and dying without saying goodbye to my family?

I took my iPod off and tried to think about it logically, but none of it made sense, and it had this totally eerie feeling that exactly what I thought could be happening, that I was being followed for some vendetta reason, was actually happening. He ended up boarding another bus, but I knew where it ran. So I got on mine, and I was waiting for the stop where the two bus routes overlapped. Here it was: if he was at this stop, I'm a dead man, if not, well I needed to change my pants at that point anyway. Greasy curly haired middle aged Italian man with dark sunglasses wasnt there...I would live.

It may seem like a totally pointless story, but it isnt. It may sound totally irrational, but whether it does or not, I had to face 100% genuine feelings of such a scenario. I had to run through scenarios in my head of how to out smart this guy and how to lose his trail. I had to think of weapons I could grab if I was attacked. I had to ponder the fact that I could possibly die. Up to this point in my life, I've never honestly been faced with a situation that forced me to think of my own death, thats why its so interesting. I had to make myself reason through the idea that I could die on that day and be tortured or something and go through excruciating pain and nobody may know how I died.

Totally random story, but I think its so interesting that whether irrational or not I realistically contemplated my chance of death in that situation. Kind of like a good movie or something - it makes you feel things that arent true, but that doesnt mean the feelings arent as pure as the feelings would be in the actual situation.

Either way, I'm alive! And I now can connect with Jason Bourne on a new level.

Curse that creepy man...