San Diego, Weirdos, and Skid Row (not nearly as interesting as it sounds...)
This weekend it's off to San Diego for the first time. I'm a San Diego virgin! Best friend S is flying in from Austin to visit her aunt and I'm going down for an overnight trip. Very much looking forward to it!
Strange New Quasi-Friend B is back in the picture. He has been absent the last few months because ...well, my version of things is that I emailed him and never got a response. His version of things is that he emailed me and never got a response. Neither of us had the brains to pick up a phone and time just sorta passed...so anyhow we worked this out via email back at the end of June and I said I'd call him. So I called him over the weekend. Didn't hear back until last night, when he called and said, "So you called for a cab?" See, he drives a cab (yeah, he's got a degree from Berkeley - something useful in our society like history or philosophy, I think.) So I laughed because I thought he was kidding and said, "Um, no" and he gets all pissed off and says, "Your number is on my phone! Do you need a cab or what?" Idiot. I said "So you DID get my message and you weren't going to call me, huh?" and he goes, "It's been THREE WEEKS since you said you'd call!" and I said, "My parents were in town, I TOLD you that!" and he goes, "oh" and then proceeded to rehash the same exact thing we had rehashed in our earlier emails at the end of June, which was he never got an email response, blah blah blah and I got impatient and said "we've already been over this! it's done!" and he goes "so I'm thinking of moving to Australia at the end of the year" and we finally moved on and made plans for next weekend but really, it was a most awkward, painful conversation and I'm wondering how it was, when it was, that we were ever cool around each other the few times we hung out. Interesting.
Neighbor K stopped by this evening after many back and forth phone calls since last night. Needs more money. Had terrible stories of a homeless shelter somewhere on 10th and Broadway (I think?) and skid row downtown...she always pays me back and I do tend to believe in karma...tend to...interesting about the shelter. Apparently you're bussed out there, put up overnight, and then the next morning, bright and early, they bus you downtown and leave you on skid row. If you're lucky, an organization will come by and hand out food. Weird stories.
Interesting facts about skid row:
-Los Angeles's Skid Row, in an area of downtown Los Angeles also known as Central City East, is home to one of the largest stable populations of transient persons (homeless) in the United States. Informal population estimates range from 7,000 to 8,000. First-time visitors to this area are often shocked by the sight of the cardboard box and camping tents lining the sidewalks; the juxtaposition with the gleaming glass-sheathed skyscrapers on nearby Bunker Hill is quite striking.
-According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the official boundaries of skid row are Third and Seventh Streets to the north and south and Alameda and Main Streets to the east and west, respectively.
-The name is official enough that fire engines and ambulances serving the neighborhood have historically had "Skid Row" emblazoned on their sides.
Factoids courtesy of Wikipedia. Thank you, Wikipedia.
Strange New Quasi-Friend B is back in the picture. He has been absent the last few months because ...well, my version of things is that I emailed him and never got a response. His version of things is that he emailed me and never got a response. Neither of us had the brains to pick up a phone and time just sorta passed...so anyhow we worked this out via email back at the end of June and I said I'd call him. So I called him over the weekend. Didn't hear back until last night, when he called and said, "So you called for a cab?" See, he drives a cab (yeah, he's got a degree from Berkeley - something useful in our society like history or philosophy, I think.) So I laughed because I thought he was kidding and said, "Um, no" and he gets all pissed off and says, "Your number is on my phone! Do you need a cab or what?" Idiot. I said "So you DID get my message and you weren't going to call me, huh?" and he goes, "It's been THREE WEEKS since you said you'd call!" and I said, "My parents were in town, I TOLD you that!" and he goes, "oh" and then proceeded to rehash the same exact thing we had rehashed in our earlier emails at the end of June, which was he never got an email response, blah blah blah and I got impatient and said "we've already been over this! it's done!" and he goes "so I'm thinking of moving to Australia at the end of the year" and we finally moved on and made plans for next weekend but really, it was a most awkward, painful conversation and I'm wondering how it was, when it was, that we were ever cool around each other the few times we hung out. Interesting.
Neighbor K stopped by this evening after many back and forth phone calls since last night. Needs more money. Had terrible stories of a homeless shelter somewhere on 10th and Broadway (I think?) and skid row downtown...she always pays me back and I do tend to believe in karma...tend to...interesting about the shelter. Apparently you're bussed out there, put up overnight, and then the next morning, bright and early, they bus you downtown and leave you on skid row. If you're lucky, an organization will come by and hand out food. Weird stories.
Interesting facts about skid row:
-Los Angeles's Skid Row, in an area of downtown Los Angeles also known as Central City East, is home to one of the largest stable populations of transient persons (homeless) in the United States. Informal population estimates range from 7,000 to 8,000. First-time visitors to this area are often shocked by the sight of the cardboard box and camping tents lining the sidewalks; the juxtaposition with the gleaming glass-sheathed skyscrapers on nearby Bunker Hill is quite striking.
-According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the official boundaries of skid row are Third and Seventh Streets to the north and south and Alameda and Main Streets to the east and west, respectively.
-The name is official enough that fire engines and ambulances serving the neighborhood have historically had "Skid Row" emblazoned on their sides.
Factoids courtesy of Wikipedia. Thank you, Wikipedia.
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