The Coolest and the Most Uncool

This weekend I went for a bike ride up to Hollywood to do some shopping. It was over 90 degrees outside, which is pretty damn hot for LA (everyone that is from here was incapable of even being outside) . I stopped at the 7-11 a few blocks down from my house to grab a drink on my way back. As I sat outside drinking my slurpy, I closely watched this bum that was sitting outside the 7-11. Every time I have been to this 7-11 I have seen this bum there. As I watched this guy, he really started to annoy me. He wasn't one of those guys that you look at and feel sorry for, he was completely functional; he could walk and talk and didn't look that old, he couldn't have been much more than 40. He also had a mean look on his face, not a look of desperation like many homeless people do, just mean. I watched this guy for a good 20 minutes drinking my slurpy and enjoying the summer day. As I sat there, I saw two people give him money and one guy go in and buy him a hotdog and a Sprite. All in only 20 minutes. The guy barely said thank you, he acted like he was entitled to it. I seriously wanted to sit next to this guy and when he would ask someone, "Spare some change?" I just wanted to sit there and say, "Don't give this piece of garbage your money."

The people that handed this guy money are stupid, plain and simple. Don't get me wrong, if someone has a legitimate problem and they need help, we need to help those people. If someone looks sick on the street or has kids with them that look hungry, by all means, help them out financially or buy them some food. But don't give your money to some lazy piece of shit that can easily get a job, but probably makes more money sitting outside the 7-11 taking your money. If someone can barely afford to give their money away but does so because they want to help the guy out, then they are stupid, this guy just scammed you. And if someone can easily afford to give their money away, they are stupid if they think giving their money to some bum on the street actually makes a difference, compared to what they could do.

As I got on my bike to ride away, I wanted to go up to this guy and give him a piece of my mind. I have certainly gotten into it with my fair share of bums over the years. Instead, I chose to ride right past him, look him in the eye, and shake my head in disgust at him, and I mean blatantly shake my head, like I slowed down to do it. Of course he started screaming at me, telling me to come back and say something and blah, blah, blah......Next time I go for a slurpy I might actually tell him what I think of him.

Not every person that is strapped for cash is uncool, though. Two weeks ago when I was riding my bike in Venice Beach, I came across probably the coolest person I have ever seen. If anyone is familar with Scabbies' Hero list, this guy would not only be on it, he would probably be the President. It was this Arab guy with a cloth wrapped around his head riding around on rollerblades playing the electric guitar with a mini-amp attached to his belt. This guy would skate over to random groups of people and just start wailing on his guitar. When it got awkward and the people were looking like, "Ok, we should get going now, we already gave him money," he wouldn't stop, he would just keep playing. The guy was a great guitarist and seemed totally cool and totally goofy. Now that is someone you can respect.

On a completely unrelated note, I realized this morning how the simple things in life can make the biggest difference in your day. On my drive to work there is this upholstery shop that cleans convertible tops. On the outside of their garage they have a bubble machine that continuously shoots bubbles into the street. When you are sitting in traffic ready to go to work, you would be shocked at how much better you feel watching bubbles fly through the air.