Floor Plan

I decided to treat all of you to a VERY ROUGH floor plan of this apartment building, just to provide more context for various posts. The proportions are definitely off, but the placement of various areas is correct.

 

Crazy Amy: shoe stealing, unmedicated schizophrenic, no job, grown kids

Crackhead Gina: crazy, emotional, generous, no job, grown kids

Dog Woman: stays out of drama, goes to work in the morning and returns later in the day

NOLD & Husband: Nosy Old Lady Downstairs is overly involved in everything, husband is rarely sighted

Bad Mom & Ryan/Rylin: moved out...I don't know if anyone else is in the apartment, but the place is quieter and less smelly since they left

Normal Girl and Normal Guy: their names tell you everything, they have jobs and/or go to school and stay out of everything

New Girl: I've only seen her once

Lizzy could provide many anecdotes about most of the people.

"Has anybody gone to jail yet?"

So today I was sitting on the bus at the downtown transfer waiting to go the rest of the way home when two 20-ish year old women got on the bus. They appeared trashy and high and very happy. They were loud and rambunctious. They settled down a little bit until one of them called someone. She was a very loud phone talker. One of the first things she said was "Is the police still there?" (Of course she pronounced it as poe'-lease.) She then asked, "Has anybody gone to jail yet?" It was unclear from her reaction if the police were still there or if anyone had been arrested. "She did announce that they would be there in "2.5," although that time measurement is unclear to me, as the entire route takes less than 2.5 hours, and I was on the bus for about 10 more minutes, and they were still one. They were on the bus the rest of the time I was on it, and they appeared happy and without a care in the world. I can't imagine being that happy if I was on the way to a house where the police were possibly arresting someone, but I wouldn't be 20, trashy, or high either.

Something to Say to Everyone

As my faithful readers know, I often observe unusual/uncomfortable/illegal activities during my evening walks. I often take similar routes because there are a couple of places that I like to stop and drink water. This means that I often see the same people around.

There is one house near a water-bearing park where I once before saw a man and woman on the porch. The woman was apparently having some relational difficulties, which could be attributed solely to the other involved parties. (Read: None of this was her fault.) I had no interactions with them.

Today I was on the other side of the road walking parallel to where one woman and two men were sitting on this porch. I heard them shouting as I approached. They were trying to stop a passing car (by shouting from the porch) because they believed that the ladder on top of that car belonged to them. They seemed briefly really worked up about it, but this emotion was not sustained.

As I got close to them (but on the other side of the road), one guy shouted to me, "Is that tattoo on your leg real?" It was the same tattoo that the man in the previous post commented on. I debated but decided that responding briefly was the best response. I just shouted, "Yeah." He shouted, "Seriously?" I shouted, "Yeah," and he shouted, "Damn." I was still walking, and I turned the first available corner to get away from them.

So many questions arose for this guy:
1. Did I do anything that sent the message that I wanted to talk to you? I was on the other side of the street, did not look in your direction, and walked continually.
2. If it was clear I wasn't interested in talking to you, why did you talk to me?
3. Why did you need to know if my tattoo was real?
4. Why did you doubt me after I said it was real?
5. Just why?

"You sure are pretty cute."

Tonight I was on my walk, and I was only a few blocks from home. I saw some cops with their lights on and realized that they were setting up a "sobriety chekpoint." I found this odd because it is Thursday, we are far from the university, and that area is not known for having bars or anything. A similar checkpoint near the college bars would make a lot more sense.

I was almost home when I turned into an alley. A 50-ish year old man on a moped (not uncommon in GL) was approaching the same area. I began to feel very special when he removed his ear buds. He asked me what was going on and gestured toward the police lights. I told him that was a sobriety checkpoint. He said, "That sucks." I thought, Only if you are planning on driving drunk down that particular block. He was checking out the tattoo on my leg and commented that he liked it. I told him to have a good night and started to walk away. I heard him say something, but I didn't catch it. I asked him to repeat himself, and he said, "You sure are pretty cute." And, that marked the end of our conversation.

I can't remember the last time a dude hit on me, and this was a much older dude on a moped who thinks that sobriety checkpoints suck. Talk about a self-esteem boost!