2010.08.22 Good and Bad, Life and Death

All separate, but all sort of having recent examples.

Good

Last Monday S was on an adventure with Simon downtown. Unbeknownst to either of us, S had accidentally left her cell phone on the train. So when I tried to call her when I stopped off at a market on my way home after work, I got this strange man's voice (and he sounded suspiciously like Grover from Sesame Street). Reflexively I assumed I had the wrong number (or the system had mis-dialed), apologized, and hung up.

Somewhat later I tried again and got the same Grover-esque stranger, and asked what number it was that I was calling. "Actually, I've found this phone on the train, and I'm trying desperately to get it back to its owner - but everybody who calls it hangs up on me." The gentleman in question went to great lengths - especially considering he did not have ready access to a car - to enable me to meet him to pick up the phone. He refused any form of reward, apparently delighted just to be able to help out.

Dude, a tip of the hat to you.

Bad

As a lead-in, here's a snippet from a police report I filed:

Was in a verbal altercation yesterday (08/16 17:00) with an individual (caucasian male, late 20's, heavy set, brown hair). He had driven his vehicle (recent model red compact sedan) through a stop sign (LOCATION REDACTED) without stopping and nearly hit me (heading East), so I signed "fuck you" at him. He followed me home and threatened that he "knows where I live".

This was the same day as the Good person returning the phone, so it was an amusing juxtaposition. To expand the narrative a bit, I would like to clarify that the location in question is a quiet residential neighbourhood, and the street I was on is actually the municipally-designated bike route, and is often full of vulnerable cyclists. When the douchebag in question drove through the stop sign he did offer an apology wave, and I fingered him anyway. Because, in my book, if he really was sorry he would understood that he deserved that "fuck you".

And he took his sweet time following me home, so it's not like I deliberately lead him to the house. I had gone around the truck to pick up some grocery bags from the passenger side when he stopped in the middle of the street and jumped out of his car all angry about the fact that I had fingered him. Of course, when I stood up to my full height and looked at him, the pathetic fat fuck wasn't quite so brave and got back behind the door of his piece of shit car. He seemed quite fixated on the fact that I had fingered him, and completely unable to see why I was so willing to be offensive about his shitty fucking driving. I told him to grow a thicker skin, and to finger me back so we could be done with this stupid shit. He did, and then offered his veiled cowardly threat about knowing where I live.

And, sure enough, the next morning at a leisurely 06:00, the douchebag drove by and hurled a sizeable rock at my parked truck - hence the police report. He was probably trying to smash a window, but being too much of a loser to accomplish it. I hoped he might try again another morning - so I could photograph it, which would be extremely funny. It has been quiet so far, though.

Life

Our good friends Ken and Mira went into the hospital on Friday for the birth of their first child. I still haven't heard any word, but I'm hoping everything went well and that there's another spoiled westerner to consume a disproportionate quantity of the earth's resources.

This is poignant for obvious reasons - it's good to have peers going through something similar to what you've gone through.

Death

My buddy Pickle has been going through hell as his father descends through the terminal stages of lung cancer. It's made worse because his father is so far away, and it's hard for Pickle to be there.

This is poignant for obvious reasons, too.