I'm a sucker for a sob story
We had yet more people over for a fondue party on Friday night. I know, I know, it's becoming a cliche with us. Leave me alone. It went quite wonderfully, melted cheese and lots of wine (including some of the good Sancerre we smuggled home from Paris) and a huge antipasto tray. Sorbet for dessert. More wine and illegal herbs afterwards. A good time, although perhaps we had invited a few too many folks (6 total) for good dinner party conversation. The table was a bit cramped and confused. That's apartment living for you, I guess.
I had to go to the grocery store Friday afternoon to pick up some stuff for the party, and as I was leaving this sad punk kid approached me…he had a map of the South Shore line in his hand and a story about how he had lost his ticket back home to Indiana (around $20). He said he had an hour and a half left to catch his train, no money whatsoever, and that he had all kinds of ID and would send the $ back. He seemed astonished and a little hurt that no one would even stop and listen to his story…I think that most people just assumed he was panhandling. At first I told him I didn't have that kind of cash on me, which I didn't, but then I started feeling bad and I just had this overwhelming feeling that his story was for real, so I went back and told him to wait outside while I went to the cash machine and got out $20 for him. He asked if I had a business card or anything so he could send it back, but I'm paranoid and weird about strangers knowing my address, so I just told him to forget about it. Yeah, I'm a chump, but he seemed sincere and I can just chalk it up to be $20 worth of good karma. Probably would have spent more than that this weekend on beer anyway.
Saturday I went to the library, lost my hat (stupid non-helpful lost and found at Sulzer…grrr!), and watched a building get torn down on Sunnyside. It was truly cool. I love destruction.
In other news, Sleater-Kinney is playing Chicago May 12, and I'm such a geeky fangirl I ran to the Ticketmaster site and ordered already. Hooray!
—m. smartypants