Hoodtastic

Holla,

Not much going on today in the unemployment line. I have written a couple of articles for a ongoing freelance gig that I got a couple of weeks ago, sent a couple of emails for new jobs, and spent the majority of my time searching around the internets and checking my gmail account. I managed to stay alive this weekend, even with all of the hoodtastic activities that were surrounding my apartment. To recap the weekend in my neighborhood:

-Two men held up a coin shop on Friday morning. The owner of the shop shot and killed one of the men, while the other managed to get away. The runner stripped off his clothes, and is presumbably still at large, and probably naked.

-A man was stabbed three times about five blocks from my home on Sunday night.

-A gang member shot at an undercover police officer four times on Monday night. This incident took place about a five minute drive from me.

To add to this, I took out the garbage this morning and there was a homeless man digging through the dumpster of my apartment. I stood there for a moment staring directly at him, hoping that he would notice me and move on. He looked at me, then looked at the garbage bag that I was holding, and continued to dig. After a minute or so, I approached him and threw the garbage bag into the other side of the dumpster. I stood there for a moment and he turned to look at me. I wanted to say something like, "Can you at least pretend that you aren't sifting through my garbage," but I was intimidated by his stare and decided to move along. He turned away from me and proceeded to open the bag that I had just thrown in. I watched as he sorted through my garbage, trying to make some use of the chicken bones and doritos packages that were contained in it.

This is my neighborhood. There are shootings, stabbings, and bums, yet I've never felt particularly uncomfortable here. The thing is, the longer that I travel through the unemployment line, the closer I come to these unsavory elements. I might be the homeless man, digging for treasure in the dumpster sooner rather than later. Instead of trying to shoo him away, I should be asking him for advice. Which plastic bags work best? How do you clean yourself? What kind of glue can I huff? It will be like watching Survivorman for the streets of San Diego.

Anyway, the pursuit continues. More updates to come...