So today is my birthday! I am 36 today. No big plans…since opening night of my play is tonight.
Yesterday was another busy day filled with last minute errands for the play, resolving unemployment issues, job searching and interviewing, updating the Year of Giving, etc.
I found myself again close to midnight and still holding on to my $10.
I dropped off a friend from the theatre and then decided to head over to the area around 14th and U Street and find someone. I had NPR on my radio hoping to hear some more of a report that I heard earlier in the day by Laura Sullivan on our prison systems. I really like her journalistic style. When you hear one of her reports you feel like you are there with her. Maybe I can get her to check out my blog and give me some tips on writing 🙂
It was raining and I thought I would find a place indoors to give away the $10. I found myself in front of Bus Boys and Poets, a hip urban joint that I have frequented a few times. It was open and there was a parking space out front.
The place is pretty cool. It is part book store, part coffee-house, part restaurant, part bar, part… meeting place. I think the poet for which it is named, Langston Hughes, would be proud of the place. My eyes scanned the bar and saw two young women working on a computer together, a female bartender wiping down the liquor bottles, and a guy who looked like he could line up against the Steelers’ James Harrison and hold his own. Hmm…I could easily go chat with the girls, but I am more intrigued by the linebacker-like individual. I mean what’s the worse that could happen? He could crush me with his forearm?
Allen turns out to be a soft-spoken guy. He does love his football though. He stammers a little as he tells me that he is a Redskins fan. There is that look that a sports fan gives you when they open up and tell you that they love a losing team. You have to respect that. That doesn’t happen much in other areas. I mean you never find someone saying, “I love that mutual fund that is losing me lots of money” or “Even though Dr. Wilson has killed many of his patients, I still love’em!” Sports is different. A fan is a fan is a fan, it doesn’t matter what their record is, they are still going to show up and cheer them on.
The 22-year-old from Montgomery County, MD was in DC to film a band. You can see some of his video work on YouTube searching for abseven4. I asked him what he was going to do with the money and he said he was going to put it toward gasoline. Allen will be using quite a bit of gas as he plans to go back to college. He has about two years left to finish a Sports Management degree at Bowie State University.
Allen dropped out of school a couple years ago but after struggling for a couple years he realized he really wanted to go back to school and get his degree. He may be starting as soon as Monday, but that depends largely on the financial aid he hopes to receive. If he doesn’t have everything he needs, then he will have to wait until the fall semester most likely. I hope he finishes his degree. It will be an amazing gift for him.
I chat a little more with Allen and realize that I need to get home and get to bed. When I walked in the door, I discovered my place was cleaned up and there was birthday gift from Daniela waiting on the counter. Thank you! That was so nice.
Year of Giving 