Bridgeport Kuhn-Fesh-Uhns.

Not so much actual confessions, but perhaps a few thoughts pertaining to living here these days.

Sometimes when I like to get away from my room for a few moments, I descend the staircase and exit the community center, walk through the parking lot and plop down on the simple, concrete steps of the church. It's here where I can find the peace of mind to ponder things greater than myself. It's also here where I sometimes, not always, but sometimes, decide to smoke a cigarette. I know, I know, I'm killing myself. No need to remind me. Anyway, what usually happens is that after sitting for a moment someone will walk by, stop and ask me a question. These questions take one of two forms. "Can I bum a  smoke from you?" or "Do you have any spare change?" No doubt this happens from time to time on the North Side as well, but it never seems to stop over here. Needless to say, I've learned to only bring one cigarette with me, so when I get asked, I won't be lying when I reply, "Sorry, I left my pack inside." As for the spare change, well my reply to that depends on how I'm feeling at the moment. I'm usually happy to help out, but you know what? I happen to have a jar of change on my desk and I almost never use the change in my pocket when purchasing something because I like filling up that jar. So maybe that person will get some change, maybe not.

There's not enough light in my room. It took me a month and a half to figure that out. I like a bright room so I don't get completely sleepy when I'm not doing things I should be doing. This is my reason for not having accomplished much of anything since I've moved in. How can I see the light if I can barely see much of anything? It's just not possible. Okay, okay, there is plenty of sunlight during the day, so perhaps this light issue isn't the only reason. So...anybody out there have any lamps they aren't using anymore? I've got space for lamps. I think I may even have light bulbs as well.

Judas Priest is still awesome on this side of town.

Folks are just more trusting the farther south you go. For example, I was standing in line at JJ Peppers a couple weeks ago, and there was a woman in front of me who was precariously holding onto 6 or 7 beverages in her hands. Her hands were so full, she certainly was not able to corral her son who was busy pulling out and dumping no less than 5 bags of M&M's onto the floor from the bin near the counter. He was pretty excited about all that candy. Unfortunately for him, once Mom unloaded the beverages onto the counter, all the candy got tossed back into the candy bin. Well Mom was having a bit of a hard time keeping track of her child and figuring out how to pay for the beverages, so she scooped up her kid, turned around, looked me in the eye and held him out to me so I could hold him while her transaction was completed. In that small moment I'm sure she asked if I'd hold him, and of course I said yes. Why wouldn't I want to hold some grubby tyke who just finished playing on the JJ Peppers floor? Not being all that used to holding kids of strangers, let alone kids of friends, I did my best to control his weak but constant flailing. Once Moms things were properly bagged, she took him out of my hands, thanked me and went on her way. Complete strangers helping each other out. Perhaps a bit reluctantly, but whatever...that's just the way we roll over here.

I got home late on Wednesday night after playing pool, and to my great delight noticed Subway was still open. Deciding it would be a great idea to order a sub at midnight, I walked inside and did just that. Spicy Italian with all the veggies in case you were wondering. I asked the worker behind the counter what time they closed, and he replied, "We're open 24 hours". Slightly shocked, yet quite pleased, I tipped the guy a dollar and left the store with my sandwich. The last time I had 24 hour access to Subway was when I worked there in college. We weren't open 24 hours, but I always had at least one or two subs in the fridge at home. A kids gotta eat you know.

Some people like to take hot showers. Not me. I like a nice cool shower that contrasts nicely with my warm shampoo and conditioner. These two items can be found on the window sill on the east side of our bathtub. That hot summer sun warms them up quite nicely before I finally decide to find the time to wash away my grime. I'm talking about a high viscosity cleaning of the scalp. It's tremendously relaxing. If you happen to have AC and your toiletries aren't on a window sill facing the sun, turn off the AC for a few days and take a cool shower, but first warm up a bit of water on the stove and put in your bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Wait about 7 minutes until they are nice and warm and then get your ass into the shower ASAP so you can enjoy the experience. Feel free to leave a comment below detailing your shower adventure.

That's all I have for this installment of Bridgeport Kuhn-Fesh-Uhns. Actually I have more, but that's all I'm going to type. It's been a slow evening here. All the roommates disappeared many hours ago except for one who, after roaming about aimlessly, finally decided to take a nap a while back. I've spent my evening preparing for Lollapalooza, which means that I've listened to two or three tracks from about 20 different performers. That's not even through day one, so there's still much to be done. I don't really know how I'm going to find time to get all this "work" done, but where there's a lack of will, there's a good chance I'll spend my time doing more nonsense like this instead of what others may regard as important or worthy of my time. To each their own, right?