It's cold out!

Fires are raging in California and Colorado, but here in Seattle it's dropping to freezing tonight.

I tried to get gas last night at the Arco station in Auburn near where I work. I didn't have enough in the tank to get home -- it's a good 40 minute commute you know. But the problem was, all I had in my wallet was a $50 bill and a $1 bill. For some reason when I deposited my last paycheck and asked for the usual $100 cash to line my wallet, my bank gave me a 50, two 20's, and a 10 instead of the usual five 20's.

I didn't consider this a major problem until the woman at the Arco told me that they wouldn't take 50 dollar bills after 10 pm. Unless I wanted to buy $40 of stuff. Just imagine -- $40 of twinkies, pepperoni sticks, and Am/Pm hot dogs. Ack!

I mean, I know the reasons for this policy, but my god it's American currency. I feel kind of persecuted just because I work until midnight. Anyway, I dug through all of the change in my pocket and my car ash tray, and along with my $1 bill I was able to buy $3.90 of gas, which was more than enough to get home on. And then today I broke my $50 bill when I bought dinner at Sunny Teriyaki, and in return I got two of the new, colorful $20 bills. Nifty.

So as I was driving home tonight, I knew I had to get gas again (already). I considered stopping at the Arco on 85th, but decided it would be better to hit the one at 105th, on the theory that it was late at night and I was less likely to run into weirdos there. This theory was false, because the gas station was crowded with weird people, and I was immediately approached by some kid who wanted money. He mumbled something about needing to get downtown and/or renting a place to spend the night, something like that. I'm pretty hard-line about never handing out money to people like this, since I can never really know if they need it for food/shelter or really just want to buy drugs or booze.

So anyway I pumped my gas and headed to the grocery store, wondering if I really should have helped the kid out and if he really needed it. As I was paying for my groceries, I was thinking that here, at least, I wasn't likely to run into people begging for money. But when I went out to my car, a middle-aged woman approached asking for money. She said something about needing food and needing to get her kids to the shelter. I could see that she had a truck and someone was inside it, and she seemed more desperate and honest to me; I was pretty certain she needed the money for real and wasn't just looking to get high or scam me or anything. I really wanted to give her something, but all I had in my wallet at that point was a $20 and a $10. I might have handed her a five, but I didn't want to hand over $10 to some stranger. So I said I didn't have anything to spare.

As I drove away I was thinking about this, wondering why I'd been approached by two people on the same night, and then I realized, it's midnight and it's going to be at or below freezing for the first time this year. People who might normally sleep outside were now desperate to find a warm place to stay. Once I realized that, I really regretted not giving the woman at the grocery store money, because I realize she really did need help. I can only hope someone else was able to help her.

( A Scary July 4th )

Friday Five

1. What was your first Halloween costume?

I have no idea. The first one I really remember was when I was in about 2nd grade. I told my mother that I wanted to be a skeleton. My mother is a nurse, so she found a skeleton picture from one of her medical books and traced a skeleton onto white cloth, then cut it out and glued it to a black top and black pants. I don't remember all the details except that it worked really well.

I also remember that Halloween because I got laryngitis and should have stayed home, but I had to go trick or treeting! I couldn't even say "trick or treat" or "thank you".

2. What was your best costume and why?

Probably the one above, but if not that then... you know, I don't even remember any other costumes I had as a kid. But when I was in college I dressed as kind of a hooker, with a short miniskirt, wig, etc. At the time I had a roommate who was studying to be a beautician so she'd decided to give me long fingernails. It's hard to do anything with nails like that, let me tell you. I also made "breasts" by filling balloons with jello.

I went to work dressed like that, I went to school (one class) and visited friends in the dorms (Gene at least that I remember) and then I let my roommate take me to a party she was going to. This turned out to be a mistake, because she got drunk and told me to take her car home, that she would stay there overnight. The problem was, I had to figure out how to get the nails off myself... that was kind of messy.

3. Did you ever play a trick on someone who didn't give you a treat?

Not that I can recall. The two best stories I have in that vein don't really involve me or Halloween. One year, some of the seniors in my high school got up on the roof and tossed nearly a dozen old tires over the flag pole. That was funny because it was a pretty harmless prank, but the only way to get them off was to cut them off.

When I was a senior a bunch of people in my class pulled pranks at the end of the year, and my friend Chuck fell off the roof of the school and broke his leg. While that wasn't really funny, it kind of was in that he couldn't deny being part of the group that pulled the pranks, and he was our class President. Real smooth...

4. Do you have any Halloween traditions? (ie: Family pumpkin carving, special dinner before trick or treating, etc.)

I don't follow any traditions anymore, but my mother always took the seeds from the pumpkins and soaked them in saltwater (I think) and then roasted them. Very nummy!

5. Share your favorite scary story...real or legend!

I read a ton of ghost stories and pirate stories when I was in grade school. I still remember some of them pretty vividly. One of them involved a pirate group that landed on a deserted island to bury treasure... the Captain took his first mate and they lugged a special box filled with the creme of the treasure they'd stolen to the top of a high cliff, where they buried it where none of the other crew would know. When they were done, the Captain pushed the first mate off of the cliff.

As it turned out, the first mate's fall was broken by some trees and although he broke his leg he survived. He was eventually able to flag down a ship and got back to civilization, where he rested up. Then he went back to the island and laid in wait for the Captain to return. Eventually the Captain came back, and the first mate killed him.

From what I remember it was supposed to be a deathbed confession of a real pirate, but it sounds like a made up story to me. But I don't know if I remember all of the details of the story correctly. Not really a scary story either, but one that's remained pretty vivid in my mind.

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I've been cleaning up a bit around the house every day. Trying to anyway. Mostly little stuff like taking out trash, cleaning up one corner of a room. Today I cleaned up the extra desk in the computer room. I pulled out Tom's 2nd computer that he doesn't use and plugged it in, and plugged in the monitor, but at the moment I don't have a power chord for the monitor... I ought to have an extra around here somewhere... anyway the computer turns on but I don't know more than that. ^_^

I need to clean up my bedroom, especially if Jeff is still planning to come over tomorrow and help me with my computer.