Snack Time

Monday, May 7th, 10:15 a.m.

"Anything interesting happen at the park this morning?"
"Saw a guy shooting up at a picnic table."
"Sweet."
"Super sweet."

The Welcome Wagon

I'm trying to find just the right words to describe my neighborhood and I'm stalling out on "ghetto-y", so I'm just gonna stick with that. It's a little rough around the edges and by edges I mean gang members. Be that as it may, you have to hand it to the gangs when it comes to an entrepreneurial spirit. They seem to be constantly reinventing themselves around here.

They tag things and then sell whitewash at hugely inflated prices to the terrified convenience store owners. They've taken over the fruit stand on the corner and forced the little guy to sell Schlitz and unfiltered Camels.  Most recently (and most intriguingly) they've opened a barbershop/party decoration store just a half block away from me and I have to tell you, it's not too shabby. On the right side of their shop, they've got glittering Valentine hearts and bright green St. Patrick clovers. They've hung sexy Halloween costumes on a small metal rod and they boast a wide selection of colorful birthday balloons.  And if you walk through the beaded 60's style curtain, you enter the barber part of the business and to be frank, this is the shadier section. I've never seen anyone in there and it smells like weed.

Because the people in my neighborhood have never really embraced me as one of their own, I thought I'd try and break down their walls by supporting their most recent endeavor. Easter was my first chance to hit their newest business and for the most part I was happy with how it went. They didn't really talk much to me and eye contact was a at a minimum, but they took my cash and I took home some shiny egg decorations plus an oversized cardboard bunny. The entire purchase cost me $48 bucks. (Side note - I've seen better deals.)

Yesterday I saw one of the guys that worked there. I waved, maybe a little too enthusiastically, but he waved back. Not so much "waved", but it seemed to me that he felt like it. So, I'm making progress. You know what they say about slow and steady. And with 4th of July right around the corner I may just have it made.