TEH BLOG 4 U

(Yes i konw i wrote like a girl apparnetly 2 years ago, and its been a while, but still. i shall enter a post)

 

SO, interesting sunday yesterday, around 1230.

 

It was chinese new year potluck/dumpfest/chinese checkers tournament at etcbc. There was big lineup for food with random chinese food we're all used to. in the midst of it theres an older caucasian fellow maybe late 30's/early 40's. He's not dressed in the best clothing but it was defienitly appropriate for the weather outside. I figured he just came with someone and was a guest or that he'd been here a while and i completely just didnt' see him.

 

We all get our food and notice he's sitting by himself. Thought i'd be nice and sit with him.... so i ask him if anyone is sitting with him, plop myself down and strike up a convo. He really seemed to be enjoying the food so i took the good mood he was in to get some formalities out of the way. He told me his name was Dave and that his friend Dave invited him to ETCBC (give him the benefit of the doubt - it could happen) He also forgot his friend's last name, which I thought was interesting since chinese names are the easiest to remember - they're only 1 syllable. (but it could happen). he didnt konw where his friend was because he probably left church to go home right after service (defeintily could happen) Everyonce in a while though he would bring the topic to say that he was from Oshawa and his truck was out of gas and he needed to borrow $20 to get back home and continue his job as a roofer and if i gave him my cell number he'd call me during the week to say he got paid and he'd be coming in to church. We had some generic conversation and he said given the opportunity he'd loan me the money too of course and it would mean so much to him if i lent him money and he'd see me next week cuz he'd come back etc... (it could happen) some other people were around and saw him and i guess i didn't want to accuse him of being sketchy unless i had proof.

 

Eventually i gave the dude 2 of my 10's cuz he said he needed to take off and i didnt have a good opportunity to talk about it with someone else. before we parted ways though i asked him for his phone # so that i could contact him if need be. he gave me some fone number and i promptly entered it into my cell. it ended it the digits 2-0-0-8 (it could happen) "Don't bother calling it right now, the battery is dead and its out charging in my truck" . i told him "gotcha. but i'll call it anyways." So i hit send, and it starts to ring - "hey man its ringing..." "um.. really? that's funny.." i hear on the other line a woman picking up and asking who this is. i told her it was the wrong number and hung up. "so uh dave.. did u give me the right number?" he says that he just got a new cell phone and he must have remmebered his number incorrectly (it could happen). i offer to go out to the truck with him to retrieve his cell phone number,but he says its a cold day and his cell phone might not work properly. since im such a nerd, i told him "electronics tend to work better in the cold though, right?" thinking about all the fans in my computer and how its pretty much silent when running at 15C, but honest mistake (it could happen).

 

at this point i've got alarms going off in my head like crazy and i needed a way to either prove it furthur that he was scamming me, or a way to get my money back without blatantly accusing him of theft. so we start walking outside to his truck and i ask him if could just hold onto my money in the meantime til we find his truck. he says we're almost there and that he had to park across the street because the church parking lot was full (it could happen). except that we end up walking toward the apartments across the street. "this is private property.. how did you park here?" "oh when i said across the street i meant at the plaza across the street" (it could happen). "and in your cell phone you have your friends phone number also?" "um.. no, i have it written down in my phone book at home" (who has a phone book nowadays? - it could happen)

 

we start walking to the intersection and a bus pulls up and opens the doors at the bus stop nearby. he mumbles something about taking the bus, and he makes a break for it (all the proof i needed) so i did the only logical thing. i chase him down. speaking in my outdoor voice, i jump onto the bus with him and tell everyone this guy took money from me and is running off and to not move the bus. i especially convinced the bus driver who apparently beleived me and he put his hand on the token collector and closed the door behind "dave". at this point "dave" is screaming this guy is following me around/i dont have an of his money/whats he talking about??"

 

so im startin to go ballistic yelling DONT BE STUPID MAN JUST GIVE ME BACK MY MONEY and im all up in his face now. he's backing off, back to the front of the bus and the bus driver opens the door beacuse someone wanted to come in. "dave" jumps out and makes a break for it, east on lawrence. im sayin to myself "and it begins."

 

so i chase him for a few metres before catching up to him and grab him by his collar, whip out my cell phone and im trying to reason with him while he's screaming how he doesnt know me/doesnt have any money and cussing me out all at the same time. i tell him "dont do this buddy, i just want my money back, im gonna let u go, please dont make me call the cops SERIOUSLY DONT, JUST GIVE ME MY MONEY AND YOU CAN GET OUTTA HERE. DO YOU NEED FOOD? SHELTER? I'LL GET YOU HELP I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU NEED THE 20 FOR!!!". he keeps hitting my arm trying to make me let go but i wont budge. i was expecting him to punch me or kick me.. prety much anything that would cause me to 'self-defend' cuz i had so much adrenaline i was completely ready for the fight, i just didnt want to initiate it. i call 911 with my free hand and hear "911 what's your emergency" and promptly yell out "im getting robbed at the intersection of victoria park and lawrence"

 

at this point, he took the money out of his pocket and threw it up in the air. THERE, TAKE YOUR F_____G MONEY. still holding onto his coat, i watch where the money lands before letting him go. satisfied that its come to a rest, i release him and say "go. run now"  ... the genius takes a look at me and runs towards the money! since im closer, i just dive toward it and grab the money, look at him next to me and he just takes off.

 

i brush myself off and walk back towards church. the bus meanwhile is still there, door open and all. the busdriver asks "hey did you get the money? are you ok?" to which i politely respond "yes im fine and i got my money back. thanks for waiting by!". i look at my cell phone and realize i mustve hung up during the scuffle. oh well. so i take a few more steps, and the phone rings. "911, we received a call from this number, is everything ok?" . i pretty much retell the entire story which i've typed out here and said i didnt need help anymore, the guy didnt hurt me, i got my money back, its cool. "standard procedure sir, we've already dispatched some cruisers to your location so if you could just stay put we need to file a report regardless." i figure i might as well. within a few minutes 3 police cars pull up from different directions to where i am.

 

One officer (Johnson i think it was) asks me for a description of anything i can remember about the suspect. Male, white, late 30's, brown/blonde curley hair, black toque, dark green jacket, unzipped with a grey sweatshirt under, industrial workboots - untied. She gets on the radio and speaks "matches the description exactly. bring him in for questioning"  Wow they caught the guy already? apparnetly within 1 minute of my first call, cops were already on their way. not too surprising a guess considering the neighbourhood we were in.

 

So i retold again my story to Johnson and her sergeant, gave them my drivers licence to make my identity official, and even showed them the crumpled, now damp money that he took and threw into the street. That all seemed in order. a lot of peopel were walking out looking at me talking to the cops and i just played it cool and said "whats up? me? im jus chillin." Cuz that's how i roll. She told me that she can see im a decent sized guy and i can handle myself, congrats on getting my money back, but next time just to let the guy go. if he had a syringe or a weapon on him, its not worth 20$ to get stabbed or to be pricked by a needle. Touche :\

 

they dotn know what to charge him with, if anything, since i voluntarily gave him money and knew the whole time he had it as i walked with him. its not technically robbery or theft. he hadnt hurt me in any way or hit me. and even though i had my cell phone out in front of him and my wallet at one point he never touched them. they said if its some guy they have on record, they'll arrest him for some time but if its just some homeless guy with first violation, they slap him on the wrist andlet him go. either way, nothign bad happens to him cuz he's either free, or he gets some free time in a place of shelter + food. "dave" was actually kinda nice about it all. i have no real harm done to me or my posessions - guess i got lucky in this situation and it went as well as it could have possibly gone.

 

so at this point im shivering from being outside the whole time and im still hungry from having left my meal half uneaten. its about 1:15pm, and i head back to church.

 

......

 

i dont like how this guy furthurs the stereotype that homeless people will do anything to get your money. and it makes me think about the way he was dressed and how i just ignored it i decided over and over again to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe his story. i tried to see him as a person regardless of outer appearance, or his stories or what he was asking of me. should i have avoided him? denied him money becuase i didnt know him? there are little thigns i'd of done better next time like take someone outside with me, taken a picture as proof that this happend, held off on the money til comepletely comepletley completely sure.... but that's not unconditional love is it?

 

call me brave, call me stupid... but i think i'd do it all over again. if it meant sitting with someone who's alone at church, or helping out to give money to someone who needs it. plz pray for "dave"

i dont know why im writing this blog. nothing really eventful, just some stuff to remmeber when i look back on this day

 

- finished 385 lab report last minute, and quite good

- all 4th yr classes were cancelled cuz of iron ring ceremony today

- ece lab report question at the end being done by the TA

- extensions on 481 assignments, and finally learning how to do them

 

- jon's story of how he met cheryl (awwww)

- the STORIES that shaggy tells omg

   - glendon at costco: owned 2x ["how old are you?", 14 yr old girls]

   - glendon, peggy, shaggy in a bed

   - glendon leaning over , his 'dirty' face rofl

   - shaggy calling eldon a fag for watching Elizabethtown with some girls... then going home and watching it by himself

 

- all day prayer meeting at ucc

- praise night at acf

- great time with friends, pre, during and post acf

- small group time

- and the wonder of it all is im still standing. never planned it.. and i wonder where i'll be next year

 

gone: a digital camera, usb cord, and dvd's i can't remmeber of what

left:  broke a briefcase which had osap/cheques/passport in it.. didnt take any of it. also left my computer and monitor, sball stuff, stereo, cd's, cash, guitar, cellfone (nokia8390, not my k750i), foakleys

 

kane took the brunt of the damage... his ps2, all his games, real oakleys, and his laptop were all taken.. ernie and brian lost dvd's and digital cam's... they took ernie's 24 season1 and alias dvd's... cept they didn't realize ernie still had some dvd's in other cases! they'll never know what happens between 12 and 3pm so the jokes on them!

 

...

 

blah. some of the things are just stupid. like my oatmeal. they took my damn oatmeal. why would someone do this? what kind of moster steals OATMEAL. and my mango vita drinks. a 6 pack. omg. and kane's study bible. ??? who are these people?

 

and they didnt take the most valuable things, like lcd monitors, or kane's guitars/pedals/violins .. things they really could have gotten money for.

 

sigh. looks like i'll be in paranoid city for the next little while

ah lenting season is amongst us. im taking these 40 days to give up something i feel plays a really big part of my life: mp3s.

 

for the next 40 days, i will not (hopefully) download, upload or listen to any of my mp3s or burned cds.

 

 why am i doing this you ask. well, friend, that is a good question.

 

The answer is 2 fold:

1) music always has had an impact on my mood, some surface emotions, at times even drawing me closer/away from God because of how big worship music is in church or my life. I'd like to see who i really am when i'm away from the influence of music.

 

2) i've always told myself that the reason i don't consider mp3's "stealing" is because i wouldnt listen to the music anyways, so its not technically stealing if i wouldnt buy it to begin with. I could always just stop and delete them all if i felt that i was doing something wrong. It's like recording a song of the radio and just keeping it. but could i really just stop cold turkey?

 

if you know me, i have an obcene amount of music on my computer (about 60 gigs of full albums) and i tend to digest and then get bored of music quickly and download more. i also have this problem of deleting things, where i don't. so here i have this library of music which i never listen to, yet still keep just incase... if i hear a song on the radio or suggested by a friend, i tend to download the entire album or discography of the artist for no apparent reason. this is basically my secret of how i can play name-that-tune so effectively.

 

so i will try for the next month or so to only listen to the radio (shudder), cd's that i own, or other "legal" forms of music such as streaming online, yahoo music, or just listen to nothing. this might seem quite trivial to some, but to me i know it's gonna be pretty hard. i already feel like downloading a few albums

 

i think i already tried going for 1 week without listening to music, and it wasnt the best experience. once i got a song stuck in my head, it was impossible to get it out and it kinda drove me crazy. and now i have the britney spears song "crazy" stuck in my head. jeez.

 

wish me luck!