Eeeeeew, creepy, Hil.

ok, Hil, that man? he's full of yuck. Seriously? What is wrong with people?

And remember -- we SAY NOTHING TO THE COPS!!!

We haven't even knocked over any major financial institutions, but already we have a Code of Honour.

We should come up with really kicky outfits, too.

But then I started talking to myself about how she needs the $2 more than I do,

I know this is about a waitress, but it reminded me that I got panhandled IN MY OWN DRIVEWAY yesterday. And not by The Boy, which would have been okay, since he lives there and I probably owe him monies of some kind, like rent or utilities or here's-some-money-for-eating-the-last-of-the-Oreos.

But no. As I pulled into my driveway, there were 2 people walking down the sidewalk (this is a standard neighborhood with average houses, dogs, kids, etc. -- your basic middle America), and once I stopped the car and opened my door to get out, the woman walked up the driveway and started talking to me, introducing herself and asking me if I wanted to buy a phone she had in her bag. (Uh, no.) When I politely declined, she asked me for money for bus fare.

I gave her a couple of dollars, because really, I had it (I often don't have actual cash in my wallet, thanks to the wonders of the debit card), and I didn't need it in the near future (i.e., I wasn't planning on buying anything in the next day or so), and my feeling is, if giving someone $2 isn't going to hurt me financially, I'm going to give it to them. I choose to believe that, at least some of the time, whoever panhandles me is going to use the money for a meal or bus fare. If it doesn't bankrupt me to do it, maybe it'll do some good, if only for one person in 10.

(I realize that if I lived or worked in an actual city, an actual thriving downtown, I'd have to sharply revise my panhandling rules. I get that.)

But even though I gave her $2, and it didn't bankrupt me, I'm still flabbergasted, not by the fact that I was panhandled, but that I was panhandled IN MY OWN DRIVEWAY.

It should be a slogan -- Northside: No, no, don't get up. We'll bring the panhandlers to your door!

That reminds me of living on the south side of Minneapolis, where the panhandlers urinate on your bushes and then pass out from drinking too much generic mouthwash. Or the hookers give blowjobs on the porch of the house next door.

OK, each of those things only happened once in 3 years....

eta: There should be a PSA for panhandlers: Urinating on a guy's bushes makes him less likely to give you money....

eta²: And then there's the panhandlers who walked up to our car as a group of us got out, and then tried to pick up our suitcases (apparently to carry them to the door so we'd give them money). Um, no.

Oh, and there's the guy who stole my mail and demanded $10 before he'd give me the check he took....

I want my two dollars...

I want my two dollars...

I bet if you go to Teppy's house and ask real nice....

I just had some guy call me a dumbass when I didn't respond to his greeting as I walked to my building (he was loitering in the darkened parking lot next to it, and started meandering my way as I headed homeward). No, the dumbass would be the panhandler antagonizing a resident who knows there's a squadcar parked one building over due to the recent fistfights at Happy Fun Dive next door.

In nicer news, spent the evening catching up with one of my best friends, who's in town visiting his folks.

Living in the Haight, I don't think I've gone a single day in 22 years without being panhandled, except the days I've stayed inside with a fever of 102.

Living in the Haight, I don't think I've gone a single day in 22 years without being panhandled, except the days I've stayed inside with a fever of 102.

Yep.

Favorite Haight panhandle: some punkish-looking kids asked me, "Can we have some money to buy drugs?"

I hardly ever get panhandled in Chicago now....

A few months back, I paid over 300 bucks in back taxes to the city of LA on a little known law that says if you earn any money on a 1099, you have to file as a business and pay the city taxes on income. There's a creative artist exemption, which I filed for, but "too late" so I had to pay all these fines and back taxes. I got my license and exemption in the mail soon after.

I just got a letter from the city saying I need to pay $2,335.98 for failing to respond...even though I went to City Hall and paid all fees and taxes in person and received a receipt and all the license paperwork.

Now, I have to either pay this, or send a written application for a hearing to explain myself...or, to actually explain the City's incompetence to a judge.

I am already hanging by a thread with the move and the job stress. This? Awful. It's just awful.