Help Me Help You

Today on the train...there was a man panhandling. He had a whole speech prepared that I'm sure he repeated on each and every train car.


It started out with a normal "can you spare a dollar" but then he went on to say that he had a lot of mental issues and that sometimes he takes his pills and sometimes he doesn't. I don't know what his goal was by sharing that information. Did he mean to scare people into giving him money? 


The first thought that went through my head was "why does he need money, if he can afford his pills?" and then "If he has pills that keep him sane and could potentially help him get a job, why would he be panhandling?" 


No, I did not give that man any money. 


Honestly, I rarely do give panhandlers money. There are so many places to get free food and shelter in Downtown LA. Ok, so maybe people don't like staying at the shelters, but you can still get free food! 

Not on the Train

Well, I guess I have listened to this on the train...


My friend Tyler Von Allen has just released an album and I just had to share it with all my blogger friends. I'm not just saying he's good because he is my friend. He really is good!


I have the cd in my car and listen to it all the time. I wake up with songs in my head and I HAVE to listen to them. I keep saying that if he could get one (or more!) of the songs in a tv show or on a movie, he'd be set! The songs would shoot to #1 so fast!


You can check out the songs on itunes and last.fm or go to his website for more info.

Tell me what you think!

Outside the Walls

Today on the train...three men got on the train. As soon as the doors closed one said, "Isn't it a trip that all these people are living their day to day lives and we just got out of jail?"


"Yea, it really is." replied his friend, while he laced his shoes up (when you are put in jail, they remove the shoe laces from all inmates shoes so that they don't use them as a weapon). 


These men had JUST walked out of jail. They rode the train for awhile and held an intelligent conversation about how the Japanese make a lot of the stuff we buy these days. One of the men even piped in about how China owns a lot of America's debt.


The situation reminded me that you can't assume that people will fit the stereotypes. Yes, they were criminals, but that doesn't mean they aren't smart or don't have something valuable to provide to society.