Tonight I had quite an enjoyable time tonight at the Mens' Shelter I volunteer at. There were a whole bunch of people there tonight from a different college experiencing the whole "Chicago Missions" thing. It was pretty fun since they went to the same school my dad went to and it was a fairly good evening. Until...I know...evenings can never just be perfect. In THIS case, when I was talking to some of the guys there, one of them decided to ask me out. I chose to react as though I thought he was kidding. He asked me first how many boyfriends/guys I had..."About Seven?" I laughed and I was like..."Nope, Zero." He gave me this weird look that said, "I do not believe you." Then he asked if could be it, then. I was like...hmmm...what can I say here? Options consist of 1-yes (not a real option)...2-no (not an option that I would like to come right out with)...and 3-create some way to change the subject on the spot. SOMEHOW, I managed to do something else...the subject remained, but I diverted the issue from ME into a "romance in general" area. But that was not before I learned that I had a beautiful smile and that he would treat me right. He wanted to take me out...ok...and HOW was he going to pay for dinner? He was assuming I would say no...I didn't, but WHY ask in such a situation if you know that she won't go for it? Oy. Made me feel very...weird. Not precisely bad...because obviously...he thought I was hot and stuff...so yay for that...but it was just awkward and strange. I am not going to go back there, though, the shelter doesn't go into April.

3/28/00

I do not know if I have informed you all of the river that runs through the campus. It is part of the Chicago river and it is a running joke among the students, especially since all the brochures talk about how wonderful it is to have a river run through the campus...yada yada. It is absolutely filthy. There is much garbage, including beer cans and a couple bikes...it is this disgusting brownish green color...and plastic seems to take up a great deal of the river... Now, to add insult on top of injust, we started to see that irredescent rainbow color on top of the water...what does that indicate...? Well...a huge oil/gasoline leak into the water. Great...

That's the background.

I was walking along to my class the other evening with a girl that I am friendly with, if not exactly friends. We walked over the bridge and saw some ducks (I don't know, they keep forcing their way into my life) swimming in the river. I laughed.

"Those ducks are going to die." I commented.
"That is horrible." she said, her attempt to surpress laughter and absolute failure.
"There are a couple of options... They will either die slowly of exposure to whatever nuclear waste is in the river..."
"Or?"
"Or inevitably someone will toss a cigarette into the water and WHOOSH...roast duck." She laughed, as I fully expected her too...I don't say these things for my OWN amusement along...
"Yum...duck is good..." I hadn't expected that comment from her, but we went on to discuss the pros and cons of eating duck cooked in this manner and whether it would be worth it to pluck the feathers.

It was an excellent way to pass the time on the way to class.

**NOTE**

Unlike the 666 of the past...we are NOW approaching 1000 and it looks like it will happen VERY soon. So...the message to the subjects is this...if you ARE the lucky 1000...send me an email.