2003-01-09

Don�t you love friendly mental patients? Don�t you love them especially on the bus? Me too. This morning, as I shouldered my way through the madding transit crowd and wedged my ass into the last available seat, I was thanked by the man sitting next to me. �Thanks for warming me up!� he said. Yes. That�s EXACTLY why I sat down next to a sixty year old man with a barely-plebeian grasp of personal hygiene � altruistic concern for his body temperature. Naturally.

When they�re not on the bus and in close quarters with me, though, I�m all for the insane. There was a guy in Calgary who believed he was a member of AC/DC (I�m not sure which one, since he provided both vocals and air guitar � perhaps he was some Johnson/Young hybrid mutant clone). He�d even take requests, jumping up on dumpsters and rocking out on his imaginary guitar. There was also a character by the name of Lord Thunderwind (although he has yet to provide corroborative documentation to that effect) who claimed to be some manner of minor deity. He regaled my friends one day with a detailed prediction of an upcoming battle between various gods and similar universal powers, during which the world as we know it will be destroyed. �What will you be doing while this is going on?� asked my friends, naturally curious as to whether our local penates would be getting a piece of the interdimensional punch-up. Quoth Lord Thunderwind: �I�m goin� fishing!� Words to live by.