crazy magnet

I was rather inspired by Rob's blog entry the other day about encounters with crazy people. If you've been around me long enough, you've probably heard stories of at least a few of the crazy weird people I've crossed paths with in my life.

Here's 2 stand-outs from the crowd....

Crazy # 1 - We'll call this one "the Gas-Pump Hobo". I was leaving the 9:30 Club in D.C. after a Relient K/MXPX concert.. and was in dire need of fuel for the ride home. (It should be noted that the club & nearby gas station were not in the nicest area of town) So I get out & proceed to pay the attendant, and as I'm heading out the door back to the car... I'm approached by a rough looking individual (the aformentioned Gas-Pump Hobo) who proceeds to spark up conversation about himself, about the club/concert-venue I was just at, and his relationship with the club's owner. I offered him $5 to pump my gas for me... hey, why not. He first pulled out a small McDonald's toy of a man... that had a muscular chest that would puff out when you squeezed the legs together. He said that this toy was a representation of him... and asked if I'd ever heard of Robin Hood.. because he's Robin-the-Hood (.... womp wommmmmp). The scary/random moment came when he said that the club owner @ the 9:30 Club called him derogatory names... so he pulled a knife on the guy. That didn't sit well with me.. and luckily he was done pumping my gas... so I was outta there reaaaal quick.

Crazy # 2 - This guy will be referred to as "the Man With A Million Brains".. or MWAMB for short. It's hard to describe how this guy looked... but he had very nappy fro-like hair, tied up by a bandana, with a hood over top of it all. The looks in his eyes was enough to prove that he wasn't all there... and definitely on something. He wandered into my Sports-Appreciation class last fall, and left not long after. We were taking a test at the time, and after finishing it I hung around in the hall with 2 other students to talk about the test we just took. The previously mentioned character, aka MWAMB, was wandering aimlessly around this small hallway... and had stopped & stood staring into the small alcove in the wall where the water fountain was. It was perfectly timed for when we had a lull in our conversation about the test.. when he suddenly turned to us and asked "... what if you had a million brains??". Without a beat, I responded "you would have a rather heavy head". Mistake. Don't interact with a crazy of this degree. He proceeded to go on a rant for a good 15 minutes about his plans for investing, storing money in foreign bank accounts, in-depth plans for getting rich written out on unrelated pamphlets that had blank space to write on, and much more. He then went into detail about what some of these brains would do... what they're sole purpose would be. One was going to calculate all the savings, another would work on figuring out how to make the human body take in energy from the sun like plants do, and yet another was going to cure all diseases with some genius planning. The peak-of-the-craziness came when he mentioned that one of the brains was going to perfect the process of human cloning. 1 of the guys standing with me chimed in saying ".. man, that's playing God". MWAMB looked at him for a second, with the craziest look in his eyes, and then made the following statement : "WHAT?! I am the son of God." That moment was enough for all of us to realize we're in over our heads with this one.... so we quickly & precisely scattered towards our cars in the parking lot. I can only imagine what the Man With a Million Brains is doing nowadays.....