My Journal:	05/05/05
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	The air-conditioning is out and I've been in misery for three days. This heat is really too much. After many delays and surprises, I'm going to visit London and the surrounding area this month. Yippee! I told myself that no one would bother me if I walked down to the center of town and back without Mike C because I've been feeling paranoid, lately. He's in Seattle for three weeks so I took a walk without him, but to my complete dismay I was accosted three times. The last homeless man even crossed the street with me after I apologized to him for not knowing where he could find a ride home and tried to get away because he was blocking my path. I think it's bizarre they are so much more aggressive these days. Firstly, my dad taught me that no man worth a shit would ever ask a woman for help. I walk by plenty of homeless men who just smile at me but don't say a word. Maybe they'll ask but it's very passive. That's just fine by me because when I have money on me, which is rare, I do occasionally hand it over. Geez, I don't really know what I'm saying. If you're a homeless man please be polite? Not quite that. This is my declaration that I don't feel bad about turning down bums when they come running up to beg because it's an awful thing to do and shouldn't be encouraged, especially when to women. When I'm with people who are not used to homeless people, I try to take the initiative because I remember how horrified I used to be about it, so it's best to just keep on with the conversation after a firm, "Sorry, I can't help you." I, and a few of my friends, start every weekday with a drive past a few homeless shelters on the way to work. Our office is just two blocks away so the area is peppered with all walks of life. It's something I think about all of the time but rarely comment on because it's such a no-brainer to me. We need to round up all of the mentally ill people who are running around in rags and take care of them in a respectable way. I really don't understand the people in this country who disagree with that. The majority of people on the streets are mentally ill. I believe the amount of violent crime inflicted upon and by insanely demented homeless people would be reduced. Secondly, that advice my dad gave me is some of the best I've ever heard. Real men don't seek help from women. Above, I distinguished between types of bums I can live with and the kind I don't like but that carries true across the board. I don't ask anything of a man becaues I like to do things for myself and I don't appreciate moochers, either. I don't trust them. This past Saturday morning, I volunteered for the local public television affiliate where I read the newspaper to a handful of people listening to special radios in a 100 mile radius. It was the first time I did it full-fledged, which was not as stressful as I anticipated. I earned the faint disapproval of the grey-haired English lady co-reader, who said we were not allowed to skip around on the comics and editorials, therefore forcing me to read this distastefully silly editorial attacking secularism. I note she dominated the "Reader's Choice" time with a very long article on gardening. Let the record reflect that last time people skipped around. She was a very sweet person and forgave me for my ignorance. Moments later she had me cracking up when she added a new dimension to herself by enthusiastically reading aloud some rap lyrics, ebonics style, which were being mocked in the comic strip "Curtis." It was hysterical. I had skipped over that one because I just could not bring myself to doing that kind of voice on the radio, and she totally went for it. She was not too grand to be a sport.