venice
so venice is a really weird neighborhood (also i am trying to write daily again) in that there are a lot of stupid rich people and there is a pretty substantial homeless population. the homeless population here is quite different than it was downtown. downtown i actively avoided Skid Row at all costs. It was filthy (like, feces and hypodermic needle filthy) and the people were honestly scary. i have lived in not so hot areas in boston and pre/early gentrification cambridge and Skid Row still scared the hell out of me. Once I had to go to the police station (my identity was stolen) and while i was in there some guy who had just gotten out of jail started a fight with the cops about getting the narcotics that he had had on him when he was arrested back (??) and then another man came in to say he'd beat up another transient woman because she'd punched him in the face. while we were living downtown, some multi million dollar initiative where they removed the homeless people and their tents, sandblasted the streets and sidewalks to get rid of feces and needles and whatever, and then put everyone back. considering i wear sandals almost everywhere, it's pretty obvious why i didn't like walking around skid row.
in venice the homeless population is a lot more relaxed...there are a lot of people living in RVs, people who sleep on the beach and night, surfers who are just traveling the world, it seems a lot more varied and a lot less threatening. today when i was talking the bear out for a walk, we ended up hanging out for a good long while with a guy i've seen around my neighborhood a few times. he's super nice and energetic and he knows EVERYONE in the neighborhood. him and the bear are pals (really everyone and the bear are pals, even the police around here stop to play with him) and he was just telling me about venice (he's lived here 18 years) and just talking about the changes the city is going through, which neighbors of mine were nice, which neighbors had pets to avoid (a couple people around here have really vicious pit bulls) and was telling me about the time he was on an episode of COPS. it was nice because i'd started the day off feeling pretty low (i have a sore throat) so some random human interaction was appreciated.
right now i'm watching the front door like a hawk because the inevitably bad Walking Dead game is supposed to show up and I am very much looking forward to killing some zombies.
in venice the homeless population is a lot more relaxed...there are a lot of people living in RVs, people who sleep on the beach and night, surfers who are just traveling the world, it seems a lot more varied and a lot less threatening. today when i was talking the bear out for a walk, we ended up hanging out for a good long while with a guy i've seen around my neighborhood a few times. he's super nice and energetic and he knows EVERYONE in the neighborhood. him and the bear are pals (really everyone and the bear are pals, even the police around here stop to play with him) and he was just telling me about venice (he's lived here 18 years) and just talking about the changes the city is going through, which neighbors of mine were nice, which neighbors had pets to avoid (a couple people around here have really vicious pit bulls) and was telling me about the time he was on an episode of COPS. it was nice because i'd started the day off feeling pretty low (i have a sore throat) so some random human interaction was appreciated.
right now i'm watching the front door like a hawk because the inevitably bad Walking Dead game is supposed to show up and I am very much looking forward to killing some zombies.