(Going to see Fanboys today - very hilarious, by the way - reminded me of the need to do a post about the nature of moviegoing...but something else that happened to me today is far more pressing.)

I'm not what you might call a confrontational person. I generally like to be left alone. I may get into verbal scrapes at work, but that's not too bad, since a) I'm protected by a counter, cameras and other people all around me and b) nine times out of ten, the person I'm having it out with started it. Physical confrontations are a whole other animal. To quote Daffy Duck, "I can't stand pain. It hurts me." My fight-or-flight response is just about stuck in the latter position and if someone approaches me with a less-than-friendly demeanor, I get skittish.

On the bus to the train station, I'm approached by this guy wanting change; a couple of dollars. All I have are tens and twenties, but he's insistent about needing the money so he can go to the hospital. Two things: 1) if he can afford bus fare, then surely he can obtain a couple of dollars and 2) the bus passes the hospital, yet the guy is still there. I try to let him down gently about my cash situation (read: lie), but the guy follows me from the bus to the train station. [Today's lesson: if my life somehow becomes more interesting than that of another person, that individual fucked up royal.] I don't see him after dashing toward the bus that takes me near the theater, or on the ride home (where I nearly lost the use of my hands thanks to the freezing rain), but I, honestly, can't imagine that guy not getting whatever it is he thinks he needed from me from another person. I was truly scared for my life, and I'm nervous about seeing that guy again. It's not that big a city I live in, so I really don't know what to think. As I've said before, people are stupid, and he struck me as the kind of guy who would beat up an innocent for a few bucks, so we'll see.