x degrees

i had a strange experience while waiting for the subway back to school last night. I was standing next to a garbage can on the broad/city hall platform, and i saw a familiar homeless man, one that i have seen numerous times on the subway and a few times above ground. he looks as though he is actually crazy: glazed eyes, permanent grin, about twenty 'southern comfort' promotional mardi gras beads, perpetual babbling (not english). most crazy homeless people don't particularly bother me, but his complete seperation from everything and everyone strikes me as legitimately disturbing.

so i was standing by the garbage can, and this man walks up next to me and begins sorting through the trash. he looks at a few empty 7-11 hot dog boxes forlornly, sips at a few straws from fountain sodas, and eventually settles with a half-eated double cheeseburger. as soon as he stepped away from the garbage can another man approached it. this next man was quite astute, clean, and, by the sound of his voice and his word choice, he seemed educated. he started digging through the garbage, much more carefully than the previous man. he looked at me and laughed, "when i woke up at 8 this morning i had no idea that by tonight i would be sorting through the garbage."

i've seen 'untouchable' homeless people sorting through the garbage, but seeing this man put it into perspective. there are only x degrees of separation between me and this 'down on his luck' man, and there are only y degrees of separation between this 'down on his luck' man and the 'untouchable' man polishing off a cheeseburger that he pulled out of a garbage can. hmm.

in other news:
pure ecstasy (one of my favorite bands recently) is going to release a new 7" with a band that you may or may not have heard of called sleep over. i think they're ok, i don't think they're that great. i would probably buy pure ecstasy's 'easy' 7" instead, i really like that song. you can buy them here, just scroll on down.

oh snap, took this song from TRASPARENT

pure ecstasy - dream over