Muggings, Musicians, and Marvels

So I got mugged in San Francisco this weekend. I was walking through the 1200-1400 section of Market Street at 2 AM. Probably a mistake. While giving a beggar some change, a few dollar bills fell out of my pocket, which he quickly told me to pony up. I basically blew him off, and said "Hey man, I gave you change, that's all you're going to get."

Two blocks later I felt a knife blade pressed against my back and I heard him say "How 'bout the money now?" I quickly turned around and gave him the 7 dollars in my pocket. Then he said, "Ok, now the wallet." I had about 120 bucks in my pocket, so I threw the money on the ground and ran down the street. Luckily, he didn't chase. He just stood there counting my money and laughing. Cackling. Fucking thief.

I'm ok, just a little ticked off. Overall, giving up my money was a lot less expensive than getting stabbed would've been (Oh the joys of having no health insurance). Not to mention, I would've been stabbed. And that would have been a pretty shitty way to spend a couple extra days in Frisco.

So I stayed up the rest of the night, went to IHOP, slept in the car. I woke up early Saturday afternoon and went to Guitar Center on Van Ness to buy some picks and strings. Whilst passing the time playing guitars, I started playing a banjo. And I fell in love. So I bought it - I now am a proud owner of a 5-string banjo.

Oh, by the way, I also met Neil Diamond in that Guitar Center. He walked in, and a few people flocked over to him saying "Oh my god, you're Neil Diamond!" I walked over and said hello. He was a cool dude.

The road beckons, more later.

T-Minus 7 days until we hit the Canadian border.

Tom