As I was wandering around Austin this evening (needed some time to catch my breath after these last two days), a guy randomly came up to me at 6th and Trinity and asked if I had a “paper dollar” in exchange for 4 quarters. Odd, but hey, I had a dollar bill, so I figured, why not (yes, I’m also the guy who gives spare change to panhandlers when they ask).
So then I continue walking towards the Convention Center, and just when I’m parallel with the entrance to the Hilton, another guy walks up to me, and tells me he was in Austin for the writers convention, and that he rode his bike to get here and just found out his chain was cut and the bike stolen (bs? who knows, but I’m a trusting soul…). He then said he hated to ask, but he needed fare for two bus rides so he could get home.
Cost of each bus ride? 50 cents.
Comments
4 responses to “Serendipity”
Well, I saw a cut chain on a pole up in 5th, not far from the Hilton (I noticed because I’ve had a couple of bikes stolen myself, and am sensitive to other people’s losses) – sounds like the guy wasn’t selling you a line. Although this reminds me of this guy who knocked on my door one night all dressed as a Buddhist monk, and he asked for 12 dollars to get to somewhere on the bus. I totally thought he was for real, until a few weeks later I mentioned it to my sister-in-law, who was like “hey, he came to our place too!”. That was pretty sad.
Perfect example. Just out of curiosity, did you see the movie by the same title, or is serendipity a more common word than I thought it was?
Dan B: Haven’t seen the movie, but I’m one of those ‘vocab’ people who uses words no one else tends to use regularly (ahem, ‘superfluous’).
I also stretched the meaning of the word just slightly, but hey, that’s artistic license for ya ;)
For reference: Serendipity
Ok, good. I am one of those kinds of people too, though I find it more hinders my ability to make conversation than help it (which defeats some of the purpous, but not all, of learning new words). It is amazing how the ignorance of others can cramp ones style.
Serendipity is such a nice quality word, from may aspects (both meaning and sound) that it really is due to make it into every day conversation.