So the other night I was sitting outside this restaurant called Asquew on Haight waiting for them to finish closing, because they allegedly give away plates of leftover cous-cous and the like. Apparently, they made a spontaneous decision to end this practice, which I learned after peering into the green garbage can on the sidewalk and seeing it filled with gallons of cous-cous, but this is irrelevant. This kid with curly hair like the old Brady Bunch boys came up to me and said:

�Hi. My name�s Chris from Boise, Idaho. I like to give hugs. Can I have a hug?�

And I figured, sure, you can have a hug. Chris from Boise, Idaho then proceeded to inform me that it is his personal mission in life (at least for the moment) to talk to people from all walks of life (you mean, like the proletariat?) and find out about the way they live.

�So, what do you do for money? Do you just beg for it on the streets like this, or�.�

�Oh, no, not at all,� I was a bit surprised at this, �I mean, it�s occurred to me I have some friends who do, but uh, yeah, I�ve never done that before.�

�So what do you do for money? Do you live in the park?�

�Yeah, we live in the park, we used to be at the beach, too, but it�s a little far from the city, which is nice, but it�s also inconvenient, so�.�

�But what do you do for money?�

�I do this thing called workfare, which is basically like welfare, I guess, but it really sucks, �cuz�.�

�No,� said Chris from Boise, Idaho, with misplaced sympathy, �There�s nothing wrong with being on welfare.�

�Well, that�s not what I mean, it sucks �cuz basically they give you a shitty job, but only let you work eight hours a week. I mean, it�s really exploitative, because everybody thinks it�s just free money, you actually have to work for it, but they won�t let you work enough to actually make a living, and they give you so many appointments in addition to the work that it�s really hard to find a job.�

�It�s been really good talking to you, Viva, I have to go now, but first, give me another hug,� and Chris from Boise, Idaho gave me another hug and left. I guess his attention span ran out once I got to the part that I�m not a kid who just won�t get off my ass and get a job like everybody else.