Topic: Who did you meet today?

[Blair]

Sometimes we meet or just cross paths with interesting or just plain strange people (see www.peopleofwalmart.com for example )

We deal with so many people that we often just forget about them and move on to the next person. Well, I think it's high time that we give them some acknowledgment!  So post about people that you've met from the cool to the weird, from the brave to the foolish, and anyone in between that grabbed your attention long enough to be remembered for a little while.

[Blair]

I met two fellows at the casino this afternoon who I found very interesting.

I am a card player and a craps player. Craps is a bit faster paced and everyone spends all of their time watching something, so there is never much time or care put into really meeting anyone except for those who work around the table.

So, today it was cards... a very laid back, slow game called Pai Gow Poker. I sat down next to one of my regular casino friends (I'll talk about him at some other time). Neither of us were doing any good, so we both moved. Already sitting at the new table were two elderly gentleman who were not from around here (I pretty much know all of the card-playing regulars at this particular casino).

They were from out of state just vacationing for a few days here before passing through to a new location. One of them was 83 years old and the other was 81. What made these two so interesting aside from the enjoyment of just talking with them is that the older fellow was the father-in-law of the younger. This means, assuming the older man had his daughter when he was as young as 18 years old, that's still a 16 year difference between the husband and wife... and all of these year later the two mean still hang out with each other and travel together. Between the two of them had lived in about 15 states and had visited another 15 or more.

Both men had been in the military -- the younger in the navy, the older in the marines -- and both fought in Word War II (although that likely means, since he was in the navy, that the 81 year old joined right at the borderline age and right before the war ended).

[snowcat]

A lady sat next to me on the bus, she told me she was 85, and her son had just yelled at her for letting a "nice young man" come and sit in her house for a few hours.

[Kathy]

I met a lot of peope today at the polling place. Most of the volunteers are elderly but there was one man who stood out. He was a throwback to the 1960's - the epitome of a hippie including his vernacular. Man...it was like...really cool...thanks for voting...peace man.

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I bet I can tell what he voted for ... and I'm quite sure that he doesn't like tea parties.

[Critter]

I met a lot of peope today at the polling place. Most of the volunteers are elderly but there was one man who stood out. He was a throwback to the 1960's - the epitome of a hippie including his vernacular. Man...it was like...really cool...thanks for voting...peace man.

It's funny that you mention all the volunteers being elderly. Over here whenever there is an election on all the people working at the polling booths are usually Uni/College kids. This is because you are paid about $300 for a day of working on the elections, so all the young people jump in at the first opportunity. I myself applied for a spot not long ago but I didn't hear back from them.

[Dragonfire]

If they paid $300 a day here, I'd sign up to do it.  From what I've heard about it, people only get like $45 for doing it here.

[Blair]

Not someone new, but have spent today with a family friend that I haven't seen in years.


She grew up with and was the best friend of my youngest older sister, has been or lived all around the world, has known all sorts of people, and has 1,000 enjoyable stories to tell.

The very first story I was ever told about her which is the key one to tell anyone straight away when mentioning her is that when she was in her late teens, she packed herself up in a box and shipped herself to Elvis Presley's home in Memphis

[Dragonfire]

The very first story I was ever told about her which is the key one to tell anyone straight away when mentioning her is that when she was in her late teens, she packed herself up in a box and shipped herself to Elvis Presley's home in Memphis

Oh my goodness.   
How did that work out?

[Blair]

She ended up hanging out with him, staying off and on in the side room at Graceland Manner for about 2 months... with him always asking permission from her guardians if it was ok with them that she do so.

[Dragonfire]

Wow.
So the box actually got there?  With her still in it?

[Blair]

I don't know where she lived at the time, but she didn't ship it through post office mail half way across the country if that's what you are thinking. It was dropped off by someone else (the one who obviously had to seal up the box from the outside) at a delivery place (like UPS) already in Memphis. So it only traveled from one part of town to another. There was actually another friend sealed in there with her (I finally asked her for the first time the size of the box and it's a miracle they weren't biting at each other from claustrophobia).

She stayed in the home, traveled with him, got to know him very well, has casual pictures of him that the public has never seen, and he even gave her gifts. She's never talked about the friend other than being in the box initially; the traveling may have been enough for her sanity in one lifetime

What started out as a "simple" event with a few reporters showing up due to rumor (I guess) ended up a worldwide newspaper event. However, she never did interviews (even to clear up scandalous things being said about the situation) because she was never in it for notability; she originally just wanted to meet Elvis.

[Dragonfire]

Ahh..ok.
but still...that is an ..inventive way to go about meeting someone.

That's nice that she got to meet him and get to know him.

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Was in the sauna yesterday.
There was a guy that used to be there frequently last year.
This man was only one-legged due to a motorcycle accident in his youth.
When he showed up yesterday I at first didn't recognize him although he looked familiar, but after about a year I tend to forget faces.
This wasn't the main-point for not recognizing him though, the man that came in on a wheel-chair had no legs.
I guess I simply I couldn't imagine life to be so cruel to take the man's other leg too ... well, it is.

He lost his second leg in a strange accident with a chainsaw because his prosthetic leg collapsed, trying to gain balance again he threw all the weight he had onto his left leg (running chainsaw in hand) ... chainsaws don't produce clean cuts.

He's taking it with a good humour, "at least this won't happen again".

[Achim]

He's taking it with a good humour, "at least this won't happen again".

That is a really sad story, but if he says stuff like that he s a really awesome guy in my book!