Friday night was a very bizzare experience. After watching Spider-man and about to leave Aileen's house to grab ice cream with Aileen, I started my car and was about to pull away from my parking spot (wait, i'm starting to use caps... reset..... okay). suddenly, an african-american man carrying a cell phone and a leather computer bag, dressed in a suit and tie, approached me and started yelling at me through my window. apprehensively, i opened my car door and asked "is something wrong? can i help you?" the man then started to describe his situation. his car broke down and he had no cash on him, AAA said his last payment never went through, and he lives in vallejo. he just tried walking to the two closest gas stations to see if he could get a tow truck, but they were closed. several times, he would say "i'm not a bum, i'm not asking for a ride. i'm not a freak." and i think he was extremely embarrassed to ask me for help. at one point, he mentioned how he works with computers. he then asked if i knew of any gas stations in berkeley or clsoe to berkeley that he can go to using a bus and i can help him out in some way.
"do you have AAA by any chance?"
"actually, yes i do."
"okay, next question is do you have the time."
"actually, that's what i don't have."
"well, do you think there's any way you can help me out?"
i had a 20 dollar bill, and already feeling guilty for not being able to help him with AAA, i gave it to him. inside, i was cringing. i had just spent 150 dollars in one week for food and groceries... not even a week, 4 days. i was running seriously low on cash, and my checking account was running on fumes. outside, "sure of course! here you go" with a friendly smile.
"wow, you mean there are still good people left in the world?" he told me. i felt so guilty because it was so hard for me to give him money - especially someone who needed it much more badly than i did.
"okay, hey, give me your address and i'll write you a check and mail it to you."
"hehe... it's nothing. don't worry about it."
"okay okay... wow, thanks man.... well what's your name?"
"andy."
"hi, i'm allen" i don't even remember if it was allen. through my head, i was just thinking "i'm running out of money, i'm running out of money."
"okay, well do you go to school here?"
"i just graduated actually..."
"oh wow! that's great. what field?"
"um, biology."
"oh okay. hmm.... okay. do you know reverse-transcriptase?"
"yeah, i'm familiar with RTPCR."
"oh? do you know who discovered it?"
"umm... i'm not really sure, i learned it in class i think."
"well his name is David Baltimore, and he's the head of CalTech. I once met and befriended him when i was in a school called Bronx High School of Science. you ever hear of it?"
i had definitely heard of Bronx Sci... it's one of the most prestigious high schools in the country. i was very impresed by this man.
"yeah! i'm from Jersey actually, so i definitely know it."
"oh? that's cool. well, i had to once organize a composium and at the time, he had just won a nobel, so i asked him if he could come. everyone doubted that he would ever show up, but he showed up and i met him and talked with him. and ever since, we've been friends."
"wow, that's really amazing. that's awesome."

after that, we had a few short words and then both left in our own direction. i thought, "wow. this guy went to bronx sci... wow... he's really smart..." aileen joked how i should have used him to get a better job. then it hit me.
"wait a minute. what's a guy that smart doing without any money? shouldn't he have at least a credit card?"
aileen said, "maybe he couldn't get one because he has bad credit."
"no, he had a cell phone, and you need at least okay credit to get a cell phone... AND he obviously has a checking account, which would mean an ATM card... did i just get jipped?"
aileen shrugged... as she always does.
"nah, i couldn't have gotten jipped. i don't want to act like i did. he seemed cool and honest, he knew what reverse transcriptase was, i think he just really needed some help. he probably was low on money since his last payment of AAA didn't go through..." and kept on reasoning things out. the night continued without a hitch.

at the end of it, i'm glad that i gave him money, because it would totally suck for him to be stuck in berkeley late at night with no way out of his situation. i hope he's doing okay.