Found myself lower than usual on money lately, and so I had to go back to my usual spot to shake the cup for awhile.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my time as a man of the street, its that you got to know where to go if you expect to make any kinda money begging.  The whole southside just isn’t any good cause they got no money to give you.  Problem is, the rich folks up north, they don’t want to give you even a dime.  So you gotta find the middle ground.  On days when the Cubs play, I go to the Addison street L station.  It’s hard sneaking by the turnstiles, the tricky part is waiting for the CTA people to change their shift, then you got less than a minute to make your move.  But once your up on the platform on game day, man the gettin’ is good.

Note from Mrs. G: I grew up on the southside, but my parents were both from up north and they raised me as a Cub fan.  Mark claims to be a fan of both teams, but I think the generosity of Cub fans outside Wrigley sways him a bit towards our side.  Go Cubs!

I went back to the park today.  For a while I just sat on a bench and watched people.  I aint any kind of creep or anything like that, I just enjoy watching people live life.  A man came up to me and asked me if I had the time.  I kinda laughed and said “Brother, do I look like a watch carryin’ man to you?”  I think he took a little offense to it but I didn’t mean any.  I got a look at that big mirror bean they got at the park.  All sorts of people taking their picture with that thing, or taking pictures of them in it.  I don’t claim to know much about art, but I aint real sure whats so artistic about a big bean.  I looked at myself in it for a while, see if I could see anything artistic about it in me.  Just saw a bean.

Note from Mrs. W: “The Bean” as it’s referred to by locals, cost the city of Chicago and it’s taxpayers 23 million dollars.  It’s nice to look at, but I don’t care much for spending 23 million dollars on a giant metal “piece of art.”