Downtown Adventures with Logan!

***note***
So, Logan convinced me that Xanga would be better for a blog, because you get more traffic, and more publicity, and more access to other blogs. My problem comes in because

1. Most other blogs are trash
2. The good ones like one I read yesterday are compiled by people who think it's a good idea to add a picture to a blog post about the helpfulness of internet filters, and that picture is a guy looking at a playboy cover on a computer. And you can see the playboy cover! Arg!
3. The kind of traffic i'm looking for on my blog is not from BettyLopez telling me that she wants to "get to know me better." *gag* and on top of that, it was probably spam. gag spam.

so that is my reasoning for switching back to Blogger. But i liked my post, so I have it here.

*****

Today was a good day to be the subject of my first xanga blog post.

I was sitting on my behind all day staring at my computer screen, on Facebook, just like usual, when i noticed my friend Logan's status: "Fountain area across the library in downtown is enjoyable. Good place to read, relax, enjoy sun and mooch off the library's WiFi. Join me?" It sounded like a great time to me! So after a series of events to coordinate my leaving, off I went to downtown!

Parking in downtown Grand Rapids is an interesting experience, although i managed to find a spot nice and close to the library. Unfortunately, parallel parking a 15 passenger van is no picnic. After scootching back and forth about 7 times, i managed to get into the spot. Parking is free after 5, so i was happy about that.

Logan had said he would meet me in the café upstairs in the Grand Rapids Main Library. So I got to the third floor, after passing a group of teens rehearsing a choreography number. Logan was nowhere to be seen, but there was a signature Cornerstone laptop sitting at the table, so I parked my own Cornerstone laptop at a table next to it. Logan arrived shortly after I sat down. After a confusing moment of him getting his laptop mixed up with mine, he showed me the message on his laptop screen that had been hidden when his screen went black from inactivity. It said "BRB Thaddaeus" but, i had assumed as much.

Once we were settled in we had a good time chatting about life, twitter, and our favorite youtubers. Chris popped up on Skype, so we had a nice, slightly confusing chat about cows and chocolate milk and tuition and the like.

At about quarter to nine, the intercom started making announcements about the library closing, so we decided to pack up and move to the park outside the library. It's really pretty, it has a nice fountain, and a large population of skateboarders. They weren't so pretty, but they were decent at what they did. We both unpacked our laptops, and realized that we had been using our batteries in the cafe, and now our batteries were dead when we needed them. So, we decided to find a coffee shop or something with WiFi and outlets.

We got halfway out of the park when this guy, mid to late 20's ish stopped and asked if we "had like a dollar." He was most definitely slightly intoxicated. His story confirmed this. Apparently he and his friend, who wandered up later rolling up some white paper with some leaves in it... yeah... had come from Muskegon on a bus to go to a party. They had partied it up at the BOB, the guy I was talking to had gotten "blacked out drunk" and woken up at 2 this afternoon. They just needed a few more dollars for their bus fare back to Muskegon. I'm pretty sure that they were telling the truth, since his friend made it obvious that they didn't need the money for drugs, they had plenty. So, I decided that this was a"Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you" moment (Matt 38:42), and not a "If a man will not work, he shall not eat" moment (2 Thessalonians 3:10), and gave him the last 5 dollars he needed for his bus fare. At least I hope it was his bus fare. I'm thinking it was. Oh, and Logan gave him the 20 cents he had left in his pocket.

After that, we went on our coffee house quest. We were looking for the Biggby on Monroe Central, so I decided to head towards where I thought Rosa Parks Circle was. As we were walking, we heard some loud music. "Oh yeah," I said to Logan "If we stay too late we'll end up running into the Clubbing crowd." "I'd rather not stick around for the clubbing crowd" he replied. I had to agree. So we kept walking. But as we kept walking, the music got louder and louder. Pretty soon I could pick out the melody. Thriller, by the late great say-nothing-but-good-about-the-dead Michael Jackson. Logan speculated that it was coming from Rosa Parks Circle. We found out that it definitely was. There were a bunch of people gathered there, and finally it clicked. It's Tuesday night! And all the swingdancers were lined up in a group doing the Thriller dance. After that the swing music started up again and I saw how great it was. I really want to do that this year, it looks like a blast.

We met a few of Logan's friends who were there, and then we finally managed to find a little coffee shop run by a guy with a sweet accent, and it had WiFi! So we sat down and plugged in, and I let the poor abandoned on skype Chris know we weren't dead. So we continued what we started in the library, I started my Xanga, and drank my iced hot chocolate, which is delicious. Then a bubble popped up that said i should plug in my computer. Weird, i had it plugged in. But sure enough, the green light on the cord was not green. Bother. No power. Me and Logan passed his back and forth, which tided us over, and then we realized it was definitely getting dark and late. And plus, the coffee shop was closing. And we didn't really know how to get back. After going around the block and ending up back at Rosa Parks, we found a way back. Much simpler than the way we came, to be honest. We felt kind of silly, but now we know the extremely easy way how to get from the Library to Rosa Parks circle and back. Those are two great places, so it should come in handy.

I found my way back to my car, and Logan went to his bus stop. My judgement was clouded by a very full bladder, or else i would have offered him a ride home. But, hindsight is 20/20.

Now I'm here, not being able to sleep, and posting to my new Xanga blog. It was a good day. Let's do it again, @logan_nguyen!