"At least it gets you out in the open air."

I've been meaning to get back in touch with people again after my long hibernation. Over a week ago, I'd looked up a co-worker from That Awful Place I Used To Work At and been startled to find that he's living on my very street. Well, technically. rollick lives on my street. Then the street ends, starts up again after three blocks, jogs, and who knows what happens to it next. In any case, he must be living very near me.

He's still at TAPIUTWA, though he's hoping to get a full-time position with the needle-exchange service he volunteers for in Uptown. As he put it, "I hope the job comes through just so I can go to [Jewish Mother Figure] and say, 'I'm leaving to work with heroin addicts for the money'."

After much guffawing, I replied, "Don't oversimplify things. You're also going to work there for the company."

"People talk about manipulative drug users," he said, "but the heroin addicts are more pleasant to deal with than most of the people I work with."