3/10/02

Friday was one of those days when weird things kept happening to me. In the afternoon, I got this e-mail from my friend Jin-Sae:

Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 14:51:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Jin-Sae
To: Jennifer Wade
Subject: Bulletin (fwd)

Why'd you have to kick me like that?

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA San Francisco POLICE DEPARTMENT
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On March 8, 2002 at about 9:56 AM an employee was waiting in a shuttle kiosk in front of [building where I work]. The employee noticed an Asian male who was standing in the kiosk looking at the schedule. The employee noticed the suspect acting odd. The employee then saw that the suspect had exposed himself.

The employee kicked the suspect in the lower left leg area as she left the kiosk. After leaving the kiosk she notified UCPD of the incident. The suspect was seen running eastbound on Parnassus.

The suspect is described as an Asian male, 25-30 years old, 5' 5", 125 lbs., short straight black hair, brown eyes, and clean-shaven. The suspect was last seen wearing a green long sleeve shirt, navy blue vest, and jeans.Anyone with information regarding this or similar situations are encouraged to contact UCSF Police and Reference UCPD Case # 200203022

Ronald D. Nelson Chief of Police

Anyway, after I got the e-mail, I left the lab to go do an errand in another building. As I walked towards the exit, I thought to myself "wow, that was kind of mean of her to kick him!" After all, the building where I work is a psychiatric hospital--he was probably some crazy guy who didn't know what he was doing, and then this woman just comes up and kicks him! Anyway, as these thoughts ran through my mind, I neared the entrance to the next building I was going into. I looked up and saw a shabbily-dressed man standing right outside the building's entrance...openly urinating into a planter! (He wasn't the same guy described in the bulletin--this guy was tall and caucasian)

I wasn't the only one who noticed the man's behavior--it was a busy Friday afternoon, and there were people all around. When I got in the building, another woman and I looked around briefly for a security guard, but we couldn't find one. Eventually, we figured that the guy was probably gone, and went on our respective ways. Anyway, it just seemed like people were exposing themselves all over the place.

A couple of hours later, I had another strange experience while taking an elevator on my way home from work. The elevator goes through a campus parking garage where many patients park their cars while they're being seen on campus. The elevator was crowded, as always, and when we got on, one older woman looked confusedly at the buttons, and then called out "I need floor G! I can't see the buttons, can someone do it for me?" I pushed G for her and then stepped back.

As the elevator descended, it slowly occurred to me that this woman was alone, that she was going to a parking garage and that she was practically blind. It struck me as a bad combination. "Maybe she's been to see an opthamologist, and he put something in her eyes, and she doesn't realize how impaired her vision is!" I thought. I pondered over whether I should say something to her as she blindly fished in her purse and pulled out car keys.

But then, much to my relief, she also pulled out a pair of glasses. "Should have worn my glasses!" she said jovially, "how silly of me!" I breathed a sigh of relief.

The elevator stopped at floor G. She had her glasses on at this point, but she didn't move. "Um, this is G" I told her. She headed for her car, and I don't know what happened to her after that...

The rest of my weekend was pretty good, although uneventful. I went to the symphony with Phil on Friday night, which was excellent. I also had a productive and pleasant day on Saturday--I managed to clean my apartment and do my laundry. Saturday night, Jin-Sae and I watched "The Fast and the Furious" on video, which I'd been wanting to see ever since it came out. It did not disappoint. And then today, the weather was beautiful, so I drove over to Berkeley. I hadn't been there in a long time, and I don't think I'd ever driven there before. I didn't stay long, though--I mostly just went because I wanted to drive somewhere.