So a guy walks into a bar...

Last night I didn't get home from work until about 9:30 so I decided to stop into the brewpub right around the corner from me for dinner. There was a few open seats at the bar, and after scanning the crowd I found the perfect guy to sit next to- a middle aged man with long hair, a bad suit, and a fisherman's hat who was smelling his own hair. Why would I sit next to the craziest looking guy in the place? Because while 50% of normal looking people have something interesting, intelligent, or fun to say; about 90% about crazy looking people have something entertaining to say.

This leads me to the point of this post. I see a lot of odd people walking around DC. There are different people in every city across the world, but because I walk a lot of places and always take public transit I see (and sometimes meet) a lot of interesting people. Here's a list of a few interesting ones:

• Going downstairs to workout one day the elevator opened to an old man in a tweed suit and bowtie who was on a Segway! I don't know proper Segway etiquette but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to ride them indoors. 
• While walking to the metro I saw an older woman with long gray hair wearing a short skirt and super bright multicolored tights. I assume she was some sort of burnt out flower child who is now an NPR executive.
• Then there are the numerous people who walk down the street singing at the top of their lungs. What a strange activity. Most of them don't even have headphones in. They're just loving life. Good for them.
• I was taking a cab to a bookstore a couple of weekends ago and my cab driver was extremely well read. After I told him I was going to a bookstore he handed me the pile of books he was reading. They were mostly on foreign affairs and policy. I asked him about one because I didn't recognize the subject: The Republic of Biafra. He proceeded to explain to me the history of Nigeria and the late 60s Nigerian Civil War. Interesting conversation. I tipped him well. 

Oh and the hair-smeller at the bar? Besides an uncanny voice resemblance to the famous movie reviewer, Gene Shalit, he wasn't that interesting. He did spend most of my short stay throwing ice cubes from his glass into the trashcan behind the bar-I'll count that as "entertaining".