Ash Wednesday! Random Encounters Of The Randomized Kind?

Written By: Ash Catcher 
I used to play this game as a kid called ToeJam and Earl, this had one of the tightest funkiest soundtracks for a video game at the time. ( early 2000s) Any way I played WAY to many hours of this game, and so when I got to this one level where I had to fuck up a baby medusa, I got all my gifts randomized  and everything turned kinda sorta to shit so this is gonna be a little blurb, blog I am not too sure what these Ash Wednesdays are becoming or will become so without further ado lets move on to some of my more random encounters: ​

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I have a kinda funny one, I was just recently abstaining from alcohol and really wanted to check out this goat yoga program, it was kinda sort of trending for the time at least I want to say this was mid 2019 maybe. It was at a brewery so I decided to go with my friend at the time, the kicker was it was 50 bucks but it's okay cause it comes with two beers! COOL GREAT AWESOME. Except I am not going to drink them so I had to embarrassedly raise my hand in a room full of people, yoga mats, and various goats in pajamas that I was volunteering my two beers and was going to actual them off to the highest “bidder” I got exactly 25 dollars for each beer, I essentially had a free goat yoga class, all because I wasn’t going to drink an IPA. Sounds like a win to me! 

Clearly I missed that whole day in school where they said never to talk to strangers, well how else do you meet people? I am a firm believer you meet people IN this lifetime for a reason. Nothing is ever an accident, everything is divinely guided: Here are some cool individuals I have had the pleasure of meeting, I will be changing their names for the sake of the rest of the post:

Janice: “When I was in college, I was a big sister through Big Brother, Big Sister. I wanted to take my ‘little sister’ to see Hairspray at the Walnut Street Theater, I didn’t have a ton of money at the time and was spending my last dollar on those tickets. When I went to the box office to buy them, I started chatting with the clerk and told him I was bringing my ‘little sister’ to the show. He handed me the tickets and when I went to pay, he refused my card. He said, ‘It’s on me. Just keep doing what you’re doing.’ I never forgot that moment — that quiet act of kindness and generosity. And, years later, I bought a subscription to the theater.”
Candice:  “When I was 12 my best friend and I briefly ran away from home. We took the train from Bristol to Philly. We ran out of food money pretty quick. While standing at a lunch counter looking over the menu and discussing what we could afford, a man leaned over and handed us $10. $10 in 1982 money got us a full meal. We went home that night but I will never forget that guy’s kindness.” 
Mandy: “I once left my wallet on the SEPTA bus on a major route. It had hundreds of dollars in it in gift cards for my event-planning job. The gift cards were donated because we are a nonprofit. I felt so guilty that I lost all of that money. I didn’t think I would get it back but the ENTIRE wallet with ALL of its contents was turned in to the SEPTA station!! Restored my faith in humanity for sure.”
Corrine:  “I realized a block after getting off the trolley that my keys had fallen out of a hole in my coat pocket. Within five minutes, multiple strangers were helping me look and giving advice. After I found my keys and thanked one, she called after me, ‘And get that hole fixed!’
Chris: : “As someone who was commuting every day by train, I was very used to casual racism as almost every other passenger would avoid sitting next to me and other Black males, till every other seat was full; I did make it a point to leave room for anyone who needed a seat. Regardless, one day this white woman sat next to me without a second thought, and plenty of seats were available next to other white individuals. I looked at her with skepticism; this was the first time in two years I had been train commuting that a white person sat with me like that. I decided to start up what was a very pleasant conversation with her. She was from the Midwest and in town for work. We eventually found out that she was on the wrong train and was trying to go to the airport. I offered to have her get off at my stop and I would drive her there. We had a lovely chat all the way there, and she emailed me once home to confirm she made it safely.”

See Ya next Wedneday! 

Ash Catcher