Wisam & Wild Bill

Wow... what a crazy last 24 hours. It's getting back to the foggy chill I remembered, so I'm writing inside today, with the dogs inside the car. I had to get out of Cafe Abir. It was getting too crazy. Too many people. This is Oasis cafe, just 1 block north on Divisadero. The Wi-Fi is better, the coffee is better, and there's less traffic since they are pretty new still. I swear I could write an entire blog about the people the I've met at Cafe Abir. Here's an update of my encounters...

So yesterday I met with Tokjou, who's real name is Anthoni, but I think he likes having an exotic sounding name, as if the "i" at the end of Anthoni isn't exotic enough... He SAID he specializes in marketing and wants to help me with my Photography business. I'm not paying for anything, but I told him I'd do portraits of his yorkie. So I'm not sure if he told me anything I don't already know, but he's a great motivator with a very positive outlook and had a lot of tips for me regarding approaching possible clients and being confidant about what I do.

Allergies killed me yesterday. Nothing worked to control them. This old man told me to get a 365 pack of generic Zyrtec at Cost-co for $15.99. He told me about it several times, and even wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. Another dude told me to try these eye drops that supposedly cure all your allergy symptoms including congestion, sneezing, etc... Couldn't find them at the store. But he told me he'd buy them for me and bring them to the cafe. :) Then there was Obah, a very sweet guy who works at the cafe.

Do you see the trend here? I really don't mean to brag or anything, but since I've been back, I seem to be attracting a lot of male attention. I'm not really sure why. I look like a scummy car dweller. :)

As the day carried on, my allergies never let up. Then a thin, handsome, ethnic guy (couldn't put my finger on what nationality he was) with a thick accent sat next to me. I could tell he was trying to initiate conversation, but I had to get some work done, so i was trying my best to be as disgusting as possible by blowing my nose every 10 seconds. It didn't work. We started talking. Well let me rephrase... HE started talking. Wisam is his name. He's from Morocco, speaks 4 languages, 33 years old, very worldly. He knew a lot about everything. You name it, he knew a lot about world history, geography, politics. Very interesting guy, so outgoing and positive, but a little over the top for me. It was hard to get a word in, he just had so much to say! He took me out for a gyro in the Mission. Then we saw Andrew Zimmern doing his show Bizarre Foods on 16th & Mission, right by the Bart! Not sure what the bizarre food was, I'll have to watch for the episode soon. Wisam said one day he'd like to host a show like Anthony Bourdain's. I told him he'd be perfect for it.

Oh, before I started chatting with Wisam, WIld Bill Peacock, a former dog walking acquaintance, saw me at the cafe and pulled over to say hi. It turns out he's in need of a little help. He's got a small business and has just one other employee working for him. He's got horns on the front of his truck and wears a cowboy hat every day. We met today at the beach to talk about me possibly working for him. I told him about my car dwelling status and he said it'd be okay to drop my stuff at his place before I go to walk dogs. SO I GOT A JOB! I wasn't going to look for work. I figured I'd let it find me, and it did.