Among the housebound agoraphobes on the string there has been some debate as to whether I am a magnet, or just more observant than most of the bizarre shit that happens every day all around every one of us.  I was contemplating this question after getting in my uber when I looked out the window and saw a buck naked homeless man with an 18-inch penis taking a dump in a flower bed.  I fumbled for my phone to take a picture or video, but was too late.

I thought – well maybe I am a magnet.  I had just witnessed a homeless man with porn worthy junk crapping in the flowers.  But that’s not really the answer I was looking for, so I did some digging (not in the flowers, but on the internet).  It turns out that my newly adopted city of San Francisco has the most homeless people per capita (well maybe second most).   Also, my particular neighborhood has the highest concentration of homeless people in the city with the most homeless people in the country (maybe second most).  On my block there is a methadone treatment center and the two largest weed dispensaries in San Francisco.

As I thought about it I realized that there is a lot of human shit on the street when I walk to the train.  There is a solid urine river down the stairs to the train station, and it is not uncommon to see people shooting heroin in the tunnel.  I knew all this when I rented the apartment, but thought it was okay because SeaDick let his daughter rent an apartment across the street.

I think that the answer to the question of whether I am a magnet or more observant can’t be definitively answered one way or there other.  By deliberately choosing to live next door to the methadone clinic I put myself in a position to see the freak shitting in the flowers.

There are other neighborhoods I could live in.  I am glad I live in the tenderloin.  Put yourself in a weird situation, preferably with a real chance for something bad to happen, and open your eyes.  You don’t really need to be that perceptive to be a magnet.