caffine & Happy Man

I should not drink coffee in order to stay awake for my night class... But I do anyways. And today, I had a nap. Therefore, I can't sleep right now. On top of my high energy, I have a persistent cough. It doesn't even hurt - it's just annoying. So being that I have some time on my hands, I lay in bed with my computer. I day-dream. I check facebook (& maybe I did creep some of the highlights in the news feed). I turn out my light. I talk to God. I cuddle with Mitch (the penguin). I then start talking to Jude (in a very realistic way) and realize I probably am not falling asleep any time soon.
I feel like I did when I was a little girl. You're tired all day and then as soon as mom says it's bed time, you are wide awake. Les and I used to sleep in the same bed all the time and I remember falling asleep was the last thing we could do. Especially when we had babysitters. We would just talk and play and laugh and tell stories and one favorite game was seeing who could shoot little balls of wool out of their nostril the farthest. Very entertaining, indeed. I feel like that right now.

So I am going to write a blog about the black man with dreds who sits on St. Ninians Street. I don't really get it but this is a route I walk to school every day. I've never talked to the black man with dreds who sits on St. Ninians Street (for the purpose of this blog, I shall call him HM, short for Happy Man because he's, well, a happy man), but that never stops him from making the effort... and neither does the fact that I purposely walk on the opposite side of the street.
HM literally sits out on his patio all day on St. Ninians. I don't know his purpose in life - if he's a student or if he's working full time, part time, or if he's just a lazy ass bum who has a trust fund. All I know is that I can count on him being on his patio 80% of the time. Another 10%, he's walking around in front of his patio. It's a pretty busy street, St. Ninians, because the students use it a lot for their comings and goings.
And in addition to his consistency of being on his patio, he also seems to consistently be happy, loud, and extremely willing to meet people. As people walk by he just starts talking to them, very loudly. Like I said, I walk on the other side of the street, yet he still yells from across the traffic "Are you having a good day?!" "Keep smiling!"
Haha I don't understand his intentions. Others have told me he offers them beer and I can usually hear some reggae music coming from inside of his little bungalo house.
I guess the reason I write about him is because while he's odd, he makes me very curious. He strikes a chord with me that no one ever has. I mean we all have seen people who siton the streets just talking to randoms because they want some company. But something tells me that HM is different. I feel like his efforts are for the sake of others. I wonder what life would be like if we all slowed down and like HM just told people to smile. Left notes under people's books, and bought an extra cookie for the person behind you in the line up. It makes me happy to think that some people aren't caught up in gain or in fortune. But just in people, in happiness, in smiling, in living and enjoying and slowing down to take in all that oxygen and be thankful for it. I am happy HM has inspired me to try to do that more... even though I am way too scared to talk to him.