Odd way to end the afternoon of the horrible morning.

That same day that my work was effed, I couldn't get much done because I was so sleepy - morning language work was okay, couldn't write with crap, my mind wandered when I was trying to study at home.

So, that afternoon, I biked early towards downtown - there was a 6:30pm concert I was going to - and stopped off at this beautiful park coffee shop in the old money part of town to study with my books for a couple hours.

I shared a table with this thin bearded (white) (tanned) guy with sunglasses and a pug named Vince, and he turned out to be a 69yo retired advertising executive who lived a long-time in the neighborhood and knew a ton of people walking by.

I didn't find that out at first, though; rather, he started telling me about how he had lost 7lbs over the past 4 days from a new diet he was on, where he was living on sushi and white wine.

Later, he was telling me about the ad business, and how he gets a lot of ideas when working out, and though it's just lists of 2-3 phrases composed of common words, it's a lot more difficult than you would think.

"Imported from Detroit," he was like. "Three words, but it says it all. That's tough."

Then, he looked out into space.

Then, "The other white meat," he was like. "It seems simple, but it's not. That made pork sales jump 80%... The guy who thought that up is a friend of mine, it made him millions. Suddenly everyone's thinking about pork. But, you're associating it with chicken, like it's healthy and good for you, and suddenly everyone wants to eat it."

Then, he looked out into space.

Then, "Unless, you're a Jew or a Muslim," he was like.

He also was telling me about how he's done some comedy-writing, and this guy who stopped by to greet him used to open up for Sinatra for 18 years, whenever he was in town.

He also told me about how he lived in a bad part of Detroit during the late 70s and early 80s, and pimps used to throw prostitutes off the tops of buildings when they were done with them.

Later, he got up to leave - after talking to me for an hour - we said bye, and I told him I'd probably see him again here, because I like coming to that park to have a coffee and study, especially when it's a nice day and I'm going downtown for something.

"Isn't it a great park?", he was like, as he got up and unevenly, unhurridly moseyed off, with his pug behind him. "It's our little piazza here," and he said the geminate z as if he was speaking Italian.