Justice Center

Well, my car's service engine light is still on, and actually the battery died yesterday for no reason...so I'll be spending my last few weeks in Portland on or, more importantly, waiting for Tri-Met.

Tonight I met a friend for dinner and although the restaurant was on the other side of town, it was just one bus ride away. Dinner was pretty quick and I was feeling lucky because I was actually going to get home on the same transfer (they are good for 2 hours) and not have to buy another ticket. But because the #8 bus line sucks it turned out to be the kind that only went as far as downtown then headed back towards the restaurant (instead of continuing up the hill to where I live). So I had to get off the bus and wait for the one that was going the full route, oh, and by this time my transfer had expired and I'd need to pay for the rest of my ride. Unfortunately I was a nickel short of my fare, so I had to go somewhere and spend money to get some change. Oh Tri-Met....my life would be so dull without you!

Anyway by the time I got back to the stop, I'd missed the full-route #8 and needed to wait for another half hour. Since I had quite a wait I decided to at least go for a little walk down the street wait at another stop. The new stop was right across from the (I kid you not- this is the real name of the building) Justice Center. Which sounds like something out of a comic book. Anyway, I'm standing there waiting for the bus and I notice there are a bunch of people sitting on the steps of the Justice Center, just kinda hanging out. And I think to myself "Why are people hanging out at the Justice Center at 8:30 on a Tuesday night." I mean, it's not like they've got jury duty. Anyway... as I'm pondering this a bus stopped and a man got off and bounded over to a couple of teenaged guys standing nearby and they did the whole "Didn't expect to see you here." kind of greeting... so of course I listened in. ;)

Teen "What are you doing here?"
Man "Oh, my son's in jail, I thought I'd bring him some money."
Teen "He'll appreciate that.... I've been there."
Man "Yeah..."
Teen "Nothing worse than being in jail with no money."

(quick aside here - what exactly does one need money for in jail? Do they get outings to the mall? In any case, at least I know why people were hanging out on the steps of the Justice Center - aka JAIL)

Anyway they go on talking and I notice that they're both holding bibles, and apparently go to the same church. As the teenager's bus comes, the man asks him "You coming on Friday?"
Teen "What's going on."
Man - excitedly "Oh, it's gonna be great - we're getting these two youth groups together and we're gonna have a Power Prayer!"
Teen shouts "All right - I'll be there!" as he gets on the bus.


I don't really have any social commentary on this... other than to say, this is the kind of thing you miss out on when you drive everywhere.