Hey Polo here,
In late June Marco,Tex, and I were in Colorado (Yay Rocky Mountains!!!) while on this trip we took a day to spend in Denver (the Capitol city), we spent the day walking 16th street (a large outdoor mall). There really isn't too much to do on 16th street when you're a bunch of poor college students who have rent and car payments to make... Not to mention the tuition. Therefore we just walked up and down the street looking at the different shops and more importantly the different people. Now for those of you who have never been to Denver it is stock full of crazies (for the most part they're completely harmless), this includes street musicians, protestors, advocates, magicians, and if you're lucky the robot-man. We weren't lucky enough for the robot-man but we did run into an advocate and a magician. We spent almost half an hour talking with a woman who was trying to get people to sponsor underprivileged children in different countries. You know the type, the people who stand out in the middle of a busy sidewalk and ask you for just a moment of your time... Well she was one of those, she told us it would only take a few minutes but then we kept talking about our lives, what we were studying, how we lived, etc. She was one of those people who told us no excuse was good enough not to help an underprivileged child. And us, we decided to sponsor a child in Zambia, as a house, so the hobo house now has a child we are helping (more information to come). Marco here, I'd just like to chime in and say that she was impressive in not letting us have an excuse to say no. By the end of our conversation I didn't just feel like we said yes so that we could leave, I felt like we said yes because she had convinced us that it was the right thing to do! Later that day we decided to stop and watch a street magician *excuse me* illusionist (Tex loves street shows, used to watch them in New Orleans), he was hilarious and fairly decent. There was a lot of slight of hand, a ton of crude jokes, and a little magic. Now I know I know, as a scientist I shouldn't (and mostly don't) believe in magic, but there has always been a tiny part of my mind (the part that died a little when I turned eleven) that has inexplicably believed in some sort of magic out there (even if it is just in a conman with a talent for theatrics). Either way the guy, Garret DePass, was brilliant and hilarious. Marco here again, I second the brilliant and hilarious part. This guy had me laughing or too shocked to laugh the whole time, including when he posed for a picture by growling and saying "I'm a sexy magic tiger!" Also, I think we need to mention that the guy hammered a 4 inch nail up his nose, it was intense!
If interested in sponsoring you're very own underprivileged child check out:
http://www2.children.org/en/us/Pages/Home.aspx
Or in a little magic and illusion:
www.depassmagic.com
Till next time, Stay Nerdy!
-Polo
