I decided to volunteer during the holidays for the Salvation Army. I was at the Santa Monica shelter today to serve some lunch and help prepare their Thanksgiving dinner. When I arrived, they were still waiting for the turkey. There were rumblings that no one knew how to carve a turkey. I wasn't aware that there was a proper way and had seen my mom do it plenty of times, so I volunteered. It was a complete success and they asked me back for Christmas to carve another one.
There weren't all that many people at the shelter, but everyone was very kind. I can't remember anyone's name, but there was this one guy who came out of the men's area looking pretty disheveled. His hair was longish and a total mess. He was extremely thin and drank a lot of instant coffee. I was carving the turkey when our eyes met. He was checking out one of the dining tables and asked if he could use the table. I told him of course he could (as if I had any say). He explained he would need the entire table.
He proceeded to walk to a back room and returned with a very large electric keyboard. He then went back to fetch a small generator and his laptop computer. I was pretty baffled and then he started running a sequencing program on the laptop, used a microphone for vocals and listened to everything on some cheap headphones. After some alone time, he took off the headphones and played "Imagine" and some Billy Joel song. His playing was impeccable and his voice was really good! I wanted to talk to him, but he wasn't very approachable. Perhaps I'll talk to him when I return for Christmas. I would love to find out more about this guy.
