Day Four: Austin

I know, I know, I'm now three days late, get over it. On Thursday we decided to venture down to the O.S.U. campus. We set up the table right outside the fitness center where we thought would be a primo spot because of the bus traffic and the high concentration of people going in and out of the gym. Boy were we wrong. Our first question came in a record 5 minutes. We were approached by two guys, one who also had a camera. We quickly explained what we were doing and then he asked us to wait while he set up his camera. I got really excited, I thought we were going to be on the news or in some cool documentary. So the guy with the camera directs his friend to approach the stand and ask a question: "How do I improve my credit score?" Sam and I looked at one another, fumbling with what to say and advertising our blatant ignorance. So they did a second take and told us to say something around the lines of using protection when we file a credit card report, I'm not too sure. So our first question was a shot for commercial, which was exciting and new, but it was the only question we received for an hour and a half (ball park).

We were invisible to the O.S.U. students. They would look at our sign make some movement of the eyebrows, and then quickly fix their gaze back to the ground. It seemed as if there were secrets or beautiful works of art etched into the pavement because people studied it as if it were scripture. It even got to the point where we would say "any question you want, really" when they even glanced at the sign, but we were still ignored or denied.

However, we did meet one of my favorite people so far in this location. Her name is Denise, she's a grad student at Ohio State and she's working on a double degree, that means double the work in the same amount of time. She found her way into the army reserves after what she told us was 12 years of total wandering. She said she could take the years from 19-31 and burn them all away and there would be no change. "You can always make more money, you can always get back in shape, but you can never get back the time you've spent." Wise words from someone who feels like she has a lot of regrets in her life. She said she lacked a direction, lacked a focus, and because of that she spent a lot of time wandering, not knowing what to do with her life. It was too bad we didn't get to talk with her longer because her ride came and she had to go (oddly enough her ride was Academy alum from the class of 96'). Denise also gave us a lot of great advice and encouragement, thanks Denise.