the crazy guy
When I checked into the BaxPax, there was a single (non bunk) bed that no one had taken. Amazing! I soon found out why. It was next to the crazy guy. Approximately 45 years old, he spent most of the day sitting on the bed staring into space. The other hostel people said he never talked to anyone before I came. But for whatever reason he took a liking to me...
Me: So, where are you from?
Him: Here and there.
Me: Where were you born?
Him: I've been a lot of places.
Me: Uh... you still haven't said where you're from.
Him: The Ford Motor Company cranked me out with the Model T.
Me: Right. So how long are you in Berlin?
Him: I'm here to sell my ideas.
Me: What kind of ideas?
Him: Ideas about alternative energy, and how to make solar power without the sun. You could use a cigarrette lighter to power a TV. But people don't want to accept my ideas. The professors in the universities, they won't teach anyone about my ideas. But I can't tell you about them. I run out of steam in my voice. You can look at my websites.
Me: Hmm, that sounds a little crazy.
Him: Yeah, you wouldn't believe how people look at my ideas askance. They're not open to new concepts.
...later...
Him: People from your generation inspire me for my work, because my ideas will benefit your generation mostly. But I think I need to find a room. People your age don't like me to stay here for more than a week or two.
Me: Oh, so you're looking for an apartment?
Him: Well, I have to find someplace else to stay, because people are watching me. I'm the most famous man in the world because of my ideas. I attract a lot of attention. I'm very famous. They watch me and listen to my conversations all the time, even right now.
Me: Hey, that sounds exactly like paranoid schizophrenia. You know, people imagine someone is watching them?
Him: (pause) Yeah, but this is reality.
Don't worry, this man doesn't have any of my contact information. I taught him how to do Sudoku so he wouldn't just be sitting there staring into space. This is what he did with it:
His websites actually exist and they have pictures of his ideas. I think they mostly involve powering light bulbs with solar panels and then shining the light bulbs back on the solar panels. There are some pictures here:
http://www.xanga.com/newpower3
And here is another site: http://www.geocities.com/muzic50/hydrogen
Well, I wanted to do more crazy stuff on this leg of the trip...
posted by karenlikescereal @ 10:25 a. m.
4 Comments:
Umm.. laws of physics? Didn't anyone explain to this man the law of conservation of energy and the nonexistence of perpetual motion machines?
The Sudoku picture is intriguing.. I wonder how screwed up you have to be in your head to do something like that.. the kind of bizarre logic that he used.
So does this mean you got the job you were holding out for?
-Peter
Actually, he started to do the Sudoku, but then when he realized he'd made mistakes he gave up and turned it into an "art project." And no, I didn't get the job I was holding out for (although they also haven't said no.) I was just working on the post for a couple of days because I hadn't taken the Sudoku photo.
blahahahha
I can't believe you actually suggested that he's schitzo. I'd be afraid he might try to strangle you in your sleep. Be careful!
You meet weird people in hostels. At the Marlborough there was this guy who claimed to be a professor of english lit but had never heard of The Road to Wigan Pier and didn't know that Sicily was in Italy.
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