So I don’t play XBOX 360 as much as I played in the past. I decided to run to EB Games and try a snag the newest Halo 3 video game to write a review. Armed with two handful of quarters, I glance to see an available copy. Like a stealth Ninja, I managed to out maneuver a kick-boxing soccer mom, a dread head whom hasn’t bath in two years, and a nerd drolling over the game like it was his first kiss. Only to come back with a demo box….

A demo box…you know, those empty packages that look and feel just like the game. I thought I had hit the jackpot today on last weeks lottery. So, bling! It hits me, my XBOX 360 is broken anyways, I got the red ring of death. My staff tried putting it in the freezer to help the glue from the heat sink or fan glue back together. Didn’t work, well it worked for 5 minutes then back to the red death star.

I decide to go ahead and price out some PS2’s for our Madden Monday’s Tournament we host. The lady behind me, had a little dog that probably ate its on fecal matter, in her arms, read the back of my shirt,”The Unknown Gamer….MMO Accounts….TUG”, hey I have seen that shirt before. Some homeless guy asked me for change wearing one of those. Are you homeless?” Though I was dress down for the occasion of buying a video game. I didn’t look homeless. So I quickly replied, “No. I passed out this t-shirt to the homeless about several months ago.” “So you are a pan handler then?”, she asked in a clueless country tone. I just bought my game and left. Respect your hearless elders right?

Is there a difference between homeless and pan handling?. The Pan Handlers that tour of office street across from NC State make more money than the professors probably do. One chick even talks funny on purpose but if you catch her sometimes, she has a better voice than I do.

NC State had a “Shack-a-thon” on campus this month. They built shacks on the main brickyard area in front of the main library and panhandled, danced, and probably did whatever possible to get money out of people for 24 hours straight. They raised over $25,885 (Article Link).

See, if the pan handlers asked for change with a staged act involving dancing and shows, then the social benefit for the country is higher because we’re entertained. When I was in Seattle for PAX this year, there was a paint bucket drummer, off beat badly but great energy. Everything he did, he did it with intensity. If he was off but he was off with a smile. Gave him 10 bucks.

Maybe the difference between pan handling and homeless is like the game versus the demo box. Both look like each other on the outside but one has entertainment substance inside. Let’s teach the homeless how to play the paint bucket drums or live instruments. Then we could have live music everywhere.

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