11/9/24-- Slow walk, brought on by hunger. Lit a Chunghwa and didn't get very far before I was stopped and asked for assistance. A thirty minute odyssey not knowing how to help. At the corner of Lincoln and Nevada, just a block away from where I started. She noticed my Chinese cigarettes and laughed a little. I explained how they were brought back for me by my friend and how I liked their plum smell. On the phone with redirections and holds. No sense of urgency in these faceless spaces. I was almost at the finish line when my efforts were rendered obsolete. Another resident coming home. In the end it was only my presence and willingness that helped at all. I was thanked and received some Lays "Italian red meat" potato chips and some coconut milk as gifts, both delicious. I continued on my way, as the hunger had not subsided, carrying my spoils in my arms and feeling grateful.