What I learned from William Today

So working in a coffee shop I meet a lot of really unique characters. One of my very favorite regulars, William, is no different. I'm pretty confident that if you compared how much time he and I spend there, he just might be there as many hours a week as I am. He is there everyday regardless of weather, holidays, or circumstance. He's more reliable than the postal service.

William is quiet and keeps to himself. He drinks the same thing everyday. He reads the NY Times daily and says that he will be the last man in the world reading a printed paper before they abandon them for the online version and I believe him. He reads book after book, all various content. He skips from website to website, spending as much time as a kid would with A.D.D in a room filled with midgets and clowns trying to recite a poem. He types away on his laptop cleverly adorned with a skin of Snow White holding the Apple logo.

I've been told that William is a writer. That he has successfully published a couple of screenplays. I've also been told that he was at one time some kind of super genius scientist. The only evidence that I have of either of these is what he has mentioned briefly in conversation. You take what you can get with William because if there is anything that he is a master of, it is his ninja like skill of turning any conversation to anything or anyone other than himself .

I LOVE talking to William. He is easily one of the smartest people I have ever encountered. Regardless of the topic of conversation, he has first hand knowledge. He's been everywhere (most places more than once) and seen everything.

Today, we were discussing how Downtown Knoxville seems to be broken up into 3 distinct sections. Market Square/Downtown, the 100 block of Gay Street, and The Old City. For whatever reason it seems that people don't really walk from one to the other. We decided it was because there is a slight incline from one to the other. During this chat, I mentioned a new restaurant moving into the Old City. It is located where the Knoxville Cigar Company failed to succeed. William says, "Did you know that that space was the first place in Knoxville to play silent films?" Of course I didn't. He wasn't positive of the year, but he thought it dated back to 1914. Only William would know that.

And that is what I learned from William today.