I was walking down the north side of Haldon St when I started hearing someone behind me yell out oi lad, lad, wassup lad. I knew they were talking to me but pretended I couldn't hear. I stopped outside Hop Hung Asian Grocery and the two guys calling out to me caught up. One of them asked hey lad what you doing? I said just buying some food. He said where you from? I said from around here. He said I'm from the area bro I never seen you before. I said bro I'm from the area. He asked me are you aussie. I said I'm Italian what about you? He said I'm Lebanese bro. I looked at his quiet friend and said are you Lebo too bro? He said yeah.yeah. The one talking a lot asked me where I'm from. I said from the area bro, up Croydon st. He said I never seen you come for a walk with us I'll show you something. I said nah I'm just buying some food. He asked if I smoked weed I said nah. He said come on bro I know you do. I said nah I don't. He said come on bro I can get you some, anything you want, weed, coke, I can get you coke bro, I can get you m. I said nah bro that's not me. He said oi bro take my number. He pulled his phone out and I pulled out mine. He read his number from an sms convo and I saved it. He said to save it under o-m-z. He said can you give us a ten bro, II see your wallet fat in your back pocket. I said nah bro I need it to buy food. He said come on bro I see them fiddies poking out the top. I said nah bro what are you talking about I got no fiddies bro. He said alright bro let me know if you need anything. He and the quiet one then walked off down the road.I'm sitting outside on a milk crate on Ragland St in Waterloo reading Richard Yates and having a cigarette with my coffee. I enjoy being on Ragland st by myself because it's on the cusp of Waterloo and Redfern and there are always interesting characters who walk past. I'm sitting on a strip between FBi, the local pub and its neigh-bouring liquor store, half reading my book, half staring at passers by. A mixture of young hipster types and older people in pyjamas who have that look of ageing a lot in a short period, walking their mutt dogs and their white bread back to their housing commission complex which is just down the road. I sit with my tao lin book and my coffee and my ciga-rette and know I'm part of the former category, feeling a neutral complicty in the area's well established gentrification. A lot of 20something skinny white boys in tattoos and head-to-toe Nike stride past and stare at me. I stare back. I know they deal. This one time I saw three of them huddled together outside a newsagency. One of them was handing the others newly purchased brick-phones.  A group of 3 middle-aged asian women walk past, engaged in conversation. It sounds abrasive and abrupt. "Chinese," I think to myself as I continue reading my book. Dakota Fanning and Haley Joel Osment are in Dakota's bed be-neath the covers, sharing their first kiss. Haley Joel Osmont, a pseudonym for Tao Lin, is paranoid about Dakota's mother walking in and discovering his presence in her daughter's bed. I am pondering the morality of a 24 year old being romantically involved with a 16 year old when a voice calls out to me,  - Scuse me, love. I look up to see an overweight, mous-tache-d man in grey sweatpants and a flannel shirt, half-buttoned. On his arm is a leash at-tached to a small white maltese-esque dog. I recognise the man as someone from the area and someone I'd interacted with on multiple occasions. He is always in grey sweatpants and a flannel shirt, half-buttoned, accompanied by his small white maltese-esque dog.  -Sorry to interrupt, love, but could you spare me thirty cents? I smiled at him, amused -Thirty cents? That's specific, why only thirty cents? - I need a dollar to buy a cigarette, I got seventy cents, I just gotta get another thirty - Do you want me to roll you one for free? - A dollar for a cigarette over at that place over there. Tailor made. One dollar. - Do you smoke rollies? I can give you one.- Aw, yeah, nah, I just need thirty cents. I want a tailored one from that place over there 'cause I break it up and roll them myself  - Okay. aI rummage through my bag and find a shiny dollar coin and hold it out to him. - Aw, a dollar? I'll come back and give you change. I smile at him, amused. - Nah, it's all yours. A whole dollar. - Aw, thanks, love. You have a lovely day.  I watch him as he bustles down the road with his dollar and his small white maltese-esque dog. He stops next to a woman sitting at a table out the front of small white maltese-esque dog. He stops next to a woman sitting at a table out the front of the cafe where I got my coffee. I see her look up at him and shake her head. I smile to myself, amused, wondering if he was asking her for thirty cents to buy a cigarette. 

a visual essay

aivan nguyen

everything that follows this has either been taken with or written on an iphone 5s

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