020904

 

San Antonio, TX

Monday February 9, 2004

     6:00am  I just woke up. I pulled it off, I went back to sleep! I stayed asleep. I'm so proud of myself. I thought that walk would've thrown off my whole internal sleeping clock. I guess it's because my body needed the rest. My feet don't hurt at all now. They feel great. I wonder what today is. Monday, I think. I'm going to go to school.

     6:56am  I've had a great morning so far. My mom woke up and she's not bitching or anything. I told her about my mouth and how I think I have gum disease or something. She gave me some shit called Melaleuca. It's like some natural antibiotic. She mixed it up with some water and I just gargled it right now. I woke up this morning and put some clothes to dry. My mom washed my thermal last night and a lot of other white clothes. I put them to dry. I made me a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I took a couple shots of Muscleblast 2000. I shaved. Man, I slept good. My feet don't hurt at all. They were aching before I went to sleep. That stuff I gargled with is called T3 Topical Oil. For external use only. As an herbal application for external use only. It's some magical stuff hopefully. I think it's a product for some new pyramid scam my mom's in that she thinks will make her rich someday.

                   I'm almost ready to leave. I got all my shit together. I'm going to go to the backyard, smoke some weed and do some stretches.

     7:10am  I'm taking off. Man, I had a good productive morning. My mom's all being nice to me. She's not bitching, for a change. It's awesome. I think maybe she's finally accepting me.

     7:25am  I just realized it stopped recording on side A. Shit. I'm walking now. I forgot that I meant to go get my cameras developed, so I started walking back. They ended up being in my pocket, so I didn't have to go back in at all. I'm walking to the tennis court in front of Braun Station Elementary to go see if there's a tennis ball waiting for me. If not, I'll walk down to some other tennis courts close to Tezel/Braun. Camino Bandera, I think it's called.

     7:29am  I came over by the elementary school. There's these little kids out here being crossing guards. I walked by them and went, "Hey," and got their attention. I told them, "I'm going to bring world peace. Tell your friends." I gave them the peace sign and I just kept walking. They looked at me all weird.

                   Ah, I don't see any tennis balls. I'm not going to look around. I didn't see one yesterday and I looked everywhere. I even jumped the fence to get in the court because it was locked.

     7:34am  I just walked back across the street where the crossing guards were. When I walked by some lady crossing guard told me, "Wow, you're tall. Do you play basketball? I like your stick." I couldn't stop and talk to her because I was in the street and there were cars waiting. I'm going to cut through the back of the school. I'll walk the powerline trail to Wickersham. I'll turn right and hit Braun Road from there.

     7:39am  I just walked the powerline trail and turned right on Wickersham.

     7:48am  Oh yeah, I have to make an update. The coolest thing. Just sitting out by the sidewalk waiting for the trash to pick up, I found a military-style footlocker.

 

Like a big wooden box. "Hey! I want that!" I grabbed it and I'm going to lug it home on my shoulder and take it to my mom's house. I took a picture of it. The house it was in front of was 8830 Wickersham.

     7:54am  Damnit, I keep losing the tennis ball off my stick. I had to put the box down and go look for it.

                    I dropped it like two blocks away. I'm walking back towards the box now.

     8:05am  I brought my footlocker home. I don't have the key to get inside and my mom's not here. I just set it down in front of the door. I'm going to take off walking again.

                   Damnit, I just lost my tennis ball again. I have to go find it.

     8:06am  Man, that footlocker is badass! Praise Love for that gift. It fell in my lap. That can be my mission-box. I can keep all my stuff in there. I don't have to be carrying around all these papers and receipts and stuff. Just think, if I hadn't cut through the school and walked the powerline trail, if I would've simply walked Tezel to Braun(remember I was going to check the other courts for balls), if I would have done any of that differently, I would not have come across the footlocker. Also, the time I walked by it factors in also. That box was out there to get picked up by the trash man.

                   San Antonio, I am here for a while now. I have lots of work to do.

                   I had a badass morning workout. That's why I love getting up this early in the morning. I have all day to walk and explore. I have so much time. Man, it's awesome that I scored that footlocker. It's all military-style, just like my old boots and my rucksack. I'm a real-life soldier. Everything I get is military stuff.

                   Because I'm on a mission.

                   And you know what they say about a man who spends his life on a mission, right?

     8:22am  The 610 came. I'm going to the Walmart, I think. Oh yeah, I was telling my mom about how I had like sixty dollars cash and told her if she needed some she could use some. She said, "Yes, and when you got your first paycheck you had over a hundred dollars and you offered me help then too." It's cool that she remembered that. Anyway, I'm going to go get some cameras developed.

                   Oh yeah, and my mom told me, "I never gave you your birthday present." Hehe, she just realized it. She told me, "I was going to wait until you leave." She gave me fifteen dollars and told me she'd give me ten later. I told her, "Don't worry about it, mom. I don't need any money." Then she said, "When you had $180 you offered to lend me some and I noticed that." I just shrugged and told her, "At your convenience, mom. You know how I feel about money."

     8:25am  I'm still kind of hungry. I walked off a lot of the oatmeal I ate. And the Muscleblast. I got some more Muscleblast in my bag, but I'm going to go in the McDonald's. Hold on, let me think. I'm going to go in and get something to eat.

     8:28am  I was thinking about staying on the 610 and going all the way to Medical Center. Ahh, screw it. I might as well just get off at the Walmart and get something to eat at the McDonald's. Then I'll go to UTSA. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

                   I'm walking inside the Walmart. I'm going to go to the McDonald's.

     8:32am  I walked into the McDonald's and there was this black lady there with her kids. She took one look at me and said, "Oh my God, you look so unusual. Oh, but not in a bad way." Hehe, I think my stick threw her off. I told her, "Well, can I tell you why I look this way?" She said, "Oh, you mean you're doing this on purpose?" I told her yeah. I gave her my intro and asked her if she was willing to listen. I told her I hated wasting my time. She said, "Oh, you might be wasting your time then." I told her, "That's why I asked. Ignorance is bliss, I guess. You can just wait to hear about it when the rest of the world does. My name's Victor Antonio from San Antonio so when it happens just know who was responsible. Actually, I'm not stupid. I know world peace is going to have to be everybody's fault. I'll just be the catalyst." I'm going to go outside and eat my burrito.

                   Oh yeah, before I go eat my beef burrito I'm going to go to the photolab place and see if they got their CD burner fixed. It wasn't working the other day.

     8:38am  They said their machine was still down and that it should be up after five.

     8:44am  I'm on the 609. I'm going to school.

     8:45am  I asked this girl on the bus if I could tell her my story and she shook her head, "No, I don't think I want to hear your story." I told her, "Okay, ignorance is bliss, I guess."

     8:52am  I saw some guy reading some book. I forgot what kind of book it was, but it prompted me to ask him, "Hey man, since you're reading that book I want to tell you my story." He said, "I don't think I have time, sorry. But I did listen last time you told some other guy in the back of the bus." I went, "Cool, just as long as you know." He gave me two thumbs up. Awesome, awesome.

                   I should probably quit asking people on this bus.

     9:14am  I got to UTSA.

     9:17am  I asked this girl at the bus stop if she would listen to my story. She told me, "Sorry, my bus is right here." I got to tell her my mission-objectives.

     9:18am  I forgot, I want to eat some Muscleblast. I'm a little hungry even though I ate that burrito. And I want to take a hit of weed before I start for the day. I walked back to the bus stop and I'm going to sit down.

     9:25am  I smoked and I ate. That girl was still there. She was probably lying to me and thought I was crazy. That's alright. As long as she knows. She is after all ignorant enough to be coming to UTSA. Well, I come here to. But I'll be damned if I pay for it, hehe.

     1:00pm  I just got out of the library. I typed up like six or seven days. I'm all the way up to the eighth of December. I'm pretty proud of myself. Right now I'm looking for some tennis courts. I'm going to go find a ball for my stick.

                   Oh yeah, this girl came up to me and asked, "Do you even go to UTSA?" I told her, "Kind of, I come here to use the computers in the library for free." Then I said, "Can I tell you what I'm doing?" Surprisingly she said, "You already told me. I'm the girl from Texas Land and Cattle(2-1-04, 10:22pm)." I think her name was Leah. Haha.

                   That's so cool. At least people are seeing me.

                   I'm going to walk to the convocation center and ask them where the tennis courts are.

                   Found the tennis courts. Let me hit them up for some balls.

     1:20pm  I scored me four balls at the tennis courts in one of the trash cans. Cool.

     1:34pm  I'm talking to Chris out here at the UTSA bus stop. What was your number again? I'll call him and maybe he'll smoke me out. 240-0709

     1:55pm  I got this girl to listen to me a long time. I asked her for her email and she told me star@hotmail.com. I told her, "That's not your email. Don't lie to me. She told me some bullshit like, "Yes it is. I've had it since middleschool." I had a transfer trimmed to the right time and I tried to get on the bus. When I got on I looked at the stack of transfers and noticed I had one that was the wrong day. So I got off. The right one is E I think.

     2:02pm  Mr. Medellin let me get on with not enough fare. He's going to take me to Crossroads. I appreciate it, brother. 94 Express. On the highway.

     2:24pm  I just got off the 94 at Crossroads. When the 92 pulled up I asked the driver if he'd give me a courtesy ride and he said nope. Oh yeah, I smoked some kid out at UTSA. I forgot his name. I gave him a couple hits. Let's see. What am I going to do now?

     2:31pm  The guy on the 92 let me on. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit in my game. Mr. Fondro.

     2:47pm  We got to the hospital. Oh yeah, fighting this urge to smoke cigarettes is like the toughest thing I've ever done. Everybody is smoking a cigarette around me and I have to fight it. No, I can't.

                    The 91 guy didn't give me a courtesy ride. I was busy talking to this girl.

                    pignardos@hotmail.com

     3:21pm  The guy on the 534 gave me a courtesy ride. I appreciate it, brother.

     3:32pm  I'm over here at the bus stop on Wurzbach close to Bandera. I'm going to walk to the National Army Surplus Store on the other side of 410.

                   I'm walking and I just had to mention how awesome it is to be this free. I've got my Tri-force of Wealth intact. My Adidas bag, walking stick and water bottle. It's all I need.

     3:45pm  I just walked to the National Army Surplus Store. National Outdoors. 680-3222. I'm going to look at their boots.

     4:25pm  I'm going to go to the Taco Cabana and get me some tacos. I don't know if I'm going to ask for free ones or pay with my money. I don't know. I'll think about it.

     4:27pm  I'm walking down Bandera. There's all this traffic backed up here. It's busy-time. I have to make myself known. I'm going to walk to Walmart and see if I can make it there before five. The CD burner in the photolab is supposed to be working then. Let's see how long it takes me to get there. It's a pretty far stretch.

     4:46pm  I'm still walking down Bandera passing the Shipley's donuts. Lemme go see if I can score some gasoline for my stomach. Eh, I just ate two bean and cheese tacos, but I don't care. I can always eat.

                   I walk for a living.

                   If it's a cute girl I'll tell her my story.

     5:21pm  I walked into the Shipley's. The girl at first wouldn't hook me up with a donut. But, I got to tell her my whole story. She listened to me. She still wouldn't hook me up with a donut, but she let me have a coffee. That's cool. Man, I had a good little session there. I'm going to walk to the Walmart like I planned. Maybe I'll catch the bus.

                   Oh yeah, she told me that I should really come to this Church on the Rock across the street. She said they were all about freedom and stuff. I've been meaning to go there, actually. Maybe this Sunday hopefully.

                    It looks like a cool church. It has this big dome.

     5:25pm   I just went into the Fitness Connection, the Gold's Gym. I asked them, "Hey, I used to have Gold Gym's wristweights. Do you have wristweights here?" They told me no. I walked outside and I saw most of a cigarette burning in a bush . . . waiting to be plucked up by me to smoke it. But, I declined! I just walked past it. It's going to kill me. If it hasn't already.

     5:26pm  I asked this brother walking along, "Do you want to smoke a bowl?" He said nah. I told him, "Alright. Just in case. Laters."

     5:27pm  I'm still walking down Bandera. Cool, Alamo Aquatic Pets. A fish store. I'm sure there's lot of people who don't have shit to do in there. I'm going to try and tell my story there.

                   Holy shit, there's a huge fish in here, man. Damn, it's big. I'm going to take a picture of it.

     5:42pm  I just hit the guys up for my story in the fish store and they told me, "No, we won't listen." I walked out of there. Screw that place. They had a cool fish and I took a picture of it. It's a big eel. About five feet long.

     6:04pm  I just saw a Hobby Lobby. I need some beads for my stick. I'm going to go see if they have any. The Hobby Lobby in Bandera Heights Shopping Center. It used to be a Kroger a long time ago.

                   There's a Fighting Wolf Martial Arts place here. I'm going to go tell them my story and see if I can get free karate lessons.

     6:11pm  Damnit, no place has the beads. This sucks.

     6:17pm  Melissa hooked me up with a cigarette in front of, it used to be Kroger, it's now Hobby Lobby.

     6:40pm  I just had the greatest presentation with the girl who works at Hobby Lobby. I'm so proud of myself. I went up to her and said, "Hey, can you spare a cigarette?" She said sure and pulled one out. I told her, "I'm writing a book on generosity that the whole world is going to read . . . and you're in it." I got her name and then handed the cigarette back. "You know what? I was just kidding. I quit. I was just testing you. You passed." I can't believe I did that. I had it in my hand and everything. I gave it back!

     6:47pm  I stopped by the Fighting Wolf Martial Arts place.

     6:50pm  That guy was too busy doing a class, but I got his email address. It's like icewolf@hotmail, or something. I told him my intro and to think I was crazy.

                   Umm, I don't know what I'm going to do. Oh yeah, I'm going to go in the Blockbuster and tell the kids in there my story. They've got nothing to do.

                   I'm going to go around the corner and get stoned first.

     6:55pm  The kids in there told me they were too busy. I got the girl's email address though. I told them my mission-objectives though.

     7:09pm  I'm passing Eckhert Road. Kind of almost to Walmart.

     7:25pm  I'm walking in the Walmart parking lot. Hey, I walked all the way from Wurzbach. Just like I said I was going to. I stopped and told my story too. Well, only at the Shipley's, but I got some email addresses.

     8:03pm  I killed some time playing Ninja Turtles on the Playstation 2 they have here. They told me to wait until 8:15 for my film to be ready. That's what I'm doing.

     8:14pm  I checked the index print on my pictures. The barn and my shrine wasn't on a camera that I lost! Hooray! I thought I'd lost that barn. It's awesome. I need to get to a computer before I can look at the pictures. At least I am advancing on my mission. I got a lot of pictures developed. I gotta buy some Ziploc bags for my Muslblast stuff. The kind with the gripper zipper. Gallon size.

     8:17pm  I came over to the boots and asked them about my Brahmas. Some guy said he was going to try to find me some contact info. Those boots were part of my uniform.

                   Cool, I had a great presentation with the shoe guy. He got me a phone number to call. Walmart's shoe line. It's a long-distance number. I don't know. Maybe I can use Kati's phone card.

     8:42pm  I bought my shit at Walmart. Paid for my Ziploc bags. I had already paid for my developing at the photolab. I talked to some guy about my mission. He listened to me and agreed with me. Everything is cool. I'm walking home now. Actually, I'm going to walk to the HEB and see if my mom will pick me up. My feet are tired.

                   My tootsie's are sore.

                    I called my sister and she's going to come pick me up. I'm going to sit here and smoke some weed, haha.

     9:12pm  I just found out my twin sister is pregnant again! Holy shit! Laura is pregnant again! She got knocked up again! Oh man, this will be interesting. This will be sooooo interesting. My mom is going to flip out!

                   Oh yeah, she said she was kidding in the end. She's not really pregnant.

                   Oh yeah, when we got to the house I remembered my footlocker! She asked me, "What is that box, Victor?" I told her, "It's my new footlocker. I'm going to use it." She said, "Well, that scared me and mom half to death." I laughed and asked them, "What, did you think it was a bomb?" She said, "Yeah! I didn't want to open it." Haha, that's hilarious.

                   Oh yeah, I get to set up the contents of my footlocker now. Organize my mission.

     9:40pm  My mom has a really good story, tell it mom.

                   Mom: "There's a teacher in my school who bought a book at a garage sale or somewhere that probably belonged to me. Inside the book was a card from 1983, when I was doing individual marriage and family therapy. 692-0418 was when we lived in Twin Oaks apartments on Wurzbach. It was 18 years ago. He thought, "Your name is not a common name." So he asked me if I was a psychotherapist at some point in my life. I said yes, years ago. He hands me the card. It was creepy."

Next day..