Berkeley, CA
Thursday February 19, 2009
4:50am I just woke up with plenty of sleep. I don't know what I'm going to do today. I'm going to go to Santa Cruz maybe.
7:18am I walked over to the Wingnut Breakfast at Trinity. It's all dead and I have to wait until eight.
10:50am I should make an update. My tape recorder is messing up. Let's see, this morning I went to the Wingnut Breakfast. I have taken on the daunting project of filing the bark off my stick with the file on my Leatherman. I am sitting here on Telegraph on a bench filing my stick. On the other side of the my FREE HUGS sign I made it say FREE STORY. I got smoked out earlier and I have some trim to smoke too. Oh yeah, I've got a book to read too. That At Home In Your Pack book. It says it's the "modern book of backpacking." Well, maybe in 1965.
Check out this loogie some guy just hurled.
11:12am These girls from Europe stopped and took a picture of my bag and volunteered me a dollar.
12:02pm Leah was nice enough to give me a cigarette on Telegraph. I appreciate it, Leah. Everybody gets credit, thanks.
12:30pm Zigzag was nice enough to give me change for a donut. I appreciate it, brother.
Weed books for sale
1:13pm I just got hooked up with some weed! Some guy I had given my website to earlier. I was flying my HOOK A BROTHER UP/SMOKE A BROTHER OUT sign. I was bored.
2:50pm Ace hooked me up with a cigarette on Telegraph. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.
3:14pm I had an awesome presentation with Madeline. I told her the Note From the Rich and everything.
Dude I told my story to
Pretty girl
3:47pm I was free hugging it and this beautiful older hippie lady walked up to me and said she wanted her free hug. I gladly gave her two. I just told her my story. She said I had given her my site yesterday. In the middle of my story she chimed in with, "Well, I do have a beer waiting for me at the bar." Sadly, I told her, "Well, then maybe I shouldn't tell you my story. Alcohol gets in the way. It's pretty attention-span intensive…but, I do like a challenge so please, come back." She said, "Okay, I will and we'll see if you can capture my attention." This street kid had come up to me and given me some ganja food. These weed-biscuits. I'm all stoned. Before that some guy gave me a couple nuggets too.
3:52pm That beautiful hippie lady with dreadlocks came back. She gave me a card with her email address. swedishcorinne@yahoo.com She told me, "My kid's eighteen and I'm ready to take off traveling again." "Oh really? Do you like to walk?" I asked her. 526-9267. Her card says Body Work. Maybe she can give me a free massage.
4:13pm Oh yeah, I had an awesome little happening right now. Right now I had these two kids deep in my trance, telling them my story. Then one of the street kids with dreadlocks starting circling around us saying, "Don't believe anything this guy says. He's full of shit." I said, "I've got proof." He goes, "What? The internet? That's not real." I told him it could be used for good too. Just then my angel Corinne came to my rescue. She crossed the street and totally ran the interrupter off. She told him, "Well, we were trying to listen to his story until you showed up. Buzz off." He walked away. It's so awesome how she had my back!
I had already just told the kids I was talking to to just check out my website and they left. It was awesome. She told me that she saw him come and start circling around my presentation and that was her cue to cross the street and intervene.
4:21pm Lauren just gave me a cigarette.
Blurry picture of girl
4:52pm I am finally counting all the strips I yield off of each sheet. Out of one paper I get a whole 39 havethisbook.coms with two per paper.
5:30pm Pete, the photographer guy I ran into the other day, he came over and listened to my entire Odyssey story.
6:08pm I walked over to the 7-11 and the greedy ass won't let me fill my bag with ice for 64 cents. It's okay, I've gotten two bagfuls of ice before for free. I got mine. See, I had gotten there and paid money to buy cigarettes. I went outside to smoke one and the greedy ass comes outside and tells me, "Are you waiting for someone? You can't be out here loitering."
6:27pm I should walk to the shelter and get in line. I can always walk over to Shattuck and University and crash where I crashed last night on the sidewalk. I am reading this book At Home In Your Pack. On page 50 it answers one of the questions I always had. I have always thought they should have a thin, lightweight, waterproof bag you can zip into when it rains. It says, "A waterproof sleeping bag would be an impractical arrangement. In warm weather, no matter how dry, it would be like dowsing in a steam bath, the imprisoned body moisture would soon counteract all insulating qualities and hasten freezing. You need to sleep under a tarpaulin tent or some other shelter in stormy weather." I think that's a load of bullshit. It says you need to find a sleeping bag thick enough to insulate..and then get in it almost naked. Umm, a sleeping bag thick enough to insulate would weigh too much, a lot more than the two pounds my sleeping bag weighs. I think layers is the key to survive comfortably in cold and wet weather.
8:25pm Marian just hooked me up with a dollar for a donut. I appreciate it, sister. Everybody gets credit, thanks.
8:35pm Right when I said Victor Antonio from San Antonio Marian said, "I'm from San Antonio too!" I told her the Old Tezel Needs a Sidewalk story and she knew exactly what I was talking about!
8:39pm Edmonds, Samantha and Jason, they volunteered me some food. I had asked them for spare change and that's what I needed it for. Do you see how much money complicates things? Everybody gets credit, thanks.
8:43pm I am having a great night tonight, man. Not only did I get hooked up with a little bit of weed earlier, it's not that cold either. Elijah just came up and volunteered me a quarter he had. I appreciate it, bro.
Now I can go to the 7-11 and get ice since I got a dollar from that pretty girl from San Antonio. I'll get ice and then I'll go find a place to camp.
9:42pm At the 7-11 this cool black guy hooked me up with his peach tea. He just wanted to the bottle and her let me pour the contents into my CamelBak. When I left this other guy came up to me and told me that I was walking the wrong way, to follow him. I knew what that meant so I said okay. We walked back to the 7-11 and he bought me a bigass hotdog and a couple cookies. Then we went around the corner and sat down in front of these apartments and smoked some weed. First we smoked a cheap trim-joint, but he had some dank blackberry afterwards.
9:53pm Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I don't have to walk all the way to Shattuck. I can crash right here on Telegraph with this dude and his dog Buster right in front of this store, The Dark Entry. I can crash here every night. The lady who owns the store is cool with kids crashing here and the store doesn't open until eleven, so I can even sleep in.
10:25pm I'm going to bed. I got my camp all set up. I took a picture. I'm crashing out for the night. I'm going to set my watch.
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