052503

San Antonio, TX

Sunday May 25, 2003

                   Okay, it's already the next day. Sunday. The twenty fifth, I think. I woke up at Sam's at around eight. He was still asleep. I had crashed out on the floor again with that same pink velour blanket. I took a shit, his toilet isn't clogged anymore. I had some breakfast. I drank one of my four hundred and seventy five calorie Suplenas(that I ganked from the hospital). I quietly asked Sam if he could spare a dollar for bus fare and he hooked it up.

                   Okay, I'm walking to Crossroads Park and Ride now. I think I'm going to take the looper bus all the way to Ingram Mall and then catch the 610 closer to my mom's house.

     8:12am  Crossroads seems pretty dead. It's like a ghost town, almost. I walked up to some people and this little kid started pointing at my rainbow beanie. Hehe, this hat makes all little kids happy. Anyway, I asked this lady what time the 551 came. She said in like five minutes. Cool.

     8:44am  I'm on the 551 heading to Ingram. I waited for like ten minutes until the driver got on and I'm sitting on the bus listening to my headphones. Singing Ween: "Bananas and blow. Bananas and blow. Stuck in my cabana, living on bananas and blow." Hehe.

     8:52am  I'm here at the Ingram Park and Ride. I saw two people smoking a cigarette when I got there. I walked over to the farthest guy, some bus driver sitting down taking a break. I asked the bus driver if he could spare a cigarette and he told me no. Then as I went walking for the guy I had passed up, he put his cigarette out and jumped on the bus. He saw me coming, hehe. So damn. I'm going to walk around to a gas station and try to score one. Oh yeah. The 610 comes at nine thirty.

                   Okay, I have a whole half hour to wait. I'm going to walk all the way across the highway. I see a Texaco sign in the distance.

                   I was walking down Ingram towards the highway and some black dude walked by me and asked me how I was doing. I told him I was the happiest man in the world. He came over and I told him what I planned on doing. He asked me, "How are you going to do that? With God, right?" When I told him I was going to get weed legalized he asked me, "Oh, you smoke weed?" I told him sure. I asked him if he wanted to hit my peace pipe and he smiled real big. He told me he had to go see his wife at the workout place real quick, but to meet him at the Whataburger close by. I told him alright, but I was en route to the Texaco to bum a cigarette, so I'm going to wait until this guy gets back and tell him I'm going to go to the Texaco real quick.

     9:08am  I saw the dude come out and he started walking to the Whataburger. I got his attention and told him I was going to go to the Texaco and bum a cigarette. He told me he was sure he could get one from the old dude selling newspapers. We walked to him and he asked the guy for a cigarette. Sure enough, he hooked me up. I pull out my tape recorder and tell him, "I'm writing a book on generosity that the whole world is going to read, and you're in it. I appreciate it man. Thanks for the cigarette." Shit, I forgot to get the dudes name.

                   Okay, I'm smoking Chris out in front of this bank here in front of the Whataburger. Chris is this black dude I ran into.

     9:35am  Wow, I was going to walk to the Texaco across the highway and I met that guy Chris on the way and he told me to meet him at Whataburger. I told Chris that I wanted a cigarette and he said we could probably get one off the guy selling papers. Sure enough we did. I got a Doral. Then he asked me, "You want an orange juice or something? I'm going to Whataburger." I told him an orange juice would go perfectly with my cigarette.
                   In the Whataburger I tell him all my ideas. I tell him, "I don't believe in god. I believe in love. Everybody has it in them, and it's all the same love." He insisted that god was love. I told him no, that love is god. He ended up buying me something to eat. Awesome. He got me an orange juice, a yummy breakfast taco and some hash browns.

     9:36am  I walked back to the bus stop. The 610 was there but the driver wasn't in it. I ate the hash browns and smoked the cigarette. I had plenty of time. Now I'm on the bus and I got me a huge ass breakfast taco to eat. Awesome. To the victor go the spoils.

                   Whoa, this taco is good.

     9:45am  Snuck a toke on the bus. Breakin' the law. Breakin' the law(tan, tan).

     10:00am  Geez, I'm having the time of my life. I just got dropped off at the gas station here on Bowen's Crossing. I'm going to have fun walking home through these neighborhoods. I'm all fueled up and ready to walk. I'm also listening to my NOFX CD that I burned. It's like thirty eight of their funniest songs on one CD. I'm really full from that taco Chris bought me. That was crazy how I just ran into that guy.

     10:05am  I'm turning right on Bowen's Drive.

                     Okay, I walked up to those tennis courts with that new nature trail behind it. I'm going to look for a tennis ball for my stick.

                     Nope, no tennis balls.

     10:26am  I just walked the walking trail to the gas station on the corner. If the cashier didn't have one this guy at the car wash power cleaning the concrete would hook me up. I asked the cashier and he said he didn't smoke. So, I walked behind the gas station to the car wash. The sprayer was pretty loud so the guy had to turn it down when I walked by and asked him for a cigarette. He said sure and grabbed one out of this little holder he had under his shirt. It was a cheap Star smoke, but it did the job. Badass. I totally called that one.

     10:40am  I got to my mom's house and my mom's car is in the driveway. The front door is locked and I knocked on it with no answer. It's not like her to not be at church on a Sunday morning. Anyway, I still had that cigarette and without knocking any more I walked around to the back porch to smoke it. I smoked a little weed, too. I'm having a great day.

     11:00am  I finished my cigarette and then I walked up to my mom's window. I gently tapped on it and said, "Mom, I'm sorry to wake you up. Can you unlock the front door please?" I heard her mumble something a couple times, so I assumed she was going to unlock the front door. I walked around to the front of the house. I stood there for a minute. I wasn't going to knock on the front door. That would be rude. I told myself to be patient, but she never opened it. She must've gone right back to sleep.
                     Hmm, the house is hot as hell anyway because the AC is broken. So, I decided to look through the garage. I opened the door and hit the jackpot. Remember, I lost my entire wardrobe(or so I thought) in LA not too long ago. Well, I found me lots of my old clothes. I had never taken them out when I got all my stuff back from U-Haul. I found me some damn good shirts I thought I would never see again. I found me two pairs of slacks and shirts that I could wear to West Telemarketing. I found a CD with all these programs I can use. I found me a couple pairs of shorts. I found me two pairs of shoes. I found CDs I used to listen to. I found so much cool shit I had totally forgotten about. Stuff I accumulated while I lived with Chasity for four years. Dude, finding all this when I thought I had nothing was really cool.

                     I got clothes! I just lost my wardrobe. Cool. I hit the jackpot.

                     These badass pressed Dockers slacks.

                     Cool, I've got this cool tie-dye Napali Surf XL shirt.

                     I got my old NOFX shirt. Sweet.

                     I got my white shirt from when I worked at West.

                     I got a cool cowboy shirt. Carlos would like this.

                     Whoa cool. I have this awesome Levi's shirt.

                     I got a tie!

                     Whew, I found some good stuff in the garage. I got some socks and tons of CDs. I have a Violent Femmes CD. They Might Be Giants. Afghan Whigs I used to listen to in high school. I got all this cool shit. I have this Me First and the Gimme Gimme's CD that I burnt. I got a lot of my shit back.

     11:39am  Okay, I came inside now and I'm emptying out my pockets. I'm going to wash my uniform and take a shower. My pockets are empty and I'm looking at my inventory now:

                     I have tons of Marlboro Miles, a 520 schedule, I have two bus transfers I didn't use, a chain that I bought off of Fuzzy in Travis Park(which I don't wear anymore because it gave me a rash on my neck. I'm going to give it back to Fuzzy), I got two four hundred and seventy five calorie Suplenas, I got a golf ball I found over by the tennis court, I got my Swiss army knife with my cool little monkey's fist keychain, I got a penny, I got a pen cap(which I use to clean out the ashes out of my one-hitter), I got two safety pins, I have this metal stone that looks like a peace of shit(that I always keep in my pocket for good luck), I have some Billy Bob's Beds matches, I got a little moist towelette, an empty can of Altoids Peppermints(curiously strong), I got my necklace I was wearing, I got my lighter, I got my mountain climbing buckle thingy that I keep on my belt loop which has some toenail clippers(that I stole from Carlos' bathroom a long time ago) and a blue flashlight that looks like a fish, got my wallet with chain, I got my Victorinox watch(with my name on it), I got my two wrist weights(1lb each) and my pocket calendar. That's everything that I carry on me. Along with my Adidas bag and water bottle. That's all I need.

                     Okay, I went and I took a shower. I got out and I'm all tired now. I got on the computer, but I couldn't find the motivation to type. I'm going to take a nap. Laters.

                     Okay, from this point I don't use my tape recorder anymore, so let's see how much I can remember.

                     Okay, I slept for like two hours. When I woke up I felt so refreshed. I wondered what I was going to do. Nobody else was home still. I got on the computer and organized a lot of stuff, making my stuff more complete and powerful. Just then, the phone rings and it's my friend Andrea. She's been gone to Lubbock for a couple weeks now. I ask her what she's doing and she says nothing. She told me she had an appointment with someone at six. She said she thought she might swing by and smoke a cigarette or something. I asked her, "Got an extra one you can spare?" Hehe, she told me she was about to ask me. She thought about it for a little bit and decided she'd go buy a pack on her father's credit card. She tells me she'll be over shortly. When she finally gets here I let her in the backyard and give her a big juicy update of my status. She hangs out for like half an hour and says she has to go because it was almost six. I ask her if she can give me a ride to Babcock North, Bob's neighborhood. She told me he wasn't going to be home, but I didn't care. If anything, I would get a cool walk back home through the woods. I was damn bored.

                     So, Andrea drops me off in front of Bob's house and I go knock on the door. Carlos' Miata is in the driveway, but nobody ever answers. Hmm, what to do? I just then remembered that girl Katie who I saw at the bus stop at west a couple days ago(5-22-03, paragraph that starts with: I leave the Jack in the Box and walk all the way to West). She had taken me to meet her fifty one year old boyfriend Johnny. Johnny is this hippie dude and was really impressed by my ideas. So I end up hiking to Katie's. Last time when I had gone to her house she had given me good directions out of her neighborhood. From her house, I would go left, right, left, right, left, right at the ditch. Since I wasn't too sure I just reversed the order. I ended up at their house with no problem. I didn't even look at street names or peek in my pocket calendar. It was the coolest thing. I knock on their front door and Katie says hi. She immediately invites me inside. I walk in the living room and Johnny comes out. Boy, is he glad to see me. Katie was busy getting dinner ready. She was making spaghetti with meat sauce. I hang out for a while and they ask me if I want to eat. I told them I could always eat, if they could spare it. Man, before I knew it, Katie handed me this bigass plate of spaghetti. I inhaled it practically. I was all fueled up now. The walk home is going to be great. I thanked Katie for the meal. After we ate, Katie brought out the weed. She asked me to roll a joint and gave me some buds to break up. I broke it all up and rolled a joint. I'm not too good at rolling because I don't usually smoke joints. It was a pregnant joint. Hey, whatever gets the THC in your lungs, right?

                     Katie and I got all lit up on her back porch. They were watching the Spurs game on TV. Johnny was getting all into it. Katie and I returned back inside. Hmm, what am I going to do the rest of the night. The Spurs game won't entertain me. I know! I'll walk up to Medical Center and go to all the bars and collect Marlboro Miles. That's always fun. I asked Katie if I could have the roach of the joint for my walking tonight. She said sure. I walked out of Katie's neighborhood out onto Babcock. I turned left and eventually came up to where Babcock turned and kept going. I hit up the gas stations there for a cigarette, but nobody smoked. I walk my happy ass all the way to Prue and hit up the gas stations there. I go in the Chevron and ask the guy working for a cigarette. He tells me, "No way, I gave you one last time." I tell him thanks anyway and he goes, "I'm just kidding man. I'll give you another one." Good 'ol Mike.
                     I didn't smoke the cigarette right away. At that point I had decided I wasn't going to go to Medical Center tonight. It was Sunday and the bars wouldn't be that hopping. I opted to head home from here. I thought I would walk all the way to my hideout at the top of the cliff and smoke this cigarette. I was going to do it on a reward-basis. The cliff was like three miles away. I took off walking. It took me like an hour to get there, but in the end it was one good cigarette. I topped it off with a couple hits of marijuana.

     11:45pm  Okay, after I was done, I put on my headphones and jammed out all the way to the Exxon. When I got there I opened the door and went inside. The two girls working told me they were closed. I said, "I don't suppose I could make a quick phone call?" They said sure, only if I walked where they hadn't mopped. I used their phone and called my mom. She never answered, though. I gave up and thought I was going to have to walk the mile and a half home. I start talking to the cashier, this girl named Becka. I hadn't told her about my ideas before. Fresh meat, hehe. I just jumped into my act with Becka. She seemed interested, but still didn't let me finish thoughts. I told Becka to hold on, that I was going to check the ashtrays outside for cigarettes. She told me I shouldn't be smoking. She says, "That's what you need money for, cigarettes." I tell her, "Well, I was hoping one of you guys would be generous and give me one." Becka laughed and I walked out to check the ashtrays. They were both empty, but I saw some kids in a car at the gas pumps. I walk up to them and ask them if any of them can spare a cigarette. Just then, I hear some guy say, "Oh my god. It's him. This dude is fucking cool. I never thought I would see you again, man." His friend gave me a cigarette real fast. The guy looked familiar, but I meet people every day. I slapped him some skin and asked him if I could get his email address. He says sure and asks me how my mission is going. I tell him full speed ahead. He's like, "Rad." I pulled out my pocket calendar and had him put his information in. His name is Josh and I had met him at my hideout in OP Schnabel. We had smoked some weed up in the platform in the tree at the top of the cliff.
                     I went back inside with my cigarette beaming with pride. I told them, "See, I didn't need money. Everyone knows me in San Antonio. This is my town."

                     Anyway, Becka just got off right then. Her boyfriend had come. I ask Becka if she can give me a ride home, real close. She says sure. What perfect synchronicity, eh? Look at all the shit that happened for things to turn out the way it did. Ain't it cool? Goodnight.

Next day..