San Antonio to Midland, TX
Saturday June 14, 2003
2:53pm What's today again? The fifth? And yesterday was Friday the thirteenth, that's right. Guess where I am right now? I'm on my way to Midland, TX. The weirdest shit happened. I woke up this morning at Elva's. She was all bitching like my mom does. I got tired of it quick. Now today there is a Rider Rally at the Crossroads Park and Ride. So, I showed up at that and it was some stupid shit. I just left. I caught the 91(courtesy ride, of course) to West Telemarketing in hopes I'd get smoked out. Nobody smoked me out. I was walking out to the bus circle and my friend Brian Moreno drove by. Brian knows how much I walk and him and his girlfriend Yami(I think) had made it a point to pick me up if they ever saw me walking. Brian dropped me off in Babcock North.
In Babcock North I have four possible hangouts in my network of friends. Remember, I'm a network specialist, hehe. I walked over to Andy's to use his phone so I could call Nick Wedige. Andy wasn't home so I just went to Nick's anyway. I knocked on his door and he answered it and said, "Leave now. You can't just come over without calling." I had just met Nick and hung out with him like twice. I apologized and left, next. I walked across the ditch to Oxbow where my friend Katie I met on the bus one time lives. When I got to her house I woke up her boyfriend Johnny. Johnny is fifty five and lives with his senile mother. Katie wasn't home. To be respectful Johnny invited me in and we had a small chat on the couch. I could tell I had just woken him up and excused myself, telling him I'd just go try and find that movie producer guy I had met a while back. Stupid me never got his address but I know whereabouts he lives.
I walked to David's house, the guy who introduced me to the movie producer, Pedro. He doesn't know Pedro, but he knows the other guy who introduced me to Pedro, Jaime. He told me what street he lived on and the type of car he had so I took off walking looking for him. I never came to the street David told me about so I just randomly turned on Spring Lark heading for the bus stop. I'm walking down Spring Lark and I spot this car with cool band stickers all over it. I think, "Man, I'm sure the owner of that car would listen to my ideas." Just then, a girl came out and sparked up a cigarette. She was on the phone too. We made eye contact and smiled at each other. She then waved me over and I walked through the grass. I didn't recognize this girl, if I had told her my ideas before. I walk up and ask her if I've ever met her and she tells me no, that she always sees me walking in Babcock North with my rainbow beanie and walking stick. She told me her name was Page.
I told Page, "I could talk your ear off if you let me. Want to hear a really interesting story? Actually, it's more of a legend." She grins real big and says sure. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was waiting for her ride. "Ride where?" I asked her. Her friend Jonathan was on his way over and they were driving to Midland to pick up their friend Stevie. I freaked and went, "Midland? Oh shit, I know people in Midland." Page invites me and I say hell yeah.
Jonathan came over and we hung out. I couldn't believe this shit was happening. How I just walked down some random street and now am going West. Weird, wacky stuff.
Anyway, I had my Triforce of Wealth(walking stick, water bottle and Adidas bag) intact, because I had been floating around town the last three or four days, because my mom went to Puerto Rico and didn't want me staying at her house because she thinks I'm going to hack the system and the feds are going to knock down her door. I have a network of friends around San Antonio and I hadn't even been staying at her house usually. As I was saying. I asked Jonathan if we could swing by University Hospital before we left for Midland.
Check out this resource I've been tapping for about two years now. See, since I was at University Hospital after my second head-injury, I got hooked on that Boost stuff. You know, the liquid nutrition stuff. Kick one of those babies back and bam, you're not hungry anymore. Well, after I got out of the hospital, I would always go by and visit the therapist friends I made there. I would always ask them, "Hey, can I snag a Boost?" They didn't care and I would just go get it myself. Well, for a couple years now whenever I get hungry riding the bus around all day, I just go to the hospital(which connects with the bus terminal), ride the elevator to the sixth floor and I just walk into the nourishment room and fill up my pockets. I get like five or six every time. It's gasoline for my mission.
Thing is, the staff knows what I'm doing. When I come to visit them Gabe always asks me, "Are you here for another drink, Victor?" Hehe, I think he still thinks I'm just getting one. It's a renewable resource, too. No one will ever notice(hopefully). They just assume the patients are consuming them and order more(for me). Muhahaha. It's cheating at healthy eating. Haha, all of you have to chew! Just kidding.
Okay, back to the story. Jonathan took me to University Hospital and him and Page said they would wait for me. I told them to give me about ten minutes to get up there and back. Shit, it took more like five. I just waltzed in the nourishment room. Since it's Saturday none of my therapist-friends are working. I lucked out. No one was in the hallways and I went in there, put three in my Adidas bag, and three in each of my cargo short pockets. Plus, I had one left from when I scored there a couple days ago. Ten total. I'm ready to travel.
Dude, I was going to go without them. I couldn't even get my Muscle Blast 2000 this time around.
I went back down to the bus terminal and Jonathan was waiting for me in the parking lot. We drove back to Page's house and got directions. Someone at Page's house knew a shortcut to get there. They brought with them a big piece of paper labeled Directions to Midland. So now I'm on my way to Midland. Just like that. What synchronicity. Man, just for me being out there letting it happen. This is so cool. Everything happens for a reason. I was kind of getting sick of San Antonio again. For a while I had considered staying in San Antonio since so much cool shit was happening to me, but I heard that NOFX, the band that reinforces my thinking to a tee, is on tour and probably won't be in California. I had made it a goal to meet with them and let them know what I'm doing. They would be so proud. So, I had said, "Forget California." I'm changing my mind again though. I just walked into my ride back West.
In Midland I have my friend Tumbleweed Tim(5-9-03-9:40am) who works at a tattoo shop and let me crash there last time I was there. Despite the fact that Midland is such an evil, money-hungry city, I happened upon generosity(like I always do)there. And, the last time I was there I had walked to St. Paul's Mission and talked to Cynthia there. I told Cynthia about my plan and she gave me a voucher for a Greyhound ticket back to Berkeley. Thing is, when I took the voucher to the bus station they told me the account had been closed. I did without Greyhound and got a ride from a trucker. So, I'm thinking I can just go back to that same lady and tell her how it didn't work last time and see if she'd hook it up again. Then, I'll be on my way back to San Francisco, just like that. Awesome. See how shit just happens.
4:09pm We stopped at a truckstop. I don't know where the hell I am. I'll ask them when they get out. It's some travel store. I just went to the restaurant part and refilled my water bottle. The old-lady waitress was real, real short. She looks at me at goes, "Oh, Mr. Tall guy." I asked her how tall she was and she said no, that it's how short she is. She asked me how tall I was and I told her six-six. Hehe, I crossed my fingers hoping she would ask me if I played basketball(so I could give her my jockey line). She sure enough did, too. She asked me and I told her, "No, do you race horses?" She laughed and said that was a good one. That was hilarious. I told her, "Hey, I'm headed back West again. Just like that. I was walking down the street and the ride fell in my lap." I walked to her and gave her a great big hug. She was kind of weirded out at first, but hugged back. As I was walking away I told her, "I'm on my way to save the world," and gave her a peace sign. Oh yeah, the town we are in is Junction.
5:42pm We are going towards Big Lake now. We're taking a shortcut. Cool.
Big Lake, twenty two miles ahead. Iraan thirty and shit, didn't read the last one.
5:46pm We just passed this normal pick up truck with a huge ass antenna on it. It's crazy.
6:03pm We are now passing some organized rape(road crew's making roads).
6:05pm We're listening to Jimi Hendrix, right? Wait, no. Bob Marley, I mean. My bad. That 'One Love' song is on right now.
"Don't worry, about a thing. Because every little thing is going to be alright."
We are in Big Lake now. Passing Papa Joe's Sho Nuff restaurant. Big Lake City Limit. Population: 2,885. Never been here before.
6:24pm I'm reading the trip odometer and it's reading 269.3 miles so far.
6:29pm We are listening to this badass song right now. What's the name of it? Long Haired Queer by the Vandals. Cool song.
6:31pm Entering Rankin, TX.
6:32pm We stopped at another travel center. Town and Country. Umm, some gas station.
7:32pm We are in Midland. I called Tony from Arcata on Jonathan's cellphone earlier. I wasn't paying attention and we drove passed downtown. I need to go to downtown.
8:20pm We came over to Jonathan's friend's house. What's your name again? Stevie. Kate and Jeremiah are here too. They're about to take off to go to the liquor store and they're going to drop me off downtown.
8:25pm Okay, I'm kind of recognizing the area. We are driving down Big Spring. I think we keep going straight to the other side of downtown, by the railroad tracks. I'm going to go pay Tumbleweed Tim a surprise visit. I might just have them drop me off downtown and I'll walk.
8:30pm I'm over at Tim's now. I'm going to knock on the door. I don't see the hearse anywhere, but there's a big hippie van and a jeep so hopefully someone's home. Let's see what happens. Okay, there's a sign on the door that says, "Zyla's House of Individuality and Tumbleweed Tim's, tattoo art from the heart. Temporarily closed for remodeling. Please watch for grand opening. Please be gentle with the door."
I knocked on the door, but no one is answering. I'm going to walk over to the Salvation Army.
I walked over to the side of Tim's and I saw a band playing death metal. I figured that Tim was there, because last time I had come over he had a drum and guitar and would jam. I knocked on the door and some Mexican dude came out. I asked him if Tim was there and he said no. He told me Tim lived on the corner. Hmm, it was another unit of the same building. The guy told me he had last seen Tim yesterday, so I'm sure he's around here somewhere. Right now, I'm going to walk down Big Spring and go chill out downtown. Oh cool, I just found a dime on the street.
8:53pm I walked down the railroad tracks, remembering the Salvation Army was around here somewhere. I couldn't find it so I asked these kids riding bikes if they could tell me where it was. I told the kids my ideas and scripts and they're cool with everything.
9:07pm I'm at the Salvation Army now. Turns out the sign had broken off that's why I didn't recognize the building.
9:47pm I already signed in and I told all my bunkmates up in the room my ideas. I came in after nine and they got all mad at me. Oh yeah, and I couldn't even smoke a cigarette. They wouldn't let me back outside. They said I had to go to sleep. Screw that. I'm going to walk back to Tim's and see if he's home. If not, I'll walk to the Greyhound station and crash. Cool.
10:44pm As I suspected, Tumbleweed Tim was home. He was home earlier, but in the shower. He was kind of freaked out because when he got out of the shower and went to check who was knocking, I had already gone. He got a bit paranoid and had his handgun ready. I came over and knocked pretty hard because I didn't think anyone was home. I saw a little candle light on inside and I was relieved. He asked who it was and I told him Victor. I caught him up with what has happened to me since last we spoke. He's going to let me crash out on the cot again. Whew. Screw the Salvation Army.
Oh yeah, he was telling me about the firefighters here in Midland. How they drink alcohol in the station. Like some eighteen year old punks. What if a fire broke out?
Tim: "One of the rules for drinking in Texas is it's okay if your kid gets hammered and drunk at nine years old, or seven years old, or even a friggin' infant sitting at the kitchen table with mom and dad, it's okay. Mom and dad can supply booze to children and there's no problemo. And, at some of the bars around town it's okay if mom and dad brings the kid to the restaurant that sells booze. If mom and dad buys the booze they can hand it to the child and the child proceed to drink. That's how fucked up this place is."
Tim again: "I agree that the more people who realize that, umm, the more they're told that there's a national debt and the more they're told that the U.S. owes, owes, owes then the more pissed off the general public of the United States are going to get. And, the more they're going to say, "No, we're not going to pay it. We're not going to pay any more taxes. We've paid enough already. You've squandered our money. The government's squandered our money and made their own wallets fatter. As you look at everybody in the state senate and everyone on TV that you get to see, they've all got big fat bellies. You and I don't have no fat bellies. You know what I'm saying? We ain't got no money.
So, the idea is to trade. Trade. If you're good at something, trade. If you're hungry, build the guy something. It's all pretty simple shit. But it won't be in my lifetime that I see it. Because there's only about forty years left for me(if I live to be old). I just don't think there'll be an uprising until the next generation. Because our children are already severely pissed off. And when they're old enough to say, "Fuck you." They're gone. So, later on in life things will change.
So, I'm watching TV like a fool because TV sucks. It was something to do to kill time. I see this thing called Senate Forum or some shit like that. Whatever it was it was a time out. It's live coverage. It's live. It says it right there, I have to believe it's live coverage. There's ten or so people in this room, and they're not doing anything. They're all sitting around looking at computers writing shit down. They're not really doing anything. It's a time-out. It's basically so legislature can argue amongst themselves and whatever. It's some kind of roll-call forum shit. I don't know what it is. It's something that's foolish. Anyway, all I could think of was, "Hmm, I wonder how much they're getting paid to sit around and talk to each other as they wait." I got sick to my stomach thinking that our tax money was probably paying these people to sit around and scratch their asses. Because there was nothing important going on. Nothing."
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