062305

 

Ruidoso to Tularosa, NM

Thursday June 23, 2005

     8:09am  I never mentioned that yesterday when I had talked to those bikers, see, the other day I had walked by and they were playing all this heavy metal music. I walked by and stuck my two fingers in the air and banged my head. Well yesterday when I walked by I asked them if I could tell them my story. They let me in and listened to me. Oh yeah, one of the dudes right when I said my mission objectives cuts in and says, "Let me guess. Are you an Aquarian?" Shocked, I asked him how he knew. Eventually he told me, "The reason why I asked you if you were an Aquarian because it was the Aquarians that started the hippie movement in the sixties." I told him, "Well, I'm bringing it back. This is the dawning." Cool, cool. My batteries just died and I switched them out.

                   Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you. I found my lost resin ball! I thought I had left it on the side of the highway when I stopped and rested one time. I just found it! I was cleaning out my backpack and it was in the compartment I keep my tennis balls in. I got high this morning! It was a great present!

                   Waste not, want not.

                   Eyyy, marijuana, alright!(to the Macarena music)

     8:57am  I got all my stuff together. It's on my back and I'm walking away from Raymond's now. I even left him his spare key on the coffee table. He was in bed still. I told him I was going to leave. Oh yeah, he hooked me up with some change that was on the table. I get to do laundry now. Yeah, I've already staked out this Chileo's Mexican Food restaurant, which is on the way to the laundromat. I'm going to go and see if I can score me some breakfast. I'm having a good day. I'm all stoned. I found my lost resin ball.

                   They gave me the 'ol manager not being there bullshit at the Chileo's place. I don't know what I'm going to eat. Hmm, there's a Denny's down there.

                   Oh shit, I just realized I left my Powershift book at Raymond's. I'm going back.

                   I just walked behind Walgreen's and I saw this old dude walking. He told me, "Nice stick."

     9:22am  I went and retrieved my book. I got it. I'm going to the laundromat now. I should just go to the Gateway Church(6-22-04, 8:57am) and ask them if they can give some busfare.

     10:06am  I'm having this great presentation with the lady working at the laundromat. She ended up being an older hippie lady. She was all listening to my story good. I'm going to do my laundry. It's $1.25 to wash and about fifty cents to dry. I had exactly enough change for laundry and a taco this morning. I'm doing my laundry right now. That's cool. I'm going to have some clean clothes. But, I left my swim trunks at Raymond's. If I have a long wait for the bus I'm going to walk down there and get them. Hopefully he'll be home. If not, I'll go through a window.

                     Oh yeah, that lady at the laundromat was nice enough to bum me a dime, because I didn't have just enough. I paid seventy five cents for the soap and $1.25 to wash. Oh, I have a dollar.

                     Susie is the lady's name who gave me a quarter too. Susie Griffiths. She's letting me have another quarter so I can dry my stuff. I appreciate it, Susie. Everybody gets credit.

     11:08am  I am leaving the laundromat. I had a good time there with Susie. I got to tell her my stort. This cute old hippie lady. She's not old. I should've taken her picture but I only have two left.

     11:39am  Marilyn at the Gateway Church of Christ is going to help me out with some busfare. I appreciate it, Marilyn. Oh, she gave me some pack food too. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     11:45am  I just got my ticket to Alamogordo. Well, at three I'm supposed to come back and talk to that lady Marilyn and she'll take me to buy the ticket. She told me she couldn't get me all the way to Truth or Consequences like last time. Now I have to find something to do until three. I know, I'll go check and see if Raymond is home. My bus leaves at six tonight.

     12:32pm  I have to wait until six for my bus to leave, so I came to the Chevron hoping I could find a cigarette in the ashtray somewhere. Whoa, Denise, the girl who works here just hooked me up with a whole pack of cigarettes! I appreciate it so much. She's going to listen to my story too.

     1:23pm  I found a great way to kill time. I came over to the Chevron and I'm telling this beautiful girl Pauline my stories. Well, Denise is beautiful too, but I really like Pauline's freckles. But then there's Denise's hair. Ugh, they both were beautiful beings to look at while I told them a story.

                   Pauline and Denise are hot. Beautiful girls, man. Beautiful girls. I like Pauline better. She has the cutest little freckles.

     1:40pm  I am leaving the Chevron. I had some good listeners at the Chevron today. Two extremely pretty girls. I love telling pretty girls my story. Pauline was hardcore attentive. She had her beautiful eyes locked on me the whole time.

                   I'm going to walk up to the Magic Mushroom and say bye to Brandon.

                   That was awesome how Denise hooked me up with a pack of cigarettes.

     2:06pm  I'm telling these kids my story in front of the Magic Mushroom. What's your email? johnnyboi_6_9@yahoo.com.

                   "A closed mind is a wonderful thing to lose." gypsyrose.com

     2:40pm  I am leaving the Magic Mushroom. I said bye to Brandon. These kids wouldn't listen to my story. They took off. I smoked some more resin and I'm taking off. I'm going to go sit in front of the church and read my book until three.

     2:43pm  I walked by the Burger Trolley and Pat is hooking me up with a burger! I appreciate it, Pat. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

                   Goodbye Ruidoso. I'm about to leave. Thanks for the great stay. See you all next year.

                   I got hooked up at the Burger Trolley!

     3:01pm  I am leaving the Burger Trolley. I didn't put on my presentation, but I gave Pat a CD. I told her, "Remember that documentary I was talking about? After all these years my contribution is finally ready. I have to give something back." All the cool kids at the Burger Trolley are going to love my stuff.

                   I'm walking to the church now so I can go get my bus ticket.

                   It was weird, right before I walked up to the Burger Trolley I saw a big metal arrow that said LOOK. I thought, "Hmm, I wonder what that means." Hey, the Burger Trolley! I had to follow that sign. Scored.

                   Oh yeah, and at the Burger Trolley Denise pulled up in her car. From earlier at the Chevron. I told her, "Didn't I tell you that you would see me again? I'm everywhere."

     3:26pm  I already came back to the church and I'm in their bathroom. It's the same shower room I've taken a shower in before. I'm all excited. I can't wait to see what happens next. Marilyn said we were going to go buy my ticket now.

                   It's cool, at the Burger Trolley the lady didn't even let me finish my line before she said yeah. I got a burger, fries and a lemonade. Perfect.

     3:40pm  We're leaving the church now. Bob is giving me a ride to the bus station to buy my ticket for me.

     3:51pm  I just weighed all my gear at the bus station. As of this moment I am hauling 30.55lbs. That's including my walking stick and a full Nalgene bottle. I wrote down each thing I weighed.

                   Full bottle: 2.50

                   Backpack: 18.25

                   Mission bag: 7.80

                   Walking stick: 2.00

                   Total: 30.55lbs

     3:58pm  I got my bus ticket to Alamogordo. It leaves at 6:10. I'm going to go on the off-chance that Raymond is home and see if I can get my shorts back. I have nothing else to do.

                   I'm back at Raymond's. I hope he's home. Please Love, let Raymond be home.

     4:12pm  Screw it, I snuck in through a window. He wasn't home but I was able to climb in through a window easily. I went in through his music room. I can't believe he hasn't been broken into before. Actually, Raymond told me he pulled a gun on some Mexican dude who broke into his house once. Oh yeah, I got my shorts and I am complete. That's awesome. I didn't think I was going to get those back.

                   Do you know where I got these shorts? I got them in the free box in Truth or Consequences. At the Riverbend Springs hostel place(7-14-04, 10:30am).

     4:38pm  I'm standing out here at the Ruidoso bus station. Remember back when I noticed the little birds in the nest at the bus station here(6-22-04, 6:14pm)? It's weird that they're still there. I took a picture of them again.

                   Page 150

                   "Hollstein has thought about the value of information more than most. "Many corporations," he said a few years ago, "really don't understand. . . . They still think in terms mainly of moving around men and materials," as though still locked into the smokestack economy. "What it amounts to," he has said, "is a failure to recognize that information has value."

                   Page 152

                   "The hotting-up of today's info-wars is part of a growing recognition that knowledge, while central to the new economy, violates all the rules that apply to other resources. It is, for example, inexhaustible. We know how to add value to ingots of steel or bolts of cloth. But how to add value to a good idea is much more problematic. We lack the new accounting and management theories needed to grapple with super-symbolic realities."

     5:15pm  I'm talking to Vicki about the little birds in the nest. She told me that it isn't the same nest I took a picture of last year. She said that when she started working here last December that it wasn't there.

                   Page 163

"POWER VERSUS REASON

                   As we leave the industrial era behind, we are becoming a more diverse society. The old smokestack economy serviced a mass society. The super-symbolic economy services a de-massified society. Everything from life styles and products to technologies and the media is growing more heterogeneous.
                   This new diversity brings with it more complexity, which, in turn, means that businesses need more and more data, information, and know-how to function. Thus, huge volumes of the stuff are being crammed into more and more cubbyholes—multiplying them beyond comprehension uinl stretching them to the bursting point."

                   I'm still talking to Vicky and she recommends I go to Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. I'll be sure to stop there.

     6:13pm  The bus should be here any minute now. I was talking to Vicky. The lady at the bus station. She recommended me to go to some place in West Virginia where she was born. She's got beautiful pictures inside. This big bridge. I'll look it up on the Internet.

     6:45pm  I forgot to tell you. We already took off on the Greyhound. The bus got a flat tire and we're stopped here on the highway.

     6:57pm  Did I tell you we got a flat tire? We're still waiting.

     7:58pm  They finally fixed the flat. We're moving now.

     8:09pm  The eagle has landed in Tularosa!

                   Yum-Yums Donuts was closed. That's my contact here. I'm going to go talk to them in the morning. I know I can crash in front of the Franciscan church. The sun just now came down and I walked to this park and sat down on a bench. Took a resin hit and smoked a cigarette.

     8:49pm  I came to this little park bench and smoked. I ate some more of the food I got hooked up with in Ruidoso. This homeless couple walked by. At first they had walked up to me and the guy said, "We need a place to crash. We're homeless." I'm going to go ask these kids playing basketball if they'll listen to my story.

                   This kid sitting down told me he didn't have time for my story. He had to leave pretty soon. I'm going to go in this laundromat and see if there's anyone in there I can tell my story to.

                   Wait, I'll go to the City Bar, where I've gone before. Let's see if they recognized me there. Hehe, the Shitty Bar.

     9:36pm  Cindy, the bartender volunteered me a drink. I'll have a Smirnoff.

     11:04pm  I went to the City Bar. I started telling the bartender girl my story, and this one other girl overheard it and started laughing. This pretty girl named Joyce who works at The Family Dollar. She listened to every single one of my stories. I gave her my whole package. Oh, and Cindy the waitress, she bought me a Smirnoff at first. Then Joyce bought me a Mike's Hard Lemonade Cranberry. Joyce just took off right now and said she was going to go try and find her friend and see if she has any weed. She said she'd come back and smoke me out hopefully. What a great welcome back to Tularosa, Victor.

                     I blew this girl Joyce's mind. She was all, "That's amazing. I can't believe that. That's very interesting."

     12:01am  What a crazy night I've had tonight. I was real happy because this girl Joyce I met at the bar, she had been all calling around for a ride. She finally found somebody to come pick her up. When her friends showed up she was all telling them, "This guy is going to bring world peace." Well, they drove me and Joyce over to their house and I tried putting on my presentation. They failed the test hardcore. See, the girl who's trailer it was, she recognized me from last year when I was here. I was just getting into my stuff then this little punk kid, who recognized me from before also, right before I said, "I'm going to get marijuana legalized . . " he starts laughing all cracking up and shit. All crazy. Like he was making it a point to interrupt my story. Then everybody else stopped listening to me. A couple of them were even giggling. I took that as my cue and gave Joyce a big hug and thanked her for listening to me so much. I left that house of ignorance.

                     Wait, I didn't walk that far at all and there's a Tularosa United Methodist Church. I don't have to go to the Franciscan chapel. I can crash right here on Granada Street.

                     At least I got smoked out over there. I got mine.

                     That was just one vulgar display of ignorance I just encountered. They just automatically turned their ears off. It proves me right so much.

                     And to think I am gleaming with joy right now. I am getting proved right so blatantly.

                     I need to find that one bible quote that says something like, "When people laugh at you and think you're crazy, love every bit of it." I am, oh I am. I am loving it all.

                     I just quietly walked out of there. I told them I was going to go and they tried giving me directions to the Franciscan church. I am a bit disappointed in myself. I should have at least told them, "Damn, have you always been that ignorant? I was just testing you, you failed."

                     Joyce was such a great listener tonight. Thank you, Joyce.

                     It was just really awesome that less than a block away there's a church I can camp at. Perfect. I found me a perfect spot back here and I'm going to make my bed comfortable. Welcome back to Tularosa, Victor.

                     I got smoked out! I don't give a damn if they didn't listen to me.

                     When I had first walked into that bar I asked Cyndy, "Will you let me just sit here and smoke cigarettes? I'm not going to buy anything." She told me sure. I started talking to Joyce because Cindy couldn't listen. She had to work. Cindy all of a sudden asks me, "Hey, do you want a drink?" I told her I didn't have any money and she told me she'd buy me a drink. I was happy she recognized the rules. In a community of plenty none should go hungry(or thirsty).

                     Oh yeah, and Joyce bought me a Mark's Hard Lemonade. The cranberry one. I drank like half of it then I went to the bathroom. When I came back it was gone. I said, "Hey, where's my drink?" Cindy apologized and promptly opened a new one and gave it to me.

     1:00pm  Oh man, the weirdest shit. It's like past midnight and I hear this girl screaming. Then right now it felt like a huge train or something was hauling by. It almost sounded like a big UFO and I thought maybe the girl was screaming at that. I can't fall asleep. There's too much noise.

Next day..