Socorro, NM
Thursday June 26, 2003
7:00am Man, it's already seven and nobody is awake. I hope Sarah knew where I was crashing. I don't think they would leave without me. Cool, Sarah just woke up! Hooray!
7:47am I just undertook the project of cleaning up their kitchen here. I put all the dishes away, washed all the dirty ones and wiped all the counters. Everything is spotless. I even took out the trash. I got to work. Hopefully they'll appreciate it. It's not like I had anything better to do. I was waiting for people to wake up. I might as well clean. I hate wasting time.
8:02am Okay, I don't know if I told you guys or not, but I didn't catch my bus last night because I was offered a ride to Albuquerque today! And I got to crash in a travel trailer. I got a full night's sleep and I'm going to go to Albuquerque anyway. I didn't need that bus ticket. Awesome.
Chris let me borrow his Mach 3 razor and shaving cream. I'm wearing this badass tie-dye shirt I got at the Ducat71 place yesterday. It's rad.
8:20am I just had me the closest shave in a long time. Thanks a lot Chris.
8:42am I just had me some yummy eggs. I forgot the name of the girl who made them for me(sorry), but you know who you are. Now I'm going to go smoke a cigarette and wash my dishes. It's a beautiful morning.
Oh yeah, after I cleaned up their kitchen Kara came up to me and told me, "Oh, you are a gift." Gawrsh, hehe.
9:40am Okay, I am en route northward on Interstate 25. I just passed a sign that said San Antonio - 47 miles. That's a sure sign. I'm stopping there. And, my Greyhound ticket is still good for another ninety days, so I can still get to Albuquerque eventually. Awesome, awesome. Here I go.
9:42am 39 miles to San Antonio, 49 to Socorro and 123 to Albuquerque.
9:47am Passing Nogal Canyon.
10:14am Okay, we stopped in San Antonio and there is absolutely nothing here. I'm going to keep going. Saw a sign that said, "Socorro, next right." I told Sarah, "Drop me off there." I remembered that sign I saw the day before yesterday that commanded me to Contact Socorro. That's my next stop. I must obey the signs. I saw it for a reason. Hehe, I'm all giddy. I can't wait to see what happens in Socorro.
10:35am Sarah just dropped me off in Socorro. It's a big little town. Cool, I should have some fun here.
10:51am Sarah dropped me off at the Burger King and she hooked me up with a granola bar. I'm not that hungry anymore. Cool, I'm going to walk down the street. Hmm, I see a big M on that mountain. I wonder what that means.
10:55am Weird, it seems that with all the cars in New Mexico, you don't have to have a front license plate.
11:04pm I spotted this young kid named Jerry riding a bike. Umm, his name is Joe, I mean. As he rode by I asked him, "Hey brother, know where I can score some weed?" He said he didn't know, but he offered to smoke a bowl with me right there on the sidewalk! Score! I love Socorro already!
11:22am Man, that was awesome! Since he got me high and in the right mindset I told Joe all my scripts and blew his mind. I know my scripts badass now. I can haul ass. He told me he was in a hurry so I said I was going to say my stuff as fast as I could. I told him to prompt me to slow down if he needed me to. I saw a sign for a university close by, so I'm going to go get on a computer there and type my stuff up. Maybe I can clear up all of my tapes. It's going to be a wild ride, hehe. Man, this place is awesome.
11:30am I am coming up on New Mexico Tech on Leroy Place. Founded in 1889 as New Mexico School of Lions. "The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology offers degrees through a doctorate and a number of science and engineering disciplines. In addition to its academic functions the institute also conducts extensive research in development and activities." There's a little history for you thanks to the historical marker.
I'm walking up to the Brown Hall Administration Building of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. I'm going to ask them where I can get on a computer. It's a very beautiful campus. Lots of trees and shade. It's awesome.
11:34am I talked to Jeanette at the administration building and asked her where I could check my email. She made it pretty clear that I was inconveniencing her by asking. She wasn't saying anything. I repeated, "Where is it?" and she said, "You can ask them." I'm asking you, toots(I didn't really say that, hehe). She told me to go to 117. Was that so hard, Jeanette? I went to 117 and the lady there told me I could go to the library and she gave me directions there.
11:53am I'm over here at the library talking to, what was your names? Gretchen and Lucinda. I'm about to tell them my California story. Let's see if I can blow their minds, hehe.
12:04am I put my story on pause for Gretchen and came outside to smoke a cigarette. Man, what a beautiful day it is. The sun's out and there's life in the trees. I'm smoking in front of the Joseph R. Skeen library.
12:30pm I told Gretchen and Lucinda my whole California story. Gretchen had this strange, but enchanting sparkle in her eyes while she was listening to me. It was almost hypnotizing. I had her complete attention. I've never had someone listen to me like she did. I felt like a bard telling a legend. It was quite attractive.
5:15pm I spent all day typing up my stuff at the library trying to clear up some tapes so I can record some more. And Sarah, err I mean Gretchen(who corrected me for messing up on her name). I'm so sorry Gretchen.
5:18pm Let me tell you what's happened so far. I spent all day typing up my stuff at the library. Gretchen asked me if I would be around at 5pm. I told her I would be here all day. Well, she showed up exactly at 5pm, how very punctual of her, hehe. She gets off at 5pm. She asked me if I wanted to go to happy hour with her. I said sure! So we drove over to her friends house in the middle of the desert. When we got off-road I asked her, "Umm, where are you taking me, Gretchen?" She told me her friend lived out here. I was like, "Really? Cool." Gretchen brought me out to this place where I could easily mountain bike(if I had one). I'm having the time of my life. Thank you, Gretchen. We are headed to happy hour now, right Gretchen?
Oh yeah, her friends name is Shannon, so I won't forget.
5:25pm We are at El Matador Bar. Happy hour. They got free food, too. Whoa, they have a buffet, awesome! Bummer, they're all out of food.
6:25pm We went to this bar and Gretchen bought me a drink, so now I'm kind of tipsy. Now, we're going to this place called Burrito Time, I think. I'm having fun.
6:49pm Man, I got automatic friends in this town. This is awesome. I went to the library at the school and met dear Gretchen. She's a great girl. She took me to happy hour at this bar with her friend Shannon. We stopped by Gretchen's apartment to get some shorts for Shannon. Now, I'm not sure what we're going to do, but Gretchen has a really cool house. She has a computer. Everything's cool.
7:09pm Gretchen drove us to the stream bed at Box Canyon. We're going to go hiking and climbing. This place is beautiful. It looks right out of a roadrunner cartoon.
7:52pm Gretchen and I took a walk in Box Canyon. This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I am in awe. Jaw-dropping shit. This is what I get for just taking off from San Antonio. I get to see the world.
9:01pm Gretchen and Shannon and I just left Box Canyon. Oh yeah, let me elaborate. See, Shannon is all into rock climbing. She's got rock climbing shoes, a big foam pad to fall on, and she uses chalk for grip. It's a pretty intense sport. You have to have a lot of upper-body strength. There were these other dudes already climbing when we got there. It's really cool to watch. It's hard to believe they can scale those rocks. They're almost vertical. I was thoroughly impressed. It was like shit you expect to see on some extreme sports TV show. I just watched. I don't need to hurt myself this early on my mission.
9:20pm We are about to enter the Capitol Bar in downtown Socorro. Gretchen is going to write a book on all the experiences she's had at this bar. It's that cool a place. Hehe, she says there's a gravity well in the basement that draws people there.
9:53pm Danielle was gracious enough to give me two cigarettes at the Capitol Bar.
9:56pm This big, dead cockroach just appeared out of nowhere on the table. My manly self removed it with my tough military boots, hehe.
10:22pm I'm still sitting out here. Man, I've only had one beer and I'm all drunk. Shows you how much I drink. I'm still sitting here at the bar with Gretchen. I really like Gretchen. It was really great how we came together. I just met her today. She showed me that wonderful place, Box Canyon. We have so many things in common. It's really cool. She told me she wants to go check out that medicine camp in Oregon that I went to. I'm hoping I'll have a traveling partner soon. Hopefully. Hell I don't know. I'm not going to set myself up for anything. If it doesn't happen, it wasn't meant to be. Adversely, if it does happen, it was meant to be. It's just really rad how I just ran into her at the library today.
12:35am We are still at the bar. The dog's still in the car. Poor puppy. I'm having a really great night. I'm kind of drunk, I've had a couple drinks. I want to, err . . I don't know what I want to do right now. I want to bring the truth out of hiding. I want to spill the beans. Gretchen is really cool, though.
2:13pm I woke up early this morning and fucked around with Gretchen's computer. I couldn't get it to work. Actually, I think I might have fucked it up. Gretchen woke up late, around 1pm. She has to go work at 3pm. She just jumped in the shower right now after we talked a lot. Man, I feel a little bit uncomfortable about professing my like to Gretchen. The more I talk to her, the more it comes out. I'm feeling a bit squeamish now. I look at her and I just smile. She's really cool. I like how she thinks. I like how she walks, how she talks. She's just really cool. She's growing on me.
9:15pm Man, I went to work with Gretchen and I typed up a whole lot of shit. Like five days' worth of loggings. I have a whole 60-minute tape to record over now. But, I still have so much more to type up. Man, my book is going to kick so much ass. It's so thorough. I haven't skipped one day since I left. I got plenty of tapes, too. I have four blank tapes to fill up. I'm going to go try and find Gretchen and give her a big hug.
12:15am Okay, it's midnight and we just had a little umm, I wouldn't call it an argument. Shannon and I just had a little sharing of opinions. Yeah, that's the ticket. We are in the back of the Capitol Bar. There's this ignorant dude out here, I don't know his name. He's all negative and shit. I want to go talk to Gretchen, but she walked off. I'm going to go find her after I finish this cigarette. I'm feeling a little uncomfortable. I hope I didn't piss anyone off. Sometimes I do that just for being myself. I'm going to go find Gretchen and apologize, in case I did piss people off. Things are kind of weird.
12:30am I just got Scott's email address. He seemed to agree with me.
2:05am Gretchen just brought me home to her house. She was telling me she was in a bad mood. She said that ignorant guy at the bar put her in the bad mood, but I'm not sure she was being sincere. I asked her if I had done anything, to please tell me. I didn't know how to react. Should I be paying more attention to her? Less? See, on the ride home I came out and told her, "See Gretchen, I think I need to profess my like towards you." She immediately said, "Don't, don't." Before she had told me how she wasn't ready for a roommate and how I wasn't going to be able to stay for an extended period of time. I hope it's not about money. See, I told her that if there was any possibility that we could get to know each other better, that I totally would be willing to slow down. I could follow-through on my mission over the Internet. I would get a job and my own place eventually. That seemed to make her uncomfortable and she told me, "I think we should just be friends, Victor." Well, now I know.
Oh yeah, and earlier I told Gretchen, "Listen, I have this ten dollars on me. I've been holding onto it because I wanted to get some traveling weed. But, weed just falls into my lap, regardless. You have given me so much, Gretchen. I want to take you out, even if it's for fast food, or something. It would only be right. I don't know. Maybe I was a bit too presumptuous. I don't think so. I was just telling her the truth. Honesty is the best policy. She had told me before how she really didn't need a roommate. I had told her, on more than one occasion that anytime she felt I had to go, to just tell me. I am always mobile. I told her I had a bus ticket to Albuquerque and that I could be on the next bus out of Socorro, with no regrets in Socorro.
Tonight I'm going to get all my laundry done and get a good night's sleep. Maybe I'll be jumping on the next bus to Albuquerque. Even though the weekend is coming up and we could have fun since she doesn't work. I don't know. All I know is that I don't know nothin'.
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