Portland, OR
Monday July 7, 2003
5:30am It's the next day, Monday. I woke up on the sidewalk. It's cold. I can't believe it's so fucking bright this early. Oh, and by the way, the Peace Encampment is 4th Avenue and Jefferson.
6:10am John woke up and told me where the restrooms were. I walked all the way down 4th Avenue to Burnside and turn right. Another six blocks and I'll see the restrooms on my left. Here I go.
6:55am I got to the rescue mission. I have to wait until 7:30am for them to feed breakfast. Then I'll go take a shower.
7:37am Dennis informed me of a place to do my laundry. What was the address again? 17th and Hoyt. Sisters of the Rose is what the place is called.
8:59am I just got a shower. There was like a big group of people lined up and they were telling everyone they could only stay in the shower for five minutes at a time. I got me a towel and a razor. I'm going to shave then I'm going to go brush my teeth and find me something to eat.
9:05am Man, this is great. I feel all clean.
Now I have to eat. Somewhere, somehow. Then I'm going to find a college and type up my stuff.
I'm at this park here over on West Main and 4th or 5th, I don't know. I'm reading this big board that says, "First high tension power line. The world's first long-distance high-tension power line began operation between Portland and Willamette Falls by the Willamette Falls Electric Company on June 3, 1889. This marker commemorates an historic event."
That's dumb, it should be A historic event. They put this plaque there June 3, 1952.
10:05am John showed me where this church they were giving sack lunches at 10am was at. I got me a sandwich, two cookies and a bag of lays potato chips. I'm going to eat now.
10:20am I'm on the street corner near the university. Earlier I had decided I was going to try and find a college and type up my stuff. But, I was still hungry and thought it better to eat first. I went up to the encampment and saw John(the guy I met last night) again. I asked him if they had any food they could spare. He told me there had a bagel right there inside a big bin.
12:13pm When I was taking a shit earlier, I found somebody's leather checkbook underneath the stall. I grabbed it. It's in a really nice leather case and at first I wondered if I could possibly trade it for some weed. But, I went to the waterfront and told people I had just found this really nice leather checkbook wallet. They all told me they wanted nothing to do with it, that'd it'd be a federal offense. They wanted money.
I kept walking and I pulled out the wallet and was reading stuff in it. This girl walked by and I told her, "Hey, look what I got." She went, "Whoa, you can do a lot with that." The owner was from Washington state. If he was in Portland I'd give it back to him. Then I realized his phone number was on there. I told the girl I was going to call him and give it back. She told me not to, that I could do a lot with those checks. I told her I was opting to do the right thing.
12:21pm I ran into Mark. He's giving me directions to this place where I can go use the phone. I'm going to call this guy and give him his wallet back.
12:24pm Jen was nice enough to give me a cigarette. Thank you, Jen.
12:56pm I'm at 1st Avenue and Couch.
2:37pm I just had a really good time. I spent all that time with this one girl, Kimberly. She listened to me, I listened to her. She had a lot on her mind, as well.
Hmm, I don't know what I'm going to do now. I just scored a cigarette off this Asian dude over by 5th and Place.
4:27am Me and Bulldog just walked into the Made In Oregon Antique Mall. It's right over here by where you catch the MAX. We just walked in there Bulldog asked for change for a twenty dollar bill. The bitch said no, that she wasn't going to give it to him. Then he tried to purchase something, and she still wouldn't cooperate. God-damn.
I just walked by two dudes playing guitars and told them, "Play some Skynard, man."
5:32pm I had the most interesting conversation with this guy who was preaching.
I just ran into a movie producer. His name is David and he goes to school and makes movies. He told me to give him a call. I got his card and email address.
6:17pm I've been here for like two days now and I am now just stumbling onto the Pioneer Plaza. I was at the waterfront for a long time looking for a cigarette. Nathan hooked me up and I'm trying to tell my story and have a good conversation.
6:49pm Nikki was gracious enough to give me a cigarette.
7:05pm I came over to the corner of 2nd and Yamhill, where that girl Jessie told me to go. I was just walking down by the corner of the bus stop I was sitting at when I had met Jessie. I hear someone call, "Victor!" from behind. It was Jessie! She works at Great Harvest Bread Company. I told her I had to rewind my tape to remember the intersection, but I'm here. At 7pm like I said. Man of my word. She hooked me up with this big bag of muffins and bread. She got me a watermelon, too. I'm not going to be hungry all night.
I'm over here at Yamhill and 4th Avenue. Jessie told me yesterday that there were a lot of quotes inscribed into the sidewalk close by and I found it. A lot of them aren't that good, but I found one that is. It says,
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Arthur Conan Doyle.
This one says, "Itching to get out of Portland, OR." That's what I am right now. Itching to get out of Portland. That's funny.
A lot of these quotes are just retarded.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Here's a random one, "Teach your grandmother to suck eggs."
Another one says, "This is the end of life as we know it." That's all it says."
"Although they are only breaths, words which I command are immortal. - Sappho"
Jim Morrison prophecies that, "No one here gets out alive."
"Don't let the cat out of the bag." That's exactly what I am going to do.
Okay, That's it for the quotes.
7:40pm Jennifer is going to hook me up with some weed. You see how shit just falls in my lap? I'm following all the right signs, I guess.
8:06pm I spied this girl with a cigarette and I asked her, "Hey, can I trade you a roll for a cigarette?" She said, "Oh, I'll just give you one." Cool.
8:35pm I'm going to go sit down at the Pioneer Plaza and listen to my headphones.
8:40pm I was at the Plaza and came across the street to the Nordstrom's store. I had asked this lady at some little shop if she knew where the bathroom was. She told me there was one at Nordstrom's, but you had to know the code for the door. Lemme see if I can crack it. Ah shit, I'm not even going to try. Ahh shit, let me just go ask a salesperson.
Okay, the code to the bathroom is 6384.
8:57pm Leaving Nordstrom's. Things got a little better. I got some food.
9:14pm Sarah has agreed to give me a cigarette. How very generous of you, Sarah. I appreciate it.
10:34pm A different Sarah has just hooked me up with a whole pack of GPC's.
11:43pm I'm on the MAX with my new friend Sarah who I met in the plaza. We decided to get on the bus, go wherever it takes us and see what happens. We're bored.
12:10am I'm in Gresher now. A whole other town. Suburb, I think. I'm just going to catch the MAX and go right back. Well, that was a little adventure. I can smoke a cigarette now. I'm outside. Cool.
12:39am I messed up. There aren't any more MAXes going back to Portland right now. I lucked out because there is this Burnside bus still running. I'm going to catch that back to Portland. Good thing, I thought I'd have to find a place to crash.
1:15am I'm on the Burnside bus heading back into town. There's a lot of kids on this bus.
1:40am I'm back in Portland still on the bus. I fell asleep on the bus.
2:10am I'm just walking around. Just got directions to City Hall. I just saw some guy who had a miner's light on his helmet and he was looking through all the trash cans. Trash digger.
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