070803

 

Portland, OR

Tuesday July 8, 2003

     5:35am  I woke up on the sidewalk. I got about five hours of sleep. It's kind of cold this morning, so I went to this donut shop and I asked the guy if I could use their restroom. He told me, "Oh, we're closed." I just walked back to the bathroom and used it for a long ass time. I took off my army pants and my scarf and put them in my bag. I'm just walking out here in the cold. My legs are shivering.

     5:39am  The dickhead bus driver driving the 56 to Washington Square pulls to the stop and doesn't even open the door so I can get on. I bang on the door and he opens it and I just ask, "What's the furthest South I can get on a bus?" The asshole tells me, "Not on this one." I asked him, "Well then, which one?" He started naming all these different routes, like I would know what the hell he is talking about. I just walked off. There is absolutely no reason for him to be such a dickhead.

     5:50am  I just got the idea to go find a college and check my email. The #12 bus going to Portland State University came. I'm going to go check my email. Gettin' an early start on things today. Early to bed, early to rise.

     5:52am  Man, all the bus drivers in Portland are bitches. Fuckin' a, that first guy earlier told me, "Not on this bus." Then right now I get on the bus going to the college and I notice it says "No fare zone." I sat down and about five minutes later the bus driver turns around and says, "Last place for no-fare zone." I took that as my cue and stood up to get off. I asked the driver, "Is the college nearby?" She told me, "You passed the college about four blocks ago." What a bitch, eh? She knew I had to go there. Why didn't she stop and tell me? A San Antonio bus driver would never have let that happen.

                    I walked down Broadway and I'm at College street.

     6:02am  Damnit, the library doesn't open for another two hours. That sucks.

                    I just walked past this bench at PSU that has a sign right in the middle of it. Half of the sign says, "Smoking Ok." with an arrow pointing to the left. Then on the other side it says, "No Smoking." with an arrow pointing to the right. Like if somebody gets caught smoking on the wrong side someone will tell them, "You have to move! Scoot over!"

     6:20am  I got off the bus over by the Greyhound station. I'm going to go see how much bus fare is. Hopefully there will be someone I can bum a cigarette off of.

     6:21am  What was your name again, brother? Daniel gave me a cigarette. I appreciate it, Daniel.

     6:26am  Whoa, I just ran into Bulldog, the black guy who I was hanging out with yesterday. At the Greyhound station, of all places. It's a small Portland. The Greyhound station here is kind of nice. I wonder how much a ticket out of here is.

     7:05am  Lauren just hooked me up with a rolly. That's very generous of you, man.

     7:22am  Man, my morning is turning out really good. For some reason I just got the impulse to go to the Greyhound station to see how much a bus ticket was. I saw my friend Bulldog, the guy I've been hanging out with for a couple days. He wants to get out of Portland, too. He told me he had crashed nearby and he just came to Greyhound station to read the paper. I asked him what he was going to do later on and he said, "I'm going to get me a nug." Cool. I'm going to hang out again with this dude and get smoked out.

                   And, that's exactly what has happened. We came down to the waterfront, which is surprisingly close to the Greyhound station. We were hoping to see some kids with buds, but nobody's out here. Just like old people jogging and walking their dogs. After we gave up and started walking I asked Bulldog if he had seen Pioneer Square. He went, "Nah, I've heard about that." I asked him if he wanted to go check it out and he said ok. So we're on our way about to go check it out.

                   Man, my book is going to kick so much ass. I was thinking. It's only nine bucks to get to Salem, South. Or, twenty bucks to get to Seattle. I've always wanted to get to Seattle. Umm, but it's going to be colder there.

     7:51am  I'm having a pretty good morning, here under the bridge downtown. I'm letting Bulldog listen to that accapella version of "Without Me" by Eminem. He interrupted my California Story, but I'll keep going later. Ignorance is bliss.

     8:25am  Me and Bulldog are off. Off to Salem. It's not that far.

     8:30am  Me and Bulldog, err I mean Rob are on the MAX headed to Pioneer Square to bum up some change for bus fare to Salem. Then we're out of here.

     8:42am  The weirdest shit happened. I came to Pioneer Square with Rob. We're going to try to spange up some money to get to Salem. But, plot thickens. This brother came up to me, out of the blue. What was your name again? Ryan asked me if there was anything real to do anymore. I thought maybe I had talked to this guy before, but I hadn't. He was a total stranger and approached me with that question.

     8:49am  Dude, weird stuff keeps happening this morning. I stumbled onto a fellow warrior. Sweet.

     8:50am  Janice hooked me up with a $1.25. Thank you. She was the second lady I asked. I told her, "I'm trying to round up some bus fare to Salem, can you spare any change?"

     9:05am  I just had the coolest conversation with Lost. He had a walking stick like me. I saw him and immediately knew I wanted to talk to him, so I did.

     9:06am  Sarah was nice enough to give me a dollar for bus fare. Thank you, Sarah.

     9:29am  I just had this great conversation with Rosie who gave me a dollar. But, she didn't agree with me one bit. She said, "Oh no, everybody is greedy." She told me that right after she gave me a dollar, hehe. Now I'm thinking this may be a sign that I shouldn't leave Portland quite yet. No, I got bus fare for a reason. I'm going to Salem. Some good things are going to happen there. They're going to think I'm a witch, hehe.

     9:30am  I just stopped on the corner and this Jehova's Witness just stopped and started talking to me. He tried giving me his pamphlets and stuff. Man, I just busted out on him and told him all my scripture and stories. I blew his mind good. He truly didn't know what to say. What a great morning!

     9:40am  I was asking for a cigarette, but no one gave me one. Skip overheard me and he's flying a sign that says, "Homless." without the e. He offered me some of his tobacco. That's very generous of you, brother.

                  Whoo, this is too big a thing not to put in my journal. I was considering not mentioning it at all. See, yesterday when I was taking a shit at the bookstore somebody got in the stall next to me, took a shit and left. I looked under the stall and spotted a leather checkbook wallet with a checkbook. I grabbed it. It had lots of the guys' checks. I immediately thought, "Hmm, I wonder if I can go trade this for some weed." It's a quality leather checkbook wallet. It has to be worth something. I went to the waterfront, but nobody wanted to trade. I looked through it again and noticed the guys' phone number was on it. I figured I would just do the right thing and return it. The guy lives in Washington and if I'm skipping town I'm going South. Hmm, I don't even know where I could use a phone to call him.
                  But, Bulldog, Ron has just appropriated it and taken full possession. He came up with a plan. We're going to go try and eat at a Chinese buffet place. Hey, as long as I'm not doing it. Alright, let's see what happens.

                  Ahh, the place didn't accept checks. Oh well. I'm just going to forget about it. It's not my responsibility to reunite that guy with his checkbook. He shouldn't have left it in the bathroom to begin with. I hope Bulldog puts it to good use.

                  Well, Bulldog just disappeared.

     10:15am  Tim gave me a cigarette. I appreciate it, Tim. It'll come back to you.

     11:57am  I just met this intriguing woman at the bus stop. Her name is Tina. Most other people would say that she's crazy, but I have this calling to her. She mystifies me. I'd like to help her. We just had the coolest conversation. She keeps saying that she's lost her light. She's homeless, but well-kept. We were having the weirdest conversation. She's all depressed. She told me, "I feel betrayed, I don't have any money, I'm homeless." I just felt like I could help her. She had started talking to me in Pioneer Square. I lost Bulldog. I don't know where the hell he went. If he took off or not.

     12:11pm  Tina and I are on the bus. The #14 bus going to . . I don't know. It's kind of weird being out of downtown. I'd been here so long. I never realized how big Portland was. It's a big city like San Antonio. Wow, I'm going exploring. Let's see what happens.

                     Tina and I got off the 14 bus. I don't know where the hell I am. I'm thinking this might be the Southeast part of town. I'm going to see if there are any resources here.

     12:35pm  The weirdest shit. I just ran into that girl. I forgot her name. She was the one who gave me a ride to Portland from the Rainbow Gathering. Coincidentally, the bus that I took went to her neighborhood. In this huge ass town I accidentally run into the girl that brought me here. Trippy shit, man. Oh yeah, her name was Jes, I think.

                     This girl walked by Tina and I and told us, "I'm glad to see you're in my neighborhood."

     1:22pm  Michelle was gracious enough to give me a cigarette. I appreciate it, thanks.

     1:25pm  Wyatt was kind enough to give me a dollar for bus fare.

     1:47pm  Tina and I stopped at some Tibetan store. By the store there is a laundromat and it'll only cost me 75 cents to wash all the clothes I wearing. It'll take an hour and a half, so I'm going to go see if Tina minds. I might do my laundry, cool.

     1:59pm  Jason was gracious enough to give me a cigarette. Thank you, Jason. It'll come back to you.

     4:05pm  Scott hooked it up with a smoke. Thanks, brother.

                   Umm, now that I am typing this up, I can't remember how I parted from Tina. I talk later about being glad I lost that responsibility. I don't specify as to what the responsibility was, but I'm thinking it may be because I was able to split from Tina. I think I may have promised to help her. Oh well. Who knows?

     4:51pm  I'm going to lie down in the park here and take a nap. That's what I'm going to do.

     7:03pm  I woke up from my nap. I slept a long time.

     9:03pm  I'm talking out here with Oaks at the square. I'm glad I was able to divorce my responsibility, Tina. I am free again. I told her straight up, "You gotta stop accusing me of shit. I'm trying to help you. It doesn't make it seem like you appreciate it too much."

                    Everybody is playing hacky-sack out here in the square. I'm really glad that I decided to leave tomorrow instead.

     9:29pm  I'm here sitting at the square, still. I just saw this kid playing hacky-sack with a NOFX beanie on. So, I went up to him and asked him, "Are you a big NOFX fan?" He said yeah and so I told him, "Let's see. Would you understand me if I told you I had found the cure to the Bleeding Heart Disease?" He pretend to and says, "Yeah, it's called Liza and Louise." He's just naming off a song. He doesn't know what the hell I am talking about. Anyway, I tried to explain it to him, but he wouldn't listen. God-damnit. An ignorant NOFX fan. What's this world coming too?

                    This girl just suggested some good reading. Look up World Walk on the Internet. By Steven somebody. I'll find it.

 

Next day..