071205

 

Socorro, NM

Tuesday July 12, 2005

     7:32am  I just woke up. I got a real good night's sleep.

     8:52am  I had a good time relaxing, just chilling out in the house. I just packed up my stuff. I scraped up a little resin hit. I'm going to take off now.

     8:54am  I'll need an extra tennis ball. I'm going to go back.

                   Alright, I grabbed another tennis ball out of my backpack I have stashed in the closet of one of the rooms. I'm going to walk into town now.

     9:21am  Valerie, in front of Smith's, she went inside and bought me a donut. I appreciate it, Valerie. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

                   Sweet, she bought me two donuts. I'm talking to this guy in front of Smith's right now. Telling him what I'm doing.

     9:57am  I came to the Spin City Laundromat. I'm going to sit down and eat. There's some good snipes in the ashtray. I'm going to go to school and proofread my stuff.

     10:01am  Right when I was talking to that one guy Joe pops up. The guy who took me to his apartment the other night and let me put my stuff on his computer. I totally forgot to wait for him and I took off. I hope he's still in the store. I had walked to the laundromat and just walked back. I really hope he's still in the store. Man, he's got a CD burner. I might have even been able to score a shower.

     10:31am  I am at the library. Let me check my email and see if anyone is willing to help.

     10:33am  Nobody emailed me, so I'm going to walk around the campus and see if I can find Joe's apartment again. Hopefully I'll recognize his car and go knock on people's doors. I don't know.

     10:54am  I just circled the whole campus and I didn't recognize Joe's apartments. That sucks. I'm going to go to the library and see if Gretchen has a CD burner.

     2:39pm  I spent a lot of time at the library. I proofread all of February 04. Oh wait, badass, there's like a dollar in quarters in the payphone here at the library. I don't usually check for change in phones, but I just had a feeling right now. Thank you, Love. I appreciate it. I had even been contemplating on asking Gretchen for a dollar so I could go buy some soap and take a shower at the public pool. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to Smith's and see if I can buy a bar of soap for the dollar I just found. Then I'm going to go to the pool, where the girl there told me I could shower for free. I checked my logs and I got to Socorro the night of the sixth. Six days I've gone without a shower.

     2:59pm  The store director here at Smith's, Scott Jameson is hooking me up with some money so I can buy some soap to take a bath. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     3:04pm  Cool, I got some soap. The store director helped me out. When I first walked in there he asked me if I needed help finding anything. I told him soap and he pointed me to the right aisle. I looked and they didn't have any soap for a dollar. I was hoping they would have a travel size one, but they didn't even sell one bar individually. I walked back to Scott and asked him if they had any travel-size soaps on an endcap or something. He walked over to a different aisle where he thought they had some, but they didn't. I told him I didn't want to buy two bars of soap, that I was traveling and only had one dollar. He promptly volunteered and handed me some change. Like two dollar bills and a fifty cent piece. He helped me out. Now I'm going to go to Burrito Tyme and see if I can score again.

     3:10pm  I scored at the Burrito Tyme again! I didn't even have to ask or anything. Right when I walked in the girl said, "What do you want?" I told her to surprise me. She gave me a bigass burrito. I told her, "Gracias por la bendicion." Thanks for the blessing. I came over to the laundromat next door. I'm going to sit down and eat my burrito. Umm, I wish I had my swim trunks so I wouldn't have to stand naked in the shower. It's right next to the exit to the pool. Ahh, like I give a damn if people see me. Remember, I want them to look at me. Then I'll have to stand there naked and drip-dry since I don't have a towel. If I had my swim trunks it would be better. Screw it, I just bought two bars of soap. I got hooked up by the store director and I'm going to go take a shower and get clean again finally. It's been like five or six days since I've taken a shower.

     3:22pm  I ate my big burrito in front of the laundromat. I'm going to walk to . . . I'm not going to go to the public swim center. I'm going to go to the school. They have a pool there. Their showers might be more private.

                   I don't care. I'm going to go to the swim center and see if they have any towels I can borrow. If not I'll just drip-dry.

     3:51pm  Scored me a shower. I'm all nice and clean.

     3:57pm  I am all fueled up. I'm nice and squeaky-clean. I'm going to go back to the library and get back to work proofreading.

                   I'm going to scan the ashtrays for snipes first.

     6:10pm  Stan and Randy hooked me up with a cigarette in front of the library. I appreciate it, brother.

     6:16pm  I'm telling Randy my story in front of the library. What's your email, bro? shogun40@nmt.edu

     6:19pm  The weirdest thing. All of a sudden there was this big power surge at the library and all the computers shut off. I didn't lose anything because I've been saving my stuff to disk. I just took that as a good sign to leave. I've been here all day. I'm already in the middle of March proofreading. When I go to leave, I walk out and there's this guy smoking a cigarette. This Mexican dude. I hit him up for a cigarette and he said sure. I told him my story. I didn't tell him my odyssey, but I got to that whole other part about logging my life and all the emails I have. I told him, "I'm not crazy. I just pretend like I am. Did you fall for it?" He cracked up.

                   He's going to tell all his friends.

                   I'm going to walk to the Capitol Bar and hang out there.

     6:57pm  I came to the Conoco. I'm going to sit down and smoke a cigarette I found.

     7:17pm  Frank is hooking me up with a cigarette at the Conoco. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     7:25pm  I am leaving the Conoco. I guess they had better shit to do than to listen to my story. This dude wearing a crucifix told me, "Oh, I got a lot of work to do." Ugh, ignorance prevailed. I'm going to walk to the Shell station and tell my story there.

                   Right now I walked up to the Shell station and this white dude with a cowboy hat heard me out. He had to go. He's going to Arizona.

     7:50pm  I didn't even ask and Curtis Gallegos volunteered me some change at the Conoco. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

                   That guy didn't listen to me one bit. He just kept rambling on and on.

                   I'm walking down California Street and random people are honking at me giving me the peace sign.

                   I'm walking down California. I'm going to walk back over by Smith's and tell my story at the gas stations around there.

                   I came to the Premier gas station. I walked in and asked the kid working inside if he would charge me for ice. He was currently hooking up this homeless dude with a hotdog. I went, "Oh, you guys have free hotdogs here?" The dude told me, "They're not free. It will cost you a story." Shocked, I asked him, "How did you know I had a story to tell?" He said I just looked like I did.

     8:33pm  I'm talking to John, the cashier at the Premier gas station. What's your email? montoya_johnjr@hotmail.com

     9:00pm  I came to the Premier station and I'm telling my story to John. I'm thinking John might be gay. Right off the bat he invited me to dinner at 10:30 when he got off. Plus, the way he looks at me while I'm telling him my story. His eyes were locked on mine, which I usually like. I was sure to give him my disclaimer about how I might be the happiest man in the world, but I'm not gay. I wear the rainbow colors because I am a beam of light for others to follow.

     9:34pm  John is telling me about oil. He said oil is a finite resource on Earth. It can only last so long. The idea is that once half the oil on Earth has been produced, or the half of the oil that's left to be produced, which would it make it more expensive and wreck the world economy.

     9:39pm  I'm talking to Christy in front of the Circle K. What was your email? chrisiel@nmt.edu

     9:47pm  I was walking from the Premier gas station and I saw this kid walking. I eventually caught up to him and asked him if I could tell him my story. I told him my platform on the walk over to Smith's. I'm going to wait for him to come out so I can tell him my odyssey.

                   That guy Christy came back out. I finished my odyssey for him.

                   Haha, I just had me a great presentation with these two cops in front of El Camino Family Restaurant. I've got the biggest balls of them all. When I told them my mission objectives and asked if they were willing to listen, one cop said, "You started it, now you've got to finish it. Keep going." I'm going to walk to my squat now.

                   Hehe, one of the cops asked me, "How did you get so smart?" Now that I think back, I should have told him it was because of the marijuana.

     11:39pm  I'm talking to Matthew Garcia at the Capitol Bar. What's your email? mortal2000@yahoo.com

     11:59pm  I told Matthew my story at the Capitol Bar and he offered to smoke me out! I appreciate it, brother. The universe provides.

     12:15am  We came over to his apartment about three blocks away. I'm showing Matthew all my visual aids. I showed him 2004 trip and he counted all the cities. I have 106.

     12:34am  Erin hooked me up with a cigarette at the Capitol Bar. I appreciate it, Erin.

     1:50am  What a crazy night I had tonight. Oh yeah, this guy, this gay dude. I'm supposed to meet him tomorrow night at the bar. Ahh, he's probably not going to show up. It was weird. First off, I went to the Capitol Bar after I walked up and down the street. I bummed a cigarette off of King Georgie. I watched them play a couple games of pool. I decided to go out back to the patio to see if there was anyone I could tell my story to. I went back there and this gay dude called me over. I went and told him my story. Then all of a sudden he offers to smoke me out. We drove over to his apartment. Then I found out he had a computer and shit. Umm, I kind of invited myself to spend the night. I hope he doesn't think I was gay. He was offed by that, if that's a word. See, we drove in his car to get there, so I thought it was real far away. Then I remembered, "I have a house to crash in. I don't need to crash here." Anyway, he's got a CD burner. He told me to meet him at the bar tomorrow. I'm going to chill out in Socorro until I get my CD's burned.

                   Oh yeah, my mission-bag broke. One of the straps pulled through. That be my sign to go to Albuquerque, to a mall to buy a new one.

                   Oh yeah, Will bought me a drink tonight. See, when I first got there I told him, "Buy this hippie a drink?" He said he had my back and bought me a dark ale. Anyway, I took a couple sips of it and then decided to hold off because alcohol doesn't mix with my storytelling. I went to the patio and met Matthew. Before we left I put the drink under the counter, so it would be there when I got back. When I got back I only drank like a third of it. I met this Marine dude. This guy was a programmed death machine. Well, I shouldn't talk shit about him so he won't kill me, hehe. He told me he had killed over a thousand people. Like women and children too. I asked him, "Aren't you scared it's going to come back?" He went, "I did it for my country." I told him, "You chose to do that. To be in that position." I wanted to leave so bad. It's really crazy how brainwashed people can get.

                   Oh man, those were some spectacular presentations with that guy dude Matthew. He's a firm believer. I told him all my stories. I gave him my whole package.

     2:10am  I am home. Home sweet home.

                   At the bar it was crazy how I ran into that Marine guy. I asked him if he was scared, because justice will be done.

                   I just got an idea that will ease my mind a lot. Maybe I should type up a note and leave it with my backpack while I'm gone. I'll just type it up and print it out at the library. Like a warning. I'll include my platform and my odyssey story.

                   On the main page be sure to add, "In case someone likes my webpage and wants to put it on the Internet for me, be sure to get the address www.havethisbook.com. But please, don't change any of the content at all."

                   Damnit, this cricket in the sink is bugging the hell out of me. I can't even go to sleep. I got the idea, "I'll just ask him to stop." It would be really cool if he did. I asked him to stop and he did! He's not chirping at all now.

Next day..