080403

 

Berkeley, CA

Monday August 4, 2003

     5:55am  I woke up here in front of the laundry mat and I hear this girl, Monique groaning and moaning behind me. We both woke up at the same time and I offered her a cigarette. She took one and she said that she had gone to the hospital last night with a brown recluse bite, or something. They prescribed her some Vicadin, so she's happy because of that. I noticed that she was all shivering, so I offered her my blanket. She's a bit warmer now. I went and took a piss in the alley close by. I came back and brushed my teeth. Now, I'm awake. I think I'll just sit here and read my book until it's time to walk to the church to eat breakfast.

     7:15am  Monique finally woke up. I told her I was going to wait until she woke up to get my blanket back. I got my blanket and now I'm going to go take a shit in the bathroom under the Sather Gate parking garage. Then, I'll walk over to the church and read my book until 8:00am when they feed breakfast.

                   Damnit, the one toilet in the Sather Gate parking garage is all clogged up and full of shit. Damn.

     11:37am  I was flying my sign in the morning and these two homeless kids came up and read my sign. They said, "Wow, that's so cool." I explained it all to them. I asked them, "Where are ya'll going now?" They said they had to go to the library. I asked, "The public library on Shattuck?" I asked them if they minded if I tagged along, because I needed to check my email as well.
                    See, today is the day they started this Calnet bullshit at the Doe Library. Now, they have it where you need a student ID to access any .com sites. Since I do all my loggings on my hotmail I lost that resource, so I might be skipping town soon. It really sucks. It's just a bullshit loophole the University has so non-students(like me) will stay off their computers. So that's where I am right now, the Berkeley Public Library on Shattuck. I fucking hate downtown Berkeley.

     12:05pm  That totally wasn't worth the walk over here. Not only did I have to wait in line to use the computer for only 15 minutes, but I didn't have any new mail, either. See, if you don't have a library card, you can only use the Internet for 15 minutes. If you have a library card you can stay on for a whole hour, though. Either way, I've got weeks of use I need. Oh well. Cool, I just got in the elevator at the library and there's these buttons on the floor that you can kick to select what floor you want. That's awesome.

     1:24pm  I've been back on my corner(Telegraph and Haste) flying my sign. This guy just walked by and pulls out his wallet immediately. He hands me a dollar without even reading my sign. He glimpses at it and tells me, "Oh, so you want to get rid of money? Fat chance." I asked him, "Umm, why did you just give me this dollar? I didn't even ask for it. Maybe because it's human nature to be generous just like my sign says?"

     1:34pm  Whoa, badass. Another guy just gave me a dollar. Out of the blue.

     2:07pm  Nicole and Mark have just volunteered to give me some spare change for the cause. Every little bit helps, guys.

     2:25pm  Some brother just hooked me up with a little nugget of weed. Badass.

     2:37pm  My mission has evolved once more. Everyone was just walking by not even reading my sign and it dawned on me that maybe I should just pick it up and walk up to people and stick it in their face, making sure to tell them I am not asking for money. That's exactly what I am doing now. I'm getting a much better response, now.

     2:46pm  This group of girls just walked by and I told them, "Hey, will you read my sign? I'm not asking for money." They just kept walking by and I said, "Oh well, ignorance is bliss." I heard one of the girls say without turning around, "Don't ignorance is bliss me, god damnit." and shook her finger at me. I yelled back, "The truth hurts."

     3:04pm  Dama has been generous enough to give me a big chunk of change. I appreciate it, brother.

                   Hehe, these cops just walked by and I hit them up to read my sign. They didn't even look.

                   Another guy just walked by and read it, but kept walking. All he said was, "Pretty brave, man."

                   Hehe, now I'm telling people, "Will you read my sign? It's very important. I want real change, not spare change."

                   This dude just walked by and said, "I like #3(about legalizing marijuana)." I told him, "We all do."

     3:49pm  I am walking to the church to go eat.

     4:00pm  Rich just hooked me up with a rolly while we are waiting to eat at the church. I appreciate it, brother.

     4:34pm  I had gotten in line to eat and I spotted this girl, Tracy with 4 or 5 of those Nutrigrain bars. I asked her, "How did you get so many of those?" She hands me two of them! That's very generous of you, Tracy. I appreciate it.

     5:23pm  This dude gave me a cigarette. I couldn't make out his name on the recording, but he knows who he is.

     5:55pm  Debra gave me a cigarette.

                   The less I have, the closer I am to not having anything to lose.

     6:15pm  I'm out flying my sign some more and Chad just hooked me up with a cigarette. That's very generous of you, brother. I appreciate it. For the cause.

     7:15pm  Without me even asking Chevelle gave me a lot of quarters. Badass.

     7:20pm  I just talked to this one homeless guy who just got himself an apartment. His rent is like $500/month and he makes it all spanging. He's a Vietnam vet and he flies a sign that says, "Forced to fight, now forced to beg." He has his draft papers out and he makes a killing. People hand him $5 and $10 bills. Damn. He's got it all figured out.

     7:37pm  Ben hooked me up with a cigarette on Telegraph.

     8:32pm  Steve just walked up to me and said, "Hey, you wanna get high?" We came over here behind this apartment building and he gave me some fuel for my mission, so I can fly my sign.

     10:15pm  Tim at Blake's hooked me up with a cigarette. I appreciate it, brother.

Next day..