081503

 

Berkeley, CA

Friday August 15, 2003

     6:13am  It's the next day. I just woke up at Bing Wong's. I woke up and I overheard these two brothers talking about wakin' and bakin'. I heard one guy say, "Here, take the first hit," to the other guy. I woke up and told him, "Hey man, think you can spare a hit so I can wake-n-bake too? They told me, "Sure, get out of bed." I came over to them and took a hit. Ahhh.

     6:15am  Butch was nice enough to smoke me out this morning.

     6:55am  I'm walking. I stopped at the Sather Gate parking garage. It's still kind of early. I honestly haven't changed these socks I'm wearing in like a good five days. Since the last time I took a shower, which I'm not sure when that was. When I took my boots off, they weren't too discolored. I took those socks off just because my feet weren't feeling too hot. These new socks feel so much better.

                   I was just taking all my clothes out of my backpack, reorganizing and I found a cricket in there! I wonder how long that's been in there. It was still alive. That's weird. I released him. He needs to be free.

     7:54am  I got outside of the big meal room at the church. I heard this lady asking someone for a lighter. The person she asked told her no. So I went, "I have a lighter." I asked her if she had another cigarette and she hooked me up. What was your name? I appreciate it, Valerie. It'll come back to you.

     8:56am  Just stopped and checked my email in the MLK building. No new email. I'm going to go type up my stuff at the library. I want to type up three or more days a day. That way I'll catch up in no time.

     9:02am  Peter hooked me up with a cigarette in front of the library. I appreciate it, brother. It'll come back to you.

                   Okay, I'm stopping this recording now since the sides almost finished.

     12:41pm  I'm done with my morning routine at the school. I went to the bathroom and took a shit in the big stall. I got all my stuff together after taking off my warm clothes. I brushed my teeth and now I'm out here hoping to bum a cigarette so I can come smoke at my little corner. Nobody is smoking outside, this sucks. I don't know what I'm going to do. I was thinking about walking downtown to Center Street and go to the MASC, where all the bums go to get their shit. I want to go take a shower, that's what I want to do. Then I thought, "Nah, I can just wait until eight and hopefully they'll have towels this time. If not, I just won't take a shower. Big deal. I don't feel that dirty. I took a shower not too long ago.

                      It's been a productive day so far. I got three whole days typed up. If I keep doing three all the time, I should be caught up in no time.

     12:50pm  Jan was gracious enough to give me a cigarette. That's very generous of you, Jan.

     1:12pm  I came to the MLK building to check my email and who comes in five minutes after I do? Bowie. I thought he had split. Jesse already left with Raven, but Bowie stuck around. He's trying to email them now and locate them. I told him Berkeley was a vortex that sucks you in. I'll see if I can hang out with him or something. I'm bored.

     1:45pm  Cool, got high in People's Park. Sweet, just like I always plan. When Bowie was finished at the MLK building I asked him, "So where are you going to go?" He said he was open, so I suggested we go to People's Park and get smoked out. He was down for that suggestion. Sure enough, we did! This guy smoked the rest of his joint with us and I scraped up a resin hit. I still have my pipe. I'm so proud of myself. I can't wait to go back to San Antonio and talk to Lorraine and tell her, "Look what I still have."

                    I'm out flying my sign again, since I got high in the park. This older lady stopped and read my sign. When she was finished I asked her if she had an email address. She said she did, but when I asked her for it she said, "No, I don't want to give it to you." I told her, "Okay, I'll tell you if you listen." I got all the way to, "So what I'm going to do is just tell everyone. I'll massmail detailed instructions . . ." She stopped me and said, "Oh, I gotta go. I've already missed two lights." She tried to interrupt me some more, but I just talked over her(because what I was saying was more important than crossing the street). She told me, "You know it's not going to happen, right?" I told her, "Only because people like you don't think it's going to happen. Anything is possible and you have to start somewhere." She finally had enough and walked off.

     1:46pm  Dave is hooking me up with a cigarette. He read my sign. I appreciate it, brother.

                   Badass, I totally owned these guys. I told them all my shit.

                   How awesome. This little British kid walked up and read my sign with his family. He was real young kid. He got all excited and said, "Yeah! That's it!" They started to walk off and his parents were all, "That's never going to work." The kid came up to me and shook my hand and told me, "I believe in you, man." I told him, "Thank you. It's your world that I'm saving."

     2:07pm  Nate hooked me up with three cigarettes. Badass man.

                   That guy gave me three whole cigarettes. I asked the people close by if any of them smoked. They all told me no and I said, "Oh, because if you did I was going to offer you one. Some guy just gave me three." Then, I saw Grim, this guy who crashes at the laundromat too. He was on a skateboard and right when he rode past me, I stuck out the cigarette. He goes, "Aww, thank you, bro." I told him how I had just been kicked down three and I was giving them out. I only needed one.

     2:10pm  Odysseus was nice enough to give me a cigarette.

     3:16pm  I just came back to the park and smoked the cigarette I bummed with Bowie. Bowie just told me that some guy just walked up to him and offered him a job pulling cable. The company's name is Integrated Signals. The business card says, "Meticulous cabling - telephone and data." Ethan Willard is the guy and if you don't believe me you can call him at 510-644-8000 or email him at, hehe. Anyway Bowie said he didn't know if he needed two people and if he doesn't Bowie is leaving tomorrow, so maybe I could replace him. I'm always up for some exercise/manual labor. Cool, cool. This might help a lot. Oh yeah, that email address is INTSignal@aol.com.

     3:55pm  We are walking to the church to eat. There's going to be a big line.

     4:21pm  I'm in the big lunchroom and I just got my tray. Since it's always so crowded I usually don't sit down at a table. I've gotten into the routine of putting my bags on top of this top bookshelf and eating standing up at this window next to it. Well, today I walked up to this window and I barely touched this guy's duffel bag with my shoe. It was on the floor. All of a sudden I hear someone say, "Get the fuck off my bag." I tell him, "I'm not on your bag." He tells me, "I said get your fucking feet off my bag." This dumbass needs to chill out. I just touched it. I told him, "Whatever, I'm hungry. I don't have time for this shit." He got up and moved his bag over. What a stupid ass. Hmm, if he doesn't want people's shoes touching his bag maybe he shouldn't have it on the floor.

     4:44pm  I just ate and I'm walking to check my email at the email station in the MLK building, then I'll go to the library and type up another three or four days. I need to catch up already.

     4:51pm  Dave hooked me up with a cigarette. I appreciate it, brother. It'll come back to you.

     5:17pm  I walked back to Telegraph. It sucks, the library is going to be closed all weekend long because of that limbo period when school starts. That fucking sucks. I'm going to lose that resource for three days.

                   I'm out here flying my sign. This girl just walked by and I said, "I do not want any money." This bitch said, "Yeah right."

     6:10pm  Nick hooked me up with a cigarette.

     6:25pm  Lalin was generous enough to buy a nickel sack and we're smoking weed now. Cool.

     6:42pm  Not only did the guy who got me stoned get me stoned, he just said, "Hey, do you want a pack of Buglers? I'll go buy you one." So we just walked to the store and he's going to buy me a whole pack of Buglers. Badass. Lalin lives on the street, too and he's buying me shit. Just like that. We were walking to the store and I saw Grim. He walks by and asks me, "Are you hungry?" I tell him, "Sure, if you have something for me." He hooks me up with a high-calorie fruit filled bar. That's awesome.

     7:45pm  I came out here to Telegraph and smoked that last bit I had. I rolled me a cigarette from my new pouch of tobacco Lalin bought me. I was in front of Cody's and all of a sudden, this chick throws herself on the ground and starts flipping out and having a seizure. She's epileptic. She was just lying there all trembling. Somebody called an ambulance. Oh yeah, well anyway I figured she should have a pillow or something, so I got my blanket out of my bag and went and put it under her head. Her friends were tending to her, also. She's alright now. She got up and the ambulance is here. That was just weird.

Next day..