091303

 

Arcata to Freshwater, CA

Saturday September 13, 2003

     6:35am  I woke up around six. It's cold. I miss San Antonio. Michael woke up, too. Like four people crashed at the barn last night. We are now walking through the field out to town. Oh man, I'm cold. Arcata is starting to get boring. I've received enough destinations from my stay. I'm ready to go. Shit, I have to wait like three days to see if Colleen can give me that busfare. Then, I'll get back to San Antonio real easily. I've been thinking just saying screw it and take off hitchhiking.

     7:20am  I'm standing in front of the donut shop and Beth and friend just bought me an apple fritter. I appreciate it, guys. Thanks a lot.

     8:44am  The sun came out and warmed me up. I sat down in the plaza and read my Third Wave book. I'm already past page 200. I remembered I hadn't taken a shit this morning, so I'm going to go up to the third floor in the Jacoby's Storehouse. Oh yeah, and I just traded this dude 35 cents for a caribiner and a Trek water bottle. I needed another caribiner, cool. Well actually, I didn't.

                    I'm going to go bum a cigarette before I go to the bathroom.

     8:56am  I'm walking to the Cash Oil to go get some coffee. Arkansas and Michael just smoked me out. I appreciate it, guys.

     9:00am  The Storehouse is closed. The bitches at The Alibi wouldn't let me in their bathroom, even though I go in there all the fucking time. This dickhead told me, "The bathrooms are for customers only." So, I'm going to walk to the Cash Oil. Geba told me there's a bathroom there, so I'm going to go use that.

     9:11am  Took a shit at the Cash Oil.

     10:05am  Geba and I were talking. I asked him to refresh my memory about the three things. The Interior Terrorist Network, which is just what the government considers enemies in America. There's three levels. There's the top one, The Ascended Masters. There's Earth First and then the Rainbow Family. There's supposed to be an Earth First rally going on pretty close to here, but I don't know where it is. Geba said they might be picking people up at the Co-op, so I've decided to come over to the Co-op and read my book. I'm on page 230 already. It's a good book.

                      On page 235 it says, "Measured any way we choose, our demands on the planet are escalating wildly. As a result the biosphere is sending us alarm signals - pollution, desertification, signs of toxification in the oceans, subtle shifts in climate - that we ignore at the risk of catastrophe. These warnings tell us we can no longer organize production as we did during the Second Wave past."

     10:30am  Jay came over to the Co-op and saw me reading my Third Wave book. He's smoking a brother out. I appreciate it, brother.

     10:35am  I was just sitting here reading my book and this guy comes up to me. Some guy I remember from Clam Beach that no one was helping him get a fire going and he had said, "Oh, I guess I have to do this all by myself." Well anyway, he came up to me and I told him what I was doing, how I was recording my life and everything. I told him I had found a way to fight the world's greatest problem. He said, "What? Ignorance?" The was exactly it. He hit the nail right on the head. He's not the first. I tried getting into my stuff with him, but he started talking about other shit himself. Damnit. I told him, "Wait, stop. You know what people really need to do or we are all doomed? They need to stop, listen and let me finish." He was all, "I was listening." Then he ended up saying, "Oh, I'm going to go the plaza," and then he took off. "Ignorance is bliss," I told him.
                    He had been all whining saying, "Oh, I'm dyslexic, I haven't been to school since the sixth grade. I can't do anything." I told him, "Complaining won't do shit. You can do whatever you want. If you can't do something, you don't want to bad enough. Practice makes perfect." He told me, "I hope you're right, brother," and just walked off.

                    Okay, I'm on page 241 and I have this idea in my head. I'm not going to get to this Earth First thing by just sitting here doing nothing. I'm going to get proactive on this goal. I'm going to walk up to the plaza and see if Geba is there. If he is I'm going to tell him that I'm going to take off walking. Somebody told me the way to get to the Earth First thing was to go 101 South to the Indianola exit and head East, towards the mountains and see if I end up there. Hopefully someone will pick me up. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to walk out of here. I'll see if Geba wants to go with me, and if not I'll go by myself.

     10:54am  Papa John hooked me up with a cigarette. I appreciate it, brother.

     11:10am  I walked up to the plaza and found Geba and Jenny. I bummed a cigarette off Papa John and walked up to them and told them, "Alright guys, I'm leaving with or without you. I have to be a little proactive. Change is never going to come from just sitting around." Geba said, "I'm proactively lifting my leg." I took off walking and Jenny got up, she's coming too. Now Geba is following us. Everybody is going. Cool. We are now walking to Jenny's friend's house and she said he would give us a ride to Freshwater, where the Earth First thing is at. That's cool. It seems like I am meant to be at this Earth First thing.

     1:32pm  We walked to Jenny's friend's apartment. His name is Chris. He's got a badass computer and I noticed he had Future Shock in all his books. I told him how I never finished reading that and how I had left it in Berkeley. He hooked me up. Badass. I get to finish reading Future Shock, which Third Wave is the sequel to. So Future Shock fell in my lap once more. I am meant to read it. Oh yeah, Chris is showing us this cool celestial navigational program on his computer called Starry Night.

     1:39pm  We are leaving.

     1:56pm  We're in Freshwater now. We just stopped on the side of the road where there's some treesitters up in trees. There's a couple people down on the ground re-supplying the sitters. Chris has to go back and put air in his tire. This isn't the peace rally. Hmm, I wonder where we are.

     2:48pm  We had to go back and get air for Chris' tire. We are now driving back and forth looking for the peace rally. We finally asked these hippies and they have given us confirmation. They gave us exact directions. Now, we are going to go down this road until we get to some school and turn right.

     2:51pm  We are finally here.

     3:02pm  I just ran into Jumbo, some guy who I saw in Arcata six months ago.

     3:35pm  We're here at this gathering. There's all these hippies everywhere beating on drums. There's like a church here or something. I don't know what this building normally is. There's a big stage with a microphone. Hmm, I could put on a show here. That might be a possible goal here at this thing. At least, if not put on a show, talk to some Earth First head honchos about my stuff.

                   Inside the building they have these tables with all this treesitting stuff. Here are some websites:
www.wesavetrees.org
www.forestadvocate.org

     4:10pm  Some other kids and I are going to a swimming hole.

     4:15pm  When we drove in I saw some stuff written on the building here and I made it a point to come back and read them into my recorder. Here it is; "May the longtime sun shine upon you, all love surround you and the pure light within you guide you all the way on."

                    Oh yeah, we the building is the Freshwater Grange 499.

     4:50pm  Zylem just hooked me up with a cigarette. I appreciate it, sister.

     5:09pm  I tried telling my story, but once again ignorance prevailed. People wouldn't listen to me. Oh well, their loss. They can wait to hear about it when the rest of the world does.

     5:48pm  I'm here at the Earth First rally and I'm talking to this brother. I asked him who was in charge here, like who was an Earth First affiliate. I told him I needed to have a conference with these people.

                   Dude, I am going to talk to Earth First. Let's see if they are ignorant or not. Who better to listen to me??

                   Oh man, this is a big hippie convention. Man, if I had the microphone I could make it happen soon. It's going to be so cool.

     6:05pm  I'm sitting here talking to Walking Tree talking to him about my plan. I told him how I needed to contact this trident of freedom, Earth First, The Rainbow Family and the Ascended Masters. He said they are waiting.

     6:34pm  Oh shit, I have a believer. This dude I was talking to, Walking Tree(pudavita@yahoo.com) he knows what I am saying is right. I told him, "Hey, when I go talk to a head-honcho, will you come with me?" He thought about it and said, "Yeah, I'll support you, man." I told him he would be supporting everybody. Oh man, my dream is going to come true. Awesome. Oh yeah, and they have this huge luncheon room with food everywhere. This is great.

     6:55pm  I asked some guy inside who was in charge and was told there were no leaders or anything. I said, "Ok then, who is a senior here? Who has been with Earth First the longest?" He said, "Oh, we don't do that either." I asked him, "Who's organizing this right here? The stage?" He said he was and I told him, "Okay, I need to talk to you." We stepped outside and he told me he couldn't get too far from the stage. We stood at the doorway and I tried telling him my platform. People were walking by and distracting us. I wasn't able to get that far in my stuff. Basically all I told him was that I had found a way to fight the world's greatest problem, ignorance and that's as far as he let me get. Then, he started talking to this girl who walked up and started giving him a back massage. Just then, I had forgotten that Walking Tree had told me he would come with me, because I thought I would have more of an effect if I had another person with me. So, I'm going to go get him and talk to a different person.

     7:07pm  Cole hooked me up with a cigarette here at the Freshwater Grange.

     7:15pm  That sucks, I lost my one-hitter. Hopefully it'll turn up.

     7:21pm  I went and got Walking Tree and we went and talked to this guy, Chunga. I asked them if I could possibly get some time on stage. They're going to give me fifteen minutes in between sets. This is so rad. What a step. A big step. Kickass.

     7:30pm  This sucks, I'm all dizzy. I'm all dizzy with happiness. I'm going to get my chance to talk to people who will listen to me. This sucks, I'm all dizzy. This isn't supposed to happen, damnit. I hope I'm alright when the time comes for me to go up there.

     7:37pm  Jonah, Indy and I are going to smoke a bowl, cool.

     7:52pm  I am trying to assemble a posse, now. I want to get a big group of people following me and when we have a good amount, I am going to organize a meeting and put on a great show, so people will listen to me. I need to get some girls and have some cheerleaders. Damn, I wish I had a megaphone.

                   This dumbass local guy came out and started preaching about how we needed to be respectful and keep the noise down. He said, "Just be as quiet as you can. We want to be as respectful to the neighbors here as I think we were in renting the Grange to you all. Thank you very much."

     8:50pm  I'm out here talking with Ewok. He's suggesting that I look at GNN.TV. What's there? He says a lot of non-fiction, activism, real solid craziness.

     8:55pm  I just ran into that guy from Arcata who interviewed me that one time at the Cash Oil. Cool. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you I got my one-hitter back.

     9:30pm  Geba just told me that earlier he talked to some reporter that came up here and he told her he had a friend who wanted to say some stuff up on stage, but they wouldn't let him. The reporter said she wanted to talk to his friend(me). I don't think Geba would be lying. I think I can trust Geba. I don't know, Geba is kind of weird. I don't know if I can stand behind him all the way. He's different.

                    So, it seems like I struck out with Earth First. I still have two more hits to take in this trinity. I still have the Rainbow Family and the Ascended Masters. I'm thinking about doing the Ascended Masters first.

     9:57pm  Geba just came over with that reporter lady he was telling me about. She's getting my email address and I'm getting hers.

     10:00pm  Alright. That made my night. That reporter lady is going to interview me. She's going to email me some questions.

     10:15pm  I just talked to this girl Laia. Somebody had yelled, "Anybody need a ride to the after-party?" and she wondered where it was. I told her I had heard it was at the top of the mountain. I told her I was considering going. She told me to be careful, that there were lots of cellphone antennas up there and to imagine all the calls going through your body, all the radiation. I'm going to go, and I'm going to document it all. Let's see what happens. Well, my night got a lot better.

     10:35pm  I got a ride to the after-party. I was talking to that girl and I heard some guy yell if anyone needed a ride. I walked up to their truck and hit them up for a ride. I got in and we just drove up this big hill. We are looking at Eureka in the distance. It's awesome. There are a lot of treesitters out here. What an experience.

     10:49pm  I am at the after-party. I just got out of the truck. They parked in the dark. I'm going to go walk around and see who I talk to.

     10:58pm  They've got this awesome fire going on back here. There's people playing drums and a big crowd gathered around.

     11:30pm  Nicole was nice enough to smoke a brother out. I appreciate it, Nicole.

     11:31pm  There's fire-twirlers. I'm going to go watch fire-twirlers.

     11:34pm  Russell was generous enough to hook me up with a cigarette. I appreciate it, brother. Wow, these fire twirlers are amazing. I wish I could spin my walking stick around like that. These guys are putting on a good show. Everybody's watching.

     11:55pm  I just remembered that back when we were at the Grange that dude Ewok had told me, "Damn Victor, you're everywhere!" Damn straight. I am everywhere.

     1:40am  Not only did Darcy and Jonathan listen to me, but they're smoking me out, too! That's awesome. My night's getting a lot better. I had wandered out in the woods looking for a place to crash and I saw these two kids, Darcy and Jonathan just sitting down smoking in the dark. I walked up and asked them if they had time for a story and they listened to me.

     2:55am  Man, my feet are fucking tired. I need to sleep. I'm looking around in the woods for a place to sleep.

Next day..