San Antonio, TX
Saturday October 26, 2002
Ahh, yet another great day. Let's see, where do I start? Well, I woke up around twelve today since I had stayed up typing up my last journal entry. I got up and checked my email only to find a mail from the bus company. I had ridden the bus to talk to them the other day and they told me to check out their website. I already had in the past but could never find an email address. They have a feedback form, but it has a five hundred word limit on it, so I couldn't paste my whole Portable Party idea into it. I scrounged around some more on the site and found a mailto link. I hovered the mouse over it, right-clicked and selected 'copy shortcut' and found me an email address: csp@viainfo.net. I mailed that address a copy of my idea.
Anyway, I got a mail from Joel.Shields@viainfo.net telling me to mail stuff to that same address I found. I replied by telling him I had already sent some to him. I then felt the need to revise the paper up a bit and when I finished I sent it to both of those addresses. It was around two and I was bored. My dumb sister came home and demanded I got off the computer. I decided I would go catch a bus downtown and talk to the bus company personally, hoping they had already read my email. I asked my sister for a dollar, but of course she told me no. I said, "Fine then, I'm going to go see if I can ride the bus for free." All the buses are at the grocery store that's like two miles away at fifty of the hour. It was around five, but I didn't want to wait around doing nothing at home. I decided I would walk the long way to the grocery store.
I went walking down Wickersham through Braun Station to Guilbeau. I finally arrived at about thirty five of the hour. I walked into the grocery store to use the restroom and walked outside to the buses. The 87 bus that goes down Bandera was already there waiting. I walked up and the driver was outside smoking a cigarette. I pulled out a smoke of my own and asked him for a light. He recognized my walking stick and commented on it. I told him that when you use your upper-body to move yourself forward, that you walk faster and farther. He seemed impressed so I told him, "Sir, I walked all the way from my house and I thought I had a dollar, can I still ride?" He told me sure, just to get on the bus when he left. We were having a good conversation there smoking cigarettes and I told him about my plan. He was all smiles and listening. He told me he gave our world five years till the end, that the axis of the earth was getting thrown off and the moon slowly getting further away. I told him I would tell him more once we were on the bus.
Off we went at fifty of the hour. I sat at the front and busted out with all my scripts. It was a long ride so I even told him about my times in jail and how I escaped both times. He was amazed and asked me if I went to school. I told him, "No, I don't believe in school. Traditional schools only teach you how to be like everyone else. Not only are you taught the bookwork, but you are also programmed with the professor's opinions and bias' which aren't necessarily right." He agreed with me.
I asked him how close he got to VIA's(the bus company) office and he told me he would tell me where to get off. When we were almost there, I pretended to put some money in the fare box and asked him for a transfer. He smiled and said, "Slick," and happily tore one off for me.
I got off and walked across the street. The bus company's office was like three blocks away. The time was about four forty five now and I was hoping I wasn't too late to talk to the head-honchos. I walked in and talked to the security guard at the desk and he told me everyone had left already. He told me to come back Monday and talk to them. I thought, "Shit, what do I do know?"
The bus company's central office was right next to San Antonio College. My friend Andres who I met the other night worked at Cafe Latino that is right next to the college. I was hungry so I walked over there to see if I could get some free food. I walked into the cafe only to find out that Andres wasn't coming in till six, an hour later. Boy, was I hungry though. Right next to the cafe there's a Subway Sandwich shop so I walked into it to try my luck. I gave the manager my line and she gave me a soup. Sweet, huh. Food. When I finished the soup it was about five thirty. I was going to wait around till six to see Andres, but I decided against it.
On my walking stick I keep a tennis ball on the end for grip. What I do is take the ball and with a knife cut a little tee in it, and plop the end of my stick into it. It serves as a great grip, but after about ten miles or less it wears all the way through. I didn't want to keep using it like that because it would wear the tip of the stick. I needed a replacement ball. I started walking back through the college to get to the bus stop and I passed a tennis court. There were two people playing on the far side of the fenced-in area, but I saw a lone ball lying near the fence, on the opposite side of them. The gate was unlocked so I walked in and picked up the ball. One of the guys looked at me and started shaking his finger at me. I started walking over there so I could explain my need for the ball, but when I got within earshot he simply said, "It's not ours, you can have it." Cool, problem solved.
Hmm, now I needed a knife to cut it with. Oh yeah, the cafe. I walked back over and asked the girl working if she had a knife I could borrow real quick, to put my ball on my stick. She said no and asked if scissors would work. I said maybe and she gave me some heavy-duty utility scissors. I held the ball in my hand and pushed one leg of the scissors into it. I really forced it in and the blade went all the way through the other side of the ball and lodged itself in the palm of my hand. "Ouch!" I looked at my wound and it was a deep puncture. I was waiting to see blood come out but it wasn't bleeding that bad. The girl noticed I had hurt myself and asked me if I was okay. I told her yes and handed the scissors back to her and left. While I was walking back through the college, almost to the tennis courts again, I opened my hand wide and out gushed the blood out of my fresh wound. I quickly put it to my mouth and sucked. Oh well, small price to pay for finding that ball and meeting my need. What luck.
I walked to the bus stop and the 92 came right when I got to the stop. I was just going to head back home because I couldn't think of anything more to do. The soup I had eaten was a bit small and I was still hungry. I decided I would stop by my old roommate Sam's apartment and ask him if he had read all the stuff on my FTP site. I remembered the donut shop where they hook me up is right across the street from his apartments so I got off the bus and went to the shop. Luckily, my friend Priscilla, who always hooks me up, was working and she gave me donuts again. I walked over to Sam's apartment with a big bag of donuts. She had given me two cinnamon twists and two Bavarian éclairs. I walked up the stairs to Sam's apartment and knocked on the door. He answered, said hello and invited me inside. Sam had just upgraded his computer and could not stop talking about how cool it was. I asked him if he wanted a donut and he accepted. He took a cinnamon twist and got up to heat it up in the microwave. I sat down on the floor and ate the other donuts and smoked a cigarette. I looked at the time and left to catch the bus to the hospital. I caught the same bus at exactly the same time as I did yesterday. Wow, it was like a total repeat of yesterday. Deja-vu.
To make a long story short, I got home and no one was on the computer. Hooray! So here I am adding this entry. I'm really getting used to having good, free days. I deserve to be celebrating a little. I start my job at the computer shop on Monday. Okay, enough for today. See you tomorrow.
- Victor
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