102706

 

Arcata to Eureka, CA

Friday October 27, 2006
                    
     12:57pm  Anne was nice enough to give me a cigarette at Boulder Station. Not Boulder Station. We're not in Boulder. The bus station in Arcata. I appreciate it, Anna. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

                     Lisa Riley: "Okay, if I go back later and try and recount what I said or did an hour ago I am going to have a skewed recollection of what I said or did an hour ago." Treasure Principle, be sure to download that. Who's the author? Lisa: "I don't know, and it is a Christian publication. It's just a very short book. It's biblical principle but it's biblical principle on giving rather than storing up money in banks and keeping things in storehouses. God gave Manna to his people when they were in the wilderness. When they put that with the food they had stored up, not only would the Manna rot, but there other food as well. They had what they needed for that moment. That's the way we're supposed to live."

     1:54pm  Duane from New Jersey just came over and volunteered a couple nuggets for my one-hitter.
                  
     2:41pm  I totally forgot to log this magical occurrence that happened at The Endeavor. After we ate I went outside to smoke a cigarette. Actually, I'm going to let Carol take over.

                   Carol: "We were outside of The Endeavor leaving after a great lunch. We found out that if we volunteer we can do our laundry and be first in line for showers. Victor and I are going to do that on Monday. Outside there were these college kids doing a documentary on homelessness. Victor went to them and was able to tell his whole story. They've got him on video. He didn't tell them the whole story. Just the important part. They have the website. I got to say a few things. Actually, I said a lot of things. They liked what I had to say. They asked me to say some things to the HSU students. I would like the city council people to see their documentary. I would like to get involved with what's going on here and offer the city a viable solution. Talk to enough people to let them understand that there are people here who are deeply concerned and want to help. But they are also frustrated and they feel like they have no avenues. I think that the thing to do would be to provide this community with avenues. We need to figure out what works. Lori had an idea of taking one of these crappy hotels in town that are falling apart and renovate them. If the community wants this then it should be a community thing. We can get construction companies to help. Like they could donate an hour a day or something. We need to start working on these places and bring them up to standard. Find out who owns them and buy them if we have to. We'll ask for donations. Have people donate land or property. Anything like that where we can do some kind of betterness shelter. Not a homeless shelter. A place of dignity. A place where people can go to have their own private room and have the county pay for it. I know this is asking a lot, but what I am saying in this is if you have a safe place to stay for thirty to sixty days, depending upon the program, and no drugs or alcohol. That way homeless people will be off the streets and the police can focus on the drug and alcohol problem. Because those people aren't going to go to those places. That's going to give them a better shot at what's going on. Not structured so much with all the rules and regulations and just have it be a safe place anywhere. I don't know, a campground would work. We're just thinking of ideas of places we could do this. At the same time they need to have a certain amount of volunteering that they do for the community, so that if the community is giving they end up getting back. Anyway, I know this is a really expensive venture, but it doesn't have to be expensive if we can get donations, if we can get people from the community to help. To physically go out there and work and make this happen. We could have a place. People would regulate it. People would volunteer to work to make this happen. I will volunteer. I know other people who will volunteer. I am not the only one. There are people out there who will help. HSU students can do it as a project. We can do this. We can involve the entire community and everyone can give. The people who are staying at this temporary shelter will have dignity with their own private room. They'll have kids and stuff like that. It'll be a good safe place for people to get off the streets while it's freezing cold. It will seperate the people that just want to screw around and do drugs and alcohol and the people that don't. And I think people should also be able to sleep in the forest. If they so choose to do that they should be left alone. I don't think they should sleep anywhere near the trail. They should be off the trail. I don't think they should be harrassed. If we have programs here set up that we believe in that can work, like AFDC." Okay, that's enough about that, Carol.

                   This one guy had walked up to me and handed me some weed. These kids had a camera so I pulled out my signs real quick. The guy with the camera saw my WPTMJ and havethisbook.com sign and said, "Hey, man. I saw that in the bathroom in Orick." Holy shit. I have to look up the last time I was in Orick. That was awesome! That's exactly why I do that shit. He told me nice technique. Hell yeah, I'm everywhere! This random guy I met at The Endeavor saw my tag in Orick. I kind of don't even remember going to Orick. It was a long time ago, probably. I'm wondering if maybe somebody else tagged it there. He said he saw it at a restaurant. Something cafe.

     2:53pm  Liz at the Salvation Army is being nice enough to give me some food. Oh, clothes too. Awesome. I appreciate it, Liz. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     3:32pm  Adam just gave me a cigarette in the plaza. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     4:06pm  Megan over at the plaza, she let me roll a cigarette. I appreciate, sister.

     6:04pm  The greedy asses here at the Arcata Pizza and Deli. Carol snagged a couple squirts of 7-Up out of the fountain and they made her pour it out. Greedy asses.

                   It was funny. The dumbasses at the deli all threatened to call the cops and shit.

     7:40pm  I haven't made an update in a while. We came to Eureka. We're going to crash in the Victorian Hotel parking lot like we did last time. We're going to go steal breakfast from the Best Western in the morning, again, hehe.

Next day..