110203

 

Arcata, CA

Sunday November 2, 2003

     7:10am  I just woke up. Nobody else is awake yet. Actually, Cocapelli is awake. Maybe I should take head-count.

                   Just took head-count. Including me, we have eighteen in the barn right now.

     7:54am  I just took a picture of all of us by the fire . . . with eleven year old Devan hitting a big joint. Oh yeah, Devan wants everyone to call him Doobie from now on. I told him no, that I was going to keep calling him Devan. He said, "No, I smoked you out." Okay, Doobie. You paid the price.

     9:52am  I just took a picture of Chewy laying down in a sleeping bag by Jenny's tent.

     9:53am  I have decided I am going to try quitting smoking for a whole week to let my lungs heal. That's probably why I feel sick. I do feel better, though. Since I slept so much. Let's see if I can do that. If I can't, oh well.

                   I can't smoke until next Sunday.

     10:39am  I took a picture of everyone making eggs by the fire.

     11:13am  I'm walking to the Cash Oil to take a shit.

                     Then, I'm going to come right back. I'm going to spend all day at the barn.

     11:35am  I just finished up at the Cash Oil. I'm walking back to the barn.

     11:53am  I just left the Cash Oil. First, I thought I was going to try and hitchhike to Eureka, but now I think I'm just going to stand in front of the donut shop and ask for spare change for bus fare. The Raven is open from 1-5 today.

     12:01pm  I was considering spare changing for bus fare to Eureka, but I'm sick and it's a long walk to the donut shop. Since the Cash Oil isn't that far from the hitch hiking spot to Eureka, I just started walking towards it after I used the restroom. Dude, like way before I even got to the on-ramp, Michelle pulls over in her white van and asks me, "Hey, do you need a ride?" Wow, that's so perfect. I didn't even have to ask. Thank you so much.

                    Whoa, we're picking up another hitchhiker, who was where I was on my way to when Michelle picked me up.

     12:13pm  I'm in Eureka now. That was awesome! That girl Michelle, this really beautiful girl, pulled over in the Porter Street Barbeque parking lot way before I was even close. I remember when I saw the van pull up I thought to myself, "Man, it would be so cool if that person offered me a ride." Sure enough, Michelle steps out and asks me, "Do you need a ride?"

                     This sucks. I have a whole forty five minutes to wait until The Raven House opens. It sucks that I quit smoking, because I see people smoking cigarettes and I want to bum one. But, I'm not going to. For like a week.

     12:48pm  It just started raining. That sucks. The rains are starting. Arcata is known for the rain in the winter. I wanna go back home already, damnit.

     5:05pm  The Raven House just closed up. It's weird, I never make entries at The Raven House. Anyway, I got everything I needed done. I got my laundry done. I got my shower.

                    Oh yeah, I got my some size thirteen cheapass Reebok's. Man, my boots were dead. I took a picture of them. The sole on my left boot had been cut all the way. I could actually poke a couple fingers in the sole. These shitty shoes should last me all the way to San Antonio . . . err, I mean all the way to a Walmart so I can get some new boots.

                    I'm going to wait for the Outreach program to go to Arcata at 5:30pm. They said they could give me a ride back.

     5:47pm  The Raven House Outreach program, piloted by Texas(Kati), are taking me back to Arcata. I appreciate it, guys.

     5:53pm  I'm back in Arcata. In the plaza. Man, it's so cold.

                   Oh yeah, I'm supposed to meet Kati at 8pm. Texas, from The Raven House. This should be interesting.

     10:05pm  Whoa, I've got an update to make. I went to The Raven House and Texas, Kati came up to me all touching on me, scratching my head, just making me melt. She came up to me later and asked me, "Hey, do you want to hang out tonight?" I told her sure. She told me to meet her at Don's Donuts at 8pm. I was there at like 7:15pm. She came early, too. She asked me if I wanted to smoke and we went to puff a nugget on the stairs of the Redwood Peace & Justice place. We were smoking out and then Brett, the pathetic old dude that's always complaining, came up and started complaining about more stuff. Kati asked him, "Do you want to see my tattoo?" She has this awesome tattoo on her ass of a yellow rose and it says, "FUCK YA'LL I'M FROM TEXAS." Brett comes out and asks her, "Are you some raving nymphomaniac?" just because she pulled down her pants a little. You can tell this guy is real lonely, no? Afterwards, we went to some pizza place and Katie bought me a slice.
                     Kati is really awesome. Detecting some attraction from both sides didn't take rocket-science. I was upfront and honest with Kati and told her how I had unprotected sex in the barn and I was scared I could have some STD. Kati was all, "That doesn't make me not want to see you. You're not even sure." She said, "It's really presumptuous you even mentioning that, but I am glad you did. Hell, there's always condoms." Oh man, you have no idea how relieved I was.
                     Kati usually couch-surfs and is currently staying at her friend Cassandra's apartment. Cassandra is in a small one-room efficiency and me staying there was out of the question. But, Kati said I could come sleep in her truck with her. I was elated. A warm female to sleep with. Katie has a 1979 Ford F150 with a huge cab. She sleeps in there sometimes. She keeps a bedroll in it.
                     But before we went and crashed out in the truck, we hung out with Cassandra and their friend Tia, who was staying with Cassandra also. I volunteered to take out their trash to the dumpster. In walking back through the complex, I saw some dude smoking a cigarette.

     10:10pm  Chris hooked me up with a cigarette here at The Colony Inn apartments.

                     Dude, that was a damn good presentation I had with Chris. He attentively listened to all my stuff. I told him my platform and got his email address. Since Kati was waiting for me I didn't get into my half-hour long story. Chris had even told me, "Hey, I got a whole apartment full of kids in there. Do you want to tell them your stuff?" Man, I opted not to, since Kati was waiting for me. It was really awesome how Chris reacted to my stuff.

Next day..