San Antonio, TX
Friday November 22, 2002
Okay, today is Friday November 22nd of 2002. I crashed out around eight last night and woke up at about three this morning. Badass, the computer is free. I got online and sent out some of my ideas. It's about six twenty five right now. I'm going to start walking to the bus stop and start my day. I've got a big plan today. I'll tell you all about it once I find my stick.
Okay, the morning started interesting. I couldn't find my stick at first and its about oh-nine and I have to be at the bus stop at thirty six, so I have some time. As I was looking for my stick I noticed that the light in my moms room was on. I thought I would be nice and go tell her good morning and that I'm about to leave. My mistake though. I should have never opened her door. I told my mom I got up at three and I'm ready to start my day. I was wearing my Computer Express shirt. After they set me up and fired me I got a black marker and wrote "sucks" after Computer Express. I told my mom I was going to go to San Antonio Independent School District(SAISD) and show them my report just to make them aware of the unprofessional people they hired to deliver and install computers for them. My mom took one look at my shirt and told me to cover it up so they won't think I was crazy. She also pointed out that I had my walking stick and I should leave it at home. I told her, "Mom, I want people to think I'm crazy, remember?"
I walked out the front door. As I was walking in front of the house I checked my pockets and found that I didn't have my disk with me. My floppy disk with all my reports and documents. I turned around and walked back in and my mom said, "You know, you could've locked the door, Victor. My security is at risk here." I told her I had shut it behind me. If it didn't close, that I was sorry. She kept bitching about how I didn't lock it or anything. She was mad and said, "Well, anyone can just walk in here when it's unlocked." I said, "Mom, its five thirty in the morning. Who the hell is going to come in your house at this time and take your stuff?" She got all flustered and told me, "Well, give me the key back then!" I told her, "Mom, worrying is like paying interest on a debt you may never owe."
Okay, so I'm walking to the bus stop. I'm going to sit down, roll a cigarette and put a little weed in it. Oh yeah, before I left my mom told me that the SAISD main office was on Lavaca street. Cool, at least I know where to go now. She told me I could have looked it up on mapquest.com. I told her, "Yeah, I know, but I was going to see if I could find it by just asking people today." I'm going to go down there today on the bus and start some shit. Hehe, I'm wearing my cool shirt. I'm going to go spill the beans. Oh yeah, and I was thinking I could get used to this sleep schedule. I'll crash out around eight and wake up around three, chill on the computer until the buses start running and go have an awesome productive day. Hmm, I might not be moving to the woods as soon as I thought I would. I've got to get some shit done first on the computer. Then I can make some friends close to the woods and use their computer.
Okay, it's a cool, brisk morning. I'm at the elementary school now. I wonder what time it is. I wish I had my watch. My mom's dirty house ate it. I just decided to, for the third day in a row now to get off at the park and take a little nature walk in the morning. What a great start to my day. All who wander are not lost.
No one is doing anything about it, so I'm going to.
I'm in the park up in the platform. Man, this place is just breathtakingly beautiful. I'm the luckiest man in the world. To the victor go the spoils. I opened up the PO box yesterday. I can't wait until I have enough money to buy a digital camera. I'll show you everything. I wonder how long I'll be able to camp out here and who it's going to bother. Hell, I'll even offer to pay the park rent. Twenty bucks a month, hehe. I'll tell people that this is a project for school. I'll tell everyone exactly where it is. Let's see how fast they come looking for me.
Singing Weezer: Bang, bang, knockin' on the door. Another big bang, you're down on the floor. oh no whatta ya do? Don't look now but I lost my shoe. I can't run and I can't kick. What's the matter babe, are ya feelin' sick? What's the matter, what's the matter, what's the matter you? What's the matter babe, are you feelin' blue? (whistling music)
Okay, I'm going to climb down.
I was walking out of the woods and I saw all these guys jogging on the trails. I asked them if any of them had a watch and one guy stopped and told me, eight eighteen. Damn, it's early.
I'm going to go get my very last check from Computer Express. It should be like a hundred and fifty or something. It might be bigger. I was working big twelve hour days. Then I'm going to walk over to West Telemarketing because inbound gets paid on Fridays. They have all these check-cashing vans outside so I can cash my check.
Well, I walked all the way to Bob's. His girlfriend's car is there and his Blazer is probably in the garage. It's kind of early, like eight thirty, but screw it. I'm going to knock on the door and see if anybody's there.
Nope, nobody's home. Either they're there and they don't want to wake up or saw me coming and are just ignoring me. I don't care. It was a good little walk over here. I'm going to catch the 604 and ride the bus to Computer Express to get my check. Hehe, I'm wearing my Computer Express Sucks shirt. I'm going to go get some money, walk to West and cash it. Then, I'll go to the National Army Surplus store and buy me some supplies.
Whoa, badass. I was just walking down the street in Bob's neighborhood and I found me a full little bottle of Visine. I need Visine. Well, I don't really need it. I got something else in my pocket. Damn, I wish I had my soccer shoe bag back.
Wow, the coolest shit just happened. I asked someone what time it was and they said like nine fifteen. The bust doesn't come until forty, so I have a good wait. , I walked down the street on the bus route. Remember, I had just come back from Bob and Carlos' house. I walked up the stop and there was two girls waiting for it. The 604 and the 91 Extended Trip passed by this stop. I asked the girls what bus they were waiting for and they told me the 604. I asked them what time it was and when was the bus coming. They told me it was coming in five minutes. I told them that I needed it going the other way and was told it was coming at thirty five. I walked across the street and sat down at the bus stop in front of Murray E. Boone Elementary School. There was this lady who worked at the school with a little suction-cup pole changing the sign on the marquee. I asked her if there was a water fountain closeby. She offered to get some water for me. Nice lady. I pulled out my bottle and handed it to her. I asked her not to fill it up all the way so I could fit the filter in it. When she returned, she had even put ice in it for me. Kickass. I got some ice water and now I can roll me a cigarette and relax while I wait. Ahh, good day so far.
Yum, that ice water is good.
Hmm, I wouldn't mind living in one of those Babcock North fourplexes. Hmm, I don't think I'm going to have to go to the West Coast. I'm going to do everything from San Antonio. When I have enough money I'm going to rent one of these fourplexes. I need to find one where all four units are vacant. Then I'll get online or get some random friends and look for people who are planning on moving out soon and get some friends to rent all the other units in the fourplex. It'll be like a big gang of friends living in a house.
Hehe, I keep passing up empty Marlboro packs that I've already taken the miles off of.
Haha, I just got out of Computer Express. Grandpa Jim, the service manager, was there and I asked him, "I know it's early, but do you think Kay could get my check for me?" He said he would find out for me and returned about five minutes later. He also handed me a piece of paper. He told me that Kay wanted me to sign a paper documenting that I had received my last check. It didn't say anything about being terminated, only that my temporary-position had expired.
Jim handed me this badass, gel-grip pen and walked off(hehe, I slipped on the wet grass while I was recording this and fell on my ass). I had just lost my pen yesterday. What I did was sign it and write "involuntarily terminated" on it and reached over and placed it where he was sitting. I thought, "Hmm, I wonder if he'll notice I'm not going to give him his pen back." When he came back I had my hand over the pen concealing it. He handed me my check and I smiled and told him to have a great day. Hehe, I just took off with his pen. Haha, sucker. Old people are dumb.
I'm walking down Dezavala again, just passing the Walmart. I'm going to walk my little route to ITT Tech and talk to some people. Then I'll head over to West Telemarketing and cash my check. Next, I'll catch the bus over to the army surplus store and buy some supplies. I want to get a five dollar rain poncho, a compass and some other shit.
Okay, I'm walking down Dezavala. I'm about half a block away from the Silicon turn.
Shweet, I just opened up my check. I was expecting maybe like a hundred and fifty or something. It's for one hundred and seventy four!. Badass, I got supplies-money. It's so cool when you get paychecks but you're not working.
Damnit, you know what I forgot to do? I forgot to, after Computer Express, I forgot to go next door to the post office to see where exactly my P.O. box was. I haven't even opened it. I was going to go to Rome's and buy some Stromboli, but nah. I'm all the way over here. I'm going to keep walking.
I stopped at ITT Tech and rolled me a cigarette. Some guys came out on break to smoke. I saw a few of the same people I had talked to before. This one guy who I had sent my mails told me, "Man, at first I was skeptical, but how do you plan on doing this?" I told him to read over my stuff I had sent him and he would see. He told me, "Man, this is crazy."
When I talked to this other kid and I told him about my plan to live in the woods he said that would be awesome.
Damn, I just finished eating a soup at the Subway at West Telemarketing and just realized I left my bag of tobacco somewhere. I think I left it at the counter. I could've sworn I did. When I went inside and asked the cashier he looked around his register and told me no. Damn, it had a little tiny bud of weed in it. Hmm, should I go back home and get more weed? Hmm, I wonder.
Damn, I didn't see the check-cashing vans around anywhere. I asked this girl if today was Thursday or Friday. She told me it was Friday. I asked her, "Aren't the check-cashing vans supposed to be here?" She told me not till next week. Duh, I totally forgot that inbound gets paid bi-monthly. Oh well, I'll find someplace else to cash my check.
Okay, I walked over to West. I was supposed to start working Monday here. I was going to see if I could reschedule for another training class because I had just forgotten about it. Hell, I didn't forget about it. I just didn't feel like going to work. After I waited for about ten minutes in the human-relations department. The lady asked me what was the reason for not showing up to training. I made up some bullshit excuse. I told her I had been walking all day yesterday and was exhausted. She told me that their policy requires that anyone who missed any part of training has to wait thirty days before they can start another training class. So the eighteenth of next month is when I can go back. If I want to.
Okay, so I got off the 607 at Bandera and 410 over by the Jims. I was telling the bus driver my ideas and she was agreeing with everything I said. It's only a matter of time.
Okay, so here I am waiting to cross Loop 410. Hmm, I'm hungry and I have to buy some more tobacco so I can roll a cigarette. Maybe I'll just go across the street to the HEB Marketplace and eat and smoke. Hmm, there's an EZ's right here. I could sure go for an EZ's burger.
Okay, so I won't have to carry all my supplies from the army store I'm going to go to HEB first then I'll go to the army store and buy some supplies. On the way back to the bus terminal I'll stop at EZ's and have me a delicious burger and smoke a cigarette.
Man, my throat is kind of sore. Maybe I won't buy some cigarettes. Ahhh, it won't be as sore later.
I'm inside the grocery store walking through the produce department. I asked a cashier if they have any rolling tobacco. She told me yes and I asked if she could get me some Buglers. Okay, mission semi-accomplished. I got my cigarettes now I'm going to walk over to the national army surplus store.
Oh yeah, earlier when I was on the bus coming back from Computer Express. I saw this kid with a badass Nike backpack. It was all futuristic looking and very practical. I told the kid, "Cool bag. Where did you get that?" He told me he had bought it at the outlet stores in San Marcos. I asked him how much it cost and he told me twenty bucks. Shweet! I'm going to see if I can get my friend Andrea to drive me up to the outlets in San Marcos and get me one of them, for when I leave, if I do.
Okay, I'm over in the patio at EZ's munching on a damn good burger. Just bought the food with $5.12. The waitress was giving me all these up-sells. "You want a drink with that?" "You want a brownie?" Fuck that. I just want my burger.
I totally forgot about the SAISD shit. I might end up doing that on Monday. Maybe I'll go home and see if the computer is free. It should be. My family is still at work. Oh well, signing off. I'm going to eat.
Mmm, damn this burger is good. Damn, I love dipping my burger in ranch dressing. I was sitting there eating my burger and I thought, "Hmm, should I just head back home and get on the computer since I'm out of weed?" Then I thought, "Hey, let me look through my wallet." Hehe, guess what I found. I found two really cool things. For one, I found Maureen's email address which she had written on a bus schedule that I had put in the bill-compartment of my wallet. I had totally forgotten about it. I thought I didn't have it because I hadn't written it down in my calendar. I'd been wanting to call Maureen every day now. Her mom always answers and I don't think she likes me, because the other night. Hmm, I'm going to have to write up a big part about Maureen and explain her.
You see, when her and I were hanging out I had promised to burn her an awesome Weezer CD, but I had made her a Weezer tape instead. A ninety minute tape as opposed to an eighty minute CD. I had it with me and I was in her neighborhood so I decided I'd walk to her house and see if she was home. It was getting dark already. I caught the 96 out to Maureen's neighborhood and when I walked up to her front door I knocked and nobody answered. I then noticed the tape wasn't rewound all the way, so I started rewinding it by hand, just spinning it around my finger. Then I thought hmm, this looks kind of weird, me just standing here in front of her door spinning this tape around on my finger so let me go to the side here. I got out of the light of the front porch and I went around to the side of the wall right in front of her mom's truck. I was just standing there spinning the tape around for about fifteen minutes. Then I hear someone coming out of the house. Oh shit. I was hoping it was Maureen, but I knew it wasn't. I saw her mom come out of the house, walk next to her truck and out to the curb to throw some trash away. I thought, "Damn, she's going to see me when she turns around." I stepped out of the shade and said, "Ma'am, I don't mean to alarm you." Maureen's mom was startled and said, "You scared the shit out of me!" I told her I had just brought this tape for Maureen. She said she wanted to borrow it. Can you make sure she gets it?" I handed it to her mom. She told me that Maureen wasn't there(which I assumed already). She seemed pretty mad that I was there. Then again, I am twenty four and her daughter is sixteen. Maureen's just really cool. She is very mature. She is on my level. Actually, it's the younger generation who thinks I'm right in my thinking and doesn't think I'm crazy. Us kids have learned from our parent's mistakes and it is obvious to us how society is abusing our world. Anyway, I found her email address and I really hope she replies.
Guess what else I found. I kind of remembered putting a little bud of weed in my wallet. Let me look through it. Hey! I found it! I then I rolled a cigarette with a dollar bill and pushed in the end. The weed was all old and crusty so I crushed it all up on the dollar bill. Then I took the cigarette and used the dollar as a funnel to put the weed in the tip. I got one full hit off of it so now I'm stoned. Hmm, getting high was all I needed for my trip to SAISD. Lemme try and catch the bus downtown now. I'm going to go talk to them.
Right when I realized this, I saw a bus leave the park-n-ride down the street. If that was the bus I had to be on, I might have to wait a whole other hour. It's alright, I'm stoned. Oh hey, here comes the bus right now, badass. Oh wait, it's turning into the park-n-ride, it'll be here in a little bit. Hmm, it should be here by now.
Okay, I'm sitting here and I can see the park-n-ride. I saw another bus pull up so it might be the time they all meet there. I just saw one pull in on Bandera from outside the loop. I have to go South on Bandera to get downtown, inside the loop. That's the bus I need to be on. It shouldn't be long now. Hmm, my mom told me the name of the street that SAISD was on. I can't remember it, so I'll have to rewind my tape. I'll do that once I get on the bus. If not, I can just ask around, but I do plan on getting there and stating my case. This recorder is so cool.
I just realized I have a whole hundred dollars in my wallet from last week's check. Now that I have a check for $170 something, I have like a total of $275. Man, it's good having money and not working.
Well, the buses aren't coming. I'm going to roll me another cigarette.
I'm downtown at bus stop #8986-S. The coolest shit just happened. I was just walking by the bus stop and all these little kids said, "Hey, you went to our school the other day with computers!" Hehe, and one kid asked me, "Hey, why does your shirt say Computer Express Sucks?" I told him it was because they fired me. He asked me for what and I told him because they thought I was crazy. Then another batch of kids passed by and said, "Hey look, there's Shaggy!" They had called me that when I went to their school because of my long goatee. Their school was Dezavala Elementary.
Okay, I'm on the way to tell the truth to the school district.
Singing Ween: So if I choose to help you, don't look like you expect it, cause it's a gift that god gave me at birth.
Okay, I asked one of the teachers at the bus stop where the SAISD main office was and it's on Lavaca. I take bus #32 to get there. The time is about two fifty. Damn, like eighteen buses stop at this stop, so it might be a while. I see St. Mary's Catholic Rectory close to the bus stop, I see St. Mary's school, I see a sign pointing down to The Riverwalk that says St. Mary's, so I take it I'm on St. Mary's Street over by Commerce.
Okay, I was on the 32 and I asked people if they knew where Lavaca was. Everybody told me no and this one lady said we had already passed it. Shit. I asked her if it would be a far walk and she said yes. I got off the bus at Hoofglen and East Carolina. It's a little ghetto on this side of town. You can see the Tower of Americas from here. I'm just going to walk back and hope I can make it there on time. Maybe I'll see the bus coming. I don't care. I'm walking.
Man, I have to take a piss. Hmm, this corner right here looks as good as any. Ahhh, that's how I spell relief. I asked this one ghetto dude pushing a lawnmower down the street if he knew where Lavaca was and he said nope.
Singing 30 Foot Fall: "I was eight years old at the Astrodome waiting in line to pee-pee. The urinal line seemed to take forever 'til it finally came down to meeh. I unzipped my tough-skins and pulled out my little wee-wee. Some drunk guy said hey hurry up kid, but I couldn't spring a leak. I can't pee in front of you, and you can pee in front of me. I can't help it, I get stage-fright. I got urinary anxiety. And so it has been for fifteen years that I can't seem to shake my pee-pee fears. I gotta have a lock on the bathroom door before I can make the water fall on the floor. Can't wait for a moment in the shower. Hot water on my chest full-power. Laugh as the lemonade hits the porcelain."
Alright cool, I was walking down Carolina Street. I don't know, the 110th block. I saw some mailman and I asked him where Lavaca was. He told me to go down Presa like six blocks and it should be there. I'm walking, yes indeed.
Just found me two Double-A batteries on the ground. I'm going to put them in my pocket just incase they work. Hmm, there's a taco place here called Taco Haven. I wonder how much a dollar can buy.
Okay, I just asked this old man where Lavaca was and I'm turning right on South Alamo and Presa. I'm turning onto South Alamo. He told me to go down to some street called Barrera, take a right and then an immediate left and I should see the school district office.
Okay, I walked about a block and took a left on Matagorda and I can already see the Lavaca street sign.
Okay, here I am in front of the SAISD main office. I'm about to go inside and plead my case. Hmm, maybe I should leave my stick outside so they won't think I'm crazy. Yeah, I'm going to do that.
Whoa, that was cool. I just walked in there, into the main office and they told me to go down the hallway and go to the superintendent's office and ask for Joann. I walked in and met Joann, the super's secretary. I pulled out my crumbled out copy of my report which I had printed out at Computer Express. I explained to her the situation and told her, "I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble. I just wanted to make you guys aware of the unprofessional people you have working for you. When they hired employees for the job, they just hired kids who played with computers. There was no testing, certification or prerequisites necessary. To them, it was just cheap labor. I just wanted you guys to know. Please give this to your technology department and let them see it."
Okay, signing off. Mission accomplished for today. I got that done.
Okay, I am now at the corner of Alamo and Durango at the bus stop. About five routes pass by here. Ooh, the 96 goes by here. Let me roll a cigarette.
I crossed the street and jumped on the Purple Route bus, which I don't know what that is. He had a layover here so I got off and kept walking. I'm going to look for some water.
The Fairmont Hotel. They gotta have water, don't they.
Wow, badass, I went in the Fairmont Hotel. In the lobby there was this guy and a girl just talking, not doing much of anything. I asked them if there was somewhere where I could get some water. The guy offered to get some for me. I pulled out my bottle and handed it to him, telling him not to fill it all the way up because the filter has to fit back in. He came back a couple minutes later and handed it to me saying, "Here, man. I even put some ice in it for you." That's the second time today I got ice water for free today! Shweet. Time to roll me a cigarette and shmoke.
Okay, I'm on the 96 headed back home still downtown. What I'll do is catch it to Fredericksburg, get off and catch the 92. I'll keep going down Fredericksburg over by Crossroads Mall and go get free donuts at Shipley's where they hook me up. I'm hungry.
Okay, I got off the 96 at Vance Jackson/Fredericksburg. I'm going to walk and wait for the 92 to take me to the donut shop.
Damnit, I'm walking up to the donut shop right now and I see that older white lady who doesn't hook me up. Shit, I'm going to have to buy some.
The cool girls that hook me up all the time weren't there, so I had to pay like two fifty for three donuts. I walked over to the bus stop and ate my donuts and now I'm going to smoke a cigarette. Oh yeah, after I bought the donuts I went next door to the cigarette shop and asked them if they had any matches and the guy told me no. How the hell can a cigarette shop not have matches? Anyway, I bought me a seventy four cent lighter.
Badass, while I was eating my donuts my old roommate Sam walked up. He's got an apartment nearby at Santa Fe. He asked me what I was doing today and I told him all about my trip to the school district office. I let him read my report. He asked me, "What? Is it just the lifestyle you're after?" I told him I was planning on living in the woods. I told him I was going to show everybody how crazy I really am.
Well anyway, the 92 came and I got on it and I see Ted, this dude I knew a long ass time ago. He said he was going over to his friend's house who usually has some weed. If his friend didn't he knew other people I could get a two dollar joint from or something. I asked him if he minded if I tagged along and he said not at all. I'm going to go try and get high since I misplaced my weed earlier today.
Okay, so I walked with Ted to these ghetto apartments where everyone was outside smoking cigarettes. I asked them if they were burning anything else and they didn't understand and said, "Whatta ya mean?" They said they didn't have any marijuana. Right then I remembered that my friend Gabe, who used to work at the plasma place where Chasity and I used to go a lot, lived nearby(if he still lived there). I took off walking towards his apartment. Gabe smokes a lot of bud so here's hoping.
Damnit, I walked all the way over to where my friend Gabe used to live, but he doesn't live there anymore. Some guy told me I had the wrong apartment. I walked up to Fredericksburg and Oaklawn and the 91 came and it said Babcock North on it. Hold on, let me see what time it is. It's six. We're over here by Magic and Fredericksburg. Hmm, maybe I'll make it to Prue and Babcock by thirty six and catch the bus over to the grocery store closer to my mom's. If not, I'll just chill out at Carlos' for an hour until the next bus comes.
Cool, another full day on the bus. It's been like this all week.
Actually, if this bus gets to University Hospital by fifteen, I'll catch the bus towards my moms house from there and not have to go all the way to Babcock North. Plus, there's weed at my mom's house. Time is now six exactly.
Okay, we've arrived at the Medical Center Transfer Center. Time is 6:08pm. The 605 comes on the other side so I'm going to walk across the street.
Okay, it's like eight fifteen and I'm going to give you a big update. I got home and took my boots off. My mom was stuck on the computer playing her stupid internet-dominos. Shit, it's the weekend. I thought I'd stay on my going-to-bed-at-8pm-getting-up-at-3am-getting-a-good-three-hours-on-the-computer-in-the-morning routine, but if I do that tonight there's going to be people on the computer all day. Not only is my mom not working, but my bitch-sister, well she's not a bitch, my older sister Diana drove to Dallas to pick up my bitch-sister(now she's a bitch)Laura. Now everybody's going to be over here using the computer and I'm not going to get any time on it. I wanted to email my friend Maureen because I found her address in my wallet earlier. I need to check my email. I wanted to organize some stuff and I need to save some mails off my AOL account before it dies(because it's not mine, hehe). I just have all this shit to do, but now my mom's being a bitch and telling me that I have to scrub the floor in the computer room because it smells like feet. Even though it umm, doesn't. It's all in her head.
Oh yeah, I had stashed my weed in a box inside the computer desk, inside some box. I figured no one would ever look there. When I got home I was like shit, my weed is right there next to her head. It was in some box for some shit she bought for the computer that was probably a waste of money. Hmm, I thought maybe I could tell her I needed a box out of there, but I'm sure she would probably figure it out. I wish she would just get up and go to the restroom or something, but I bet she's scared that if she gets off the computer that I'm going to get on it and she'll lose her precious throne. Man, I hate this place. This house is what's driving me crazy. I'm not crazy already. This house is so backasswards. Anyway, I couldn't get to my weed and I've had a somewhat bittersweet day. Very productive and my feet hurt from all the walking. I need to relax a little.
Okay, later when I got on the computer I offered to smoke this girl out from AOL who I'd talked to a couple times before. My mom was going to let me use her car provided I put gas in it. I used my recorder to get directions so I taped over some stuff, not much though.
Before I left my mom started asking me if I had just smoked weed and that she'd heard that marijuana effects your perception when you're driving. I told her that I hadn't, but even if I had, I asked her, "How many car wrecks have you heard of that were marijuana-related?" I reminded her how I had delivered pizza for two years stoned every night and I had a crystal-clean driving record.
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