Since 1990 I have been walking up and down Old Tezel and it has always needed a sidewalk. Years ago I got the idea to tag the fence saying it needs a sidewalk. I copied any mention of my sidewalk idea that was in my journal. It all makes for a great chapter.
Man, it still pisses me off that I never tagged up that fence by my mom's house with "OLD TEZEL NEEDS A SIDEWALK." That is one of my biggest regrets. I knew I forgot to do something before I left. I bought a can of spraypaint and everything.
6:48pm Right now I'm bored so I'm going to go scope out the fence scene over by the Citgo. I want to spraypaint real big OLD TEZEL NEEDS A SIDEWALK right before I leave.
Because Old Tezel still needs a sidewalk, bad.
9:25am I have just now typed up every single thing I've documented ever since I started this mission. I've closed in the gaps I had in my journal. My update is hereby typed up. I am caught up. This entry I am doing off-tha-brain. Now all I have to do is a quick proofread and post it. I think I'll hold off on posting it until I am about ready to leave. I'll post it right before I go spraypaint the fence, hehe.
3:40am I don't know what I'm going to do. I do have some stuff I need to take care of. I need to spraypaint the fence like I've always wanted to. I have to buy a can of spraypaint. My mom has some spraypaint but it's brown. I want some black paint.
11:45am I'm walking down Old Tezel. I just took a picture of the carwash and the Church's and the fence I'm going to spraypaint, hehe.
8:00am Hmm, I'm sitting here at the computer thinking maybe I should take this as a sign to not spraypaint the fence and just go. That's the last thing on my list to do. "Take good care to avoid the reactions of your actions." Or, maybe I just need to thoroughly plan out my escape and find me a friend with a get-away car that would give me a ride up to Austin. Or, maybe if I spraypaint the fence, since so much traffic gets piled up there and they will automatically know it was me since I've been walking up and down Old Tezel for years now, maybe that would be just a little too much. But then I think, "I don't care. I've been planning this for years now." What an internal-struggle I have in my head.
9-16-07
I don't give a fuck now. I am really sick of this now. I don't care if I die or not. This would be so totally worth it. I'm not going to stop. But, I'm not going to spraypaint the fence either. That just might get me taken out before my stuff really takes off. Or, that just might make my stuff take off. I don't know. I was thinking I might just not do it all big. I'll write it small. I still haven't arranged a ride for that night I want to do it. It would probably take me a good minute to write out OLD TEZEL NEEDS A SIDEWALK! I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm glad I have a recorder again. No more losing history.
Anyway, they just took off. They didn't even meet my mom. She was asleep when they got here and gone to work when we woke up. They're going up to Austin and then they're coming back to I10 to go towards Houston. They're eventually driving to Virginia. I thought, "Hey, that's my ride East. I'm taking off." They're coming back tomorrow night. And it's really cool, hehe. Because I can spraypaint the fence like I want to. I've just needed a getaway car. I talked to Josh about it and he's cool with it.
I've decided I'm not going to take off to Houston with Diana today. I'm going to wait until New Year's. I'm going to spraypaint the fence on New Year's Eve. Hopefully I can manifest a getaway car.
1:08pm I have been busy as hell, dude. I've been taking naps and shit. I am still recuperating from my walk. Ah, I'm pretty much done recuperating. I have already added all my pictures. And, my friend Ezrah is going to Houston soon and she said she'd be willing to be the getaway car so I can spraypaint the fence. I guess I'm going to leave pretty soon. I am all rested up. I've had some good training before I leave. I walked around the loop, man. Twice! Both directions. Hell yeah. Right now I helped clean my mom's house and she said she was going to drive me around the loop so we could clock how many miles it is exactly.
1:30pm I was just taking my time walking back. I wanted to find a warm place to sit down and smoke. I went to the Church's where they had a picnic table in the sun. These little highschool kids riding skateboard were at the Church's and this girl called me over. She asked me, "Hey man, are you the guy who's always walking around for years?" I told her yes, that I was still walking around. She told me she had heard about me getting banned from Stevenson Middle School. I don't know about that. She said she goes to Marshall now. Her name is Gabbie and I gave her my website. I even told all the kids about how I'm going to spraypaint the fence soon. They were all, "Yeah! We'll help you!"
10:30am Ah, I had a re-run of yesterday. I woke up after five hours of sleep. I got stoned and got on the computer and then went back to bed and crashed out again. I woke up around ten 'o clock. I don't think I'm going to go on a walk with my mom today. It's been drizzling all morning nonstop. I am almost halfway through on Side B on the tape of Ezrah's that I'm typing up. Her interview with this guy. I'm going to try and finish the tape today so I can get that out of my way. As soon as I get my shirt from Ezrah I am out of here, man. I'll spraypaint the fence and leave.
9:39pm Right now I even called Josh and he's going to give me a ride Saturday night. He gets off of work at eleven. I'm going to spraypaint the fence! I'm going to go out with a bang this time.
12:54am I'm just sitting in the living room not doing anything. I should go to sleep. I really want to spraypaint the fence. Umm, should I not spraypaint the fence? Maybe these are signs to not. Fuck it, dude. I have nothing to lose. I'm going to spraypaint that fence. I have always wanted to. If he shows up I'm doing it. If not, at least not tonight. So that means today is already February third. That sucks. I wanted to leave on my birthday. This sucks! I got stood up by Josh. Ugh, I am having this huge internal dilemma now about spraypainting the fence. My mom was pleading me not to thinking I would get thrown in jail. I don't care though. I really have nothing to lose. I want to paint that fence really bad. Old Tezel really does need a sidewalk. Maybe I'll take my bags to the bus stop and do it in broad daylight, and then get on the bus and get the fuck out of here. Maybe I'll do that, hehe.
10:44am I think I am going to leave. I'm going to walk up to the fence and spraypaint it in broad daylight and then just jump on the bus and skip town. Let's see what happens.
10:56am I was all ready to take off and go spraypaint the fence. I was walking down Old Tezel with a spraypaint can in a cargo pocket. I was walking then I realized oh fuck, I forgot to update the journal on my site! I'm going to go back and then I can call about the bus schedule and see what time the 606 comes. It's Sunday, after all.
11:21am I've got an update to make. I got a hair up my ass that I'm just going to take off and ride the bus and get out of here. I had started walking down Old Tezel then I changed my mind because I forgot to update my website which I already did. It's current to like three days ago, to the end of January. I thought I was going to be able to paint the fence and jump on the bus, but I saw the bus coming when I was walking up and it already passed. I have to wait a whole other hour. I've already scoped it out and know how I'm going to do it. Everybody is going to see it. Haha, that's funny.
11:51am Oh, I didn't tell you. I came to a picnic bench at the Church's and set my bags down. Then I realized oh shit, I don't have any more havethisbook.coms to hand out. I have like five sheets at home, a hundred each. They're just sitting there. I forgot them. So, since I have a whole hour to wait, I stashed my pack behind the Winnebago they have back here. I hiked the whole half mile home and half mile back. I'm going to spraypaint the fence around five after.
12:04pm I'm going to go spraypaint the fence. There's cars everywhere.
12:08pm I just spraypainted the fence. OLD TEZEL NEEDS A SIDEWALK, hell yeah, everybody is going to see that shit. I can't believe I just did that at noon. I'm going to go stand at the bus stop now and cross my fingers and hope the bus gets here before the police do. People were honking at me and shit.
12:11pm There's the police at the stoplight. I don't know if he's going to turn and come this way.
12:12pm Showtime. He's looking at the fence right now. Alright, let's see what happens, guys.
Cool, the cop just kept going straight. He didn't turn.
12:17pm There's the 606. I'm home-free. That's it. I'm getting out of San Antonio today. Just watch.
4-15-08 in West Palm Beach, FL
10:45am Dude, what a marvelous update I have to make! Right at the last minute of my email session, my friend Katt who lives in my mom's hood in San Antonio messaged me on MySpace:
Date:
Apr 15, 2008 10:31 AM
Victor...
I thought I'd let you know that there finally concitering a side walk there down ol'tezel.... you fence line made the 5 pm news and a councel woman is being held responcible to do something about it.... Good job man, thought I'd let you know.... Where are you? how are you doing?
Hell yeah! I'm going to manifest a sidewalk!
7-21-08 - Five months later in Celina, OH
4:53pm I had a great reception at the shelterhouse by my fanclub. Dude, I just called my mom and she said, "Victor, are you sitting down? They're building your sidewalk." Yeehaw! I want to go back to San Antonio now. That makes my whole jail experience totally worth it.
5:05pm I am so happy. Not only did I get high, but I also got news they're building my sidewalk in San Antonio! I was thinking maybe that's a sign to go back to San Antonio. My mom even told me that if I needed help with busfare she would. Hmm, I've done enough of the East Coast. I can always come back. It's decided. I'm going back to San Antonio.
2:54pm I'm going to walk to Church's and get something to eat and look at my sidewalk they're building.
4:03pm I just walked up and they are indeed building a sidewalk! I can't wait to take pictures of it. I don't want to wait for my batteries to charge. I am so glad they're building this sidewalk. I am really happy.
Haha, somebody else has already tagged the new sidewalk! Somebody wrote, "Thnx 4 The SIDEWALK, BITCH." How awesome is that?! That's hilarious. Oh yeah, they cleaned my tag on the fence. You can still see it, kind of. Looking back.
4:22pm What a majestic feeling. My tag worked. They had to build it after that. It was just too blatantly obvious a sidewalk needed to be there. And to top it off somebody else wrote thanks for the sidewalk, bitch! Hell yeah, that's probably directed at me. My pleasure.
***10-11-08 Update
Months have gone by and no progress has been made to the strip of sidewalk they started. When I searched Google for OLD TEZEL NEEDS A SIDEWALK I found the email address of the lady running the sidewalk committee. I emailed her with the following. I made the subject on the email OLD TEZEL NEEDS A LONGER SIDEWALK:
From: victor antonio iamsanantonio@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 06:35:56 -0700 (PDT)
To: sidewalks@braunwillow.com, NewsDesk@woaitv.com
Subject: OLD TEZEL NEEDS A LONGER SIDEWALK
Hello,
That's exactly what I'm going to write on the fence if more work
doesn't begin soon. Maybe it'll be on the news again.
It seems that small strip of sidewalk was made just to appease the
veteran residents of Old Tezel. Just a tease. It only serves the new
neighborhood, not the people who have tenure in this area. What is taking
so long? How many months has it been and there hasn't been any more
progress made at all?
Since you are in charge of the sidewalk committee, I'd like a reply,
please. Are you currently addressing this issue? How? I'd volunteer my
labor for free if nobody else wants to finish the sidewalk. It truly does
need one.
- Victor Antonio
www.havethisbook.com
p.s. Hey, it worked the first time.
Her reply three days later:
RE: OLD TEZEL NEEDS A LONGER SIDEWALK
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 11:43 AM
From:"sidewalks@braunwillow.com" <sidewalks@braunwillow.com>
To:iamsanantonio@yahoo.com
Cc:president@braunwillow.com
Victor Antonio,
As a representative of Braun Willow 2/4 HOA I have been calling the
office of Justin Rodrigeuz. He is our District Councilman. You may
contact his office at (210)207-7044. I would advise you against writing on
the fence as it is against the law and you are defacing someone else's
property. I understand your frustration. If you want to volunteer to help
get this issue out in the public, take notice of the safety issues not
having a sidewalk causes then speak out to our Councilman. I spoke with
his office this morning and I am currently awaiting another update on the
funds issue to complete this sidewalk. I expect an answer soon and I plan
to continue to keep checking until the sidewalk is complete.
Thanks in advance for your help in calling Councilman Rodriguez'
attention to this matter without breaking the law.
Dawn O'Connell
My reply:
Dawn,
No, thank you for not ignoring me. Your email was music to my eyes. I just wanted to know that steps are actually being taken to finish what was started. I guess you could say that sidewalk means a lot to me.
I was aware of the risks I took when I first tagged the fence last February. The idea had been brewing in my mind for years. I was only stating the obvious. Seeing how five months later there was a sidewalk(or at least the start of one) on Old Tezel right where I tagged the fence, I now feel totally justified in my actions. Boy, did they speak loud. My name ain't Victor for nothing.
I was traveling in Ohio doing my thing and called my beloved mother. She told me, "Victor, are you sitting down? They're building your sidewalk." I just had to come back to see it. Rode the Greyhound straight home.
It also pleases me very much that they were able to erase my graffiti. Now it's like it never happened. No harm done. Only good.
I wasn't really going to tag the fence again. Sometimes to get results(and replies) you have to spell it out to people. Thank you for taking me seriously.
Love,
- Victor Antonio
P.S. I am very curious. When exactly did the construction begin? Would you know that date?
Her reply:
Victor,
I don't recall the actual date of construction. It was through many
calls from another neighbor who is disabled that we got the first part of
the sidewalk done. I made calls too but his actions I believe is really
what got the ball rolling. I am continuing to make arguments for the
safety factor especially with all of the school age kids having to trudge
through the muck to simply get to school.
Please make a call as I have suggested or email and put the issue as a
priority for all our neighborhoods
Thanks, Dawn O'Connell.
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