012904

 

San Antonio, TX

Thursday January 29, 2004

     8:04am  I woke up around 7:30am Let's see. Everybody got out of the house quick. I gotta go to Walmart today. I have to be sure to get some cereal, some peanut butter and some bread. I'll come back and then I'm going to go . . . I need to write down a list of everything I need.

     8:27am  [cough, cough, spit] I layered up and I'm off walking. I put my thermal bottoms on. It's chilly out here. It's all wet.

     8:30am  I am walking and I have $140 in my wallet. All my money I have left. I'm going to walk down Braun Road to . . . I'll cut through Wickersham to get to Braun. Then, I'll cut down to OP Schnabel Park. I'll walk that trail system all the way to behind the Walmart. Oh, I even have a drink waiting for me. My last beer I left out there.

                   Oh yeah, I finally made a big list on a piece of paper of all the things I need to get. I'm going to try to get them all.

     8:44am  I walked down Wickersham to Tezel and I see a 610 pass by. I thought maybe I could jump on that and ride it to Bandera, which isn't that far. At all. But, the bus wouldn't stop for me, so I'm going to walk.

     8:55am  I just switched out my tennis ball on my stick. It wore out quick. I walked a lot yesterday.

     9:02am  I am walking into OP Schnabel.

     9:08am  This fat lady just walked by with two cellphones. Damn lazy asses and their gadgets.

     9:22am  I just got done taking a healthy shit in the bathroom at the pavilion. It took a long time. I just sat there. I didn't force it out, or anything. My colon seems to be empty. I took a shit this morning, too. I took another one.

                   It's probably all that peanut butter.

                   You can't stop bytes.

                   You can't stop life.

                   You can't stop freedom.

                   You can't stop me.

                   You can only get in my way.

     9:40am  Dude, I just had a badass presentation. This parks and recreation guy came up to use the restroom. I told him, "Hey man, can I tell you a really interesting story? I'm not asking for anything." He listened to me and agreed with everything I said, man. Even the marijuana part. I asked him what he thought would happen if all the world leaders got together and smoked some weed. He said, "It'd be a really peaceful world."

                   I'm right.

     10:00am  I am still walking. Hiking to the Walmart. I'm going to go to Smokestone and see if my beer is still there. I'll drink that and go get my pictures. It'll be cool. I'll be cool.

     10:04am  It's started drizzling. I had to don my rain poncho.

     10:05am  I just came up to this fence line behind a neighborhood. I don't know where the hell I am.

     10:07am  I walked a little bit. I was going to try and get in the neighborhood and see where I end up. I figured nah, maybe I'll go the other way, so I'm backtracking a little.

                     I just got to this fence I recognized when I walked out here with John yesterday. I think we turned here to go to Smokestone.

     10:26am  At long last I have arrived at Smokestone. I'm going to drink that last beer, smoke a cigarette and some weed and then go out to the Walmart. It's already past ten.

     10:44am  I'm done chilling out drinking my beer. It's raining now. It's raining hard. I'm all dry in my poncho though. I love my poncho.

     10:57am  I ended up on the trail that leads out to the bridge over here on Bandera Road by Tios Mexican Restaurant. Close to Mainland. I'm going to walk to the Walmart now. Over here by the Sonic.

     11:08am  I'm at Walmart. I got me a cart and everything. I got my stick in the cart and my rain poncho too. I look funny, I'm sure.

                     I went to the photolab and picked up all the CD's with my pictures. Yeah! As the mission evolves.

     11:25am  I just picked out a six-pack of Haynes Cushion Crew socks for $4.88. And, it comes with a seventh sock free. A little crew cut pair.

                     Okay, they don't have the gloves. I'm going to give up on the gloves. I'm going to go look for talcum powder.

                     For my boots.

     11:37am  I might get this Gold Bond foot powder stuff. I can't find any regular talcum powder in a small container.

                    Oh yeah, I need razors to shave.

                    Got a five-pack razors for $2.97. I don't need any shaving cream. I'll use soap.

     11:40am  I grabbed a toothbrush holder and a soap thing for seventy eight cents. I need one of those.

     11:42am  Damnit, they got the Johnson's Baby Powder Aloe Vera, mild baby powder. The containers are too big. I'm going to go back and get that Gold Bond stuff for three dollars. It's a much smaller container.

     11:52am  I went up to the check-out line and realized I hadn't gotten milk. I'm going to go get some milk.

     12:10pm  I walked out of the Walmart and the bus is out here waiting for me. Awesome.

     12:37pm  I just got off the 610 over by the Citgo by my mom's. Guess what I just found! I'm carrying all these bags. Right when I stepped into the carwash I spot a wet ten dollar bill floating in a puddle of dirty water! That's so awesome! Thank you, Love. Spirits got my back.

     12:48pm  I just got to my mom's house. I lugged all that stuff over here. That milk was heavy. It's so awesome I found those ten dollars! I am so psyched out about that! It's like my reward for all the good work I've been doing lately. Just because I went and got my pictures back and I am one step closer to having my webpage up. Thank you, Love. For the reward. The whole world appreciates it.

                     I don't have a key to my mom's house. I'm going to go to the backyard and go in the back door, which I left unlocked.

     12:53pm  I am unloading all the stuff I got. Dude, I can't believe I got a digital camera. I can't believe it was only twenty dollars. I wonder what the catch is.

     1:16pm  I've got pretty much the jist of this camera. I actually read the instruction booklet. Man, there are tons of typos in it. These are like the most unprofessional instructions I have ever read. No wonder the camera only cost twenty dollars. Idiots made this thing.

     2:02pm  I loaded up all my stuff in the washer and I'm washing all my clothes.

     2:46pm  My clothes are done washing. I'm going to dry them now.

     2:56pm  I realized that one of my CD's was missing to the film I just developed. I called the Walmart and asked to speak to Jessica in the photolab. She was all, "Oh yeah, we found one." I told her I was also missing the index print for another one. She told me to go by there and she'd give them to me.

     4:02pm  Yeah, that ten dollars is dry. I got me ten dollars, just like that. That's awesome.

                   Now, I have forty dollars.

     4:05pm  I am leaving my mom's house. I'm going to go catch the bus to the Walmart and then I'll walk through the woods all the way to Carlos'. I called him up and asked him if I could come by just to look at my pictures. He said he'd be there.

                   It is so awesome I found that ten dollar bill earlier! That's what I get for walking. It pays great.

                   I am a professional walker. I make money off this shit.

     4:20pm  I didn't have to wait at all. It's coming right now.

     4:27pm  I'm off the bus in front of Walmart. I'm going to go get that CD of mine that girl told me she had.

     4:47pm  I am hiking to Carlos'. I'm going to cut through the woods to OP Schnabel Park. I'll get all the way out there. Let's see how long it takes me. Let's see if I stop and talk to anybody on the trails.

     5:03pm  I'm just walking through the woods here behind some neighborhood and I just passed this big cement sewer thing. Somebody spray-painted on there, "legalize herb." Haha. Once again, I am following my signs.

                    I'll take a picture of it.

     5:20pm  I forgot to tell you. I'm in OP Schnabel already. I just passed this golf course. I need to find a place to sit down and take a smokebreak. I wonder if I'll find somebody to talk to.

     5:45pm  I just ran into Carl, the dude with tourettes I met the other day with John. Well, I knew John in middle school. I just meant the first time I met him in years. Yeah, that's the ticket. I called Carl and he saw me and yelled back, "Hey, what's up, Victor?" Hehe, he knows my name. Cool. I had told him my whole story the other day.

     5:47pm  Carl just agreed to climb into the cave and take a picture of it for me. I'd never get to see it. I can't go in there. It's some cave in the cliffs I've known about since I was a little kid. I'm too tall to go in there, but other people crawl in. Supposedly, there's enough room inside where you can just sit down. I'm going to finally see it.

                   Carl changed his mind about going in there. Damn.

     5:55pm  Carl walked with me a little and we passed the driving range. On the other side of the fence I saw some guys golfing. I walked by and yelled at them, "Don't you guys have anything better to do!?" This one guy yells back, "Nope." I said, "That's pathetic," and just kept walking.

     6:05pm  I just came out on Prue Road. There's tons of traffic. Perfect time for me to be walking out here looking all crazy, hehe.

     6:25pm  I am at Carlos'.

     8:16pm  Carlos let me check my email and I had a lot. I got to call Kati tonight. She sent me a lot of emails. I feel bad. I feel terrible for not having communicated with Kati for so long. I've been having all these "days off" and adventures. Poor baby.

     8:30pm  I'm not going to cut through the park. I'm going to walk Prue Road all the way to Bandera, just so people will see me.

                   Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that on Carlos' computer I got to look at my pictures. I am just amazed at how easy it was to get my pictures in digital format. It was simple. It was easy. I am all excited. Man, my mission is evolving, my mission is evolving!

                   And I got paid! Ten bucks. The spirits paid me. Your welcome, spirits. Hey, it was my pleasure. I would have done it for nothing.

                   Holy shit. Those ten dollars will help me buy a new microcassette recorder. This one's dying.

                   Man, Carlos is way ignorant. He was all insinuating I smelled bad. Right after I showed him all my pictures of the barn in Arcata, he told me, "Man, you smell. When was the last time you took a shower?" I told him, "Umm, today. This morning. How about you?" He told me, "Well it must be your clothes then. When was the last time you washed them?" I told him, "Umm, today. This morning. How about you?" He's so dumb. It's all in his head, just like my mom.

                   I don't smell. I know I don't.

                   Oh yeah, I had taken my boots off when I first got to his house. After accusing me of stinking I pointed to my boots and told him, "Don't you say my boots stink. I am using this odor-fighting foot powder I bought today, so don't tell me my shit stinks."

                   Carlos is really ignorant. He thinks he's so smart, though. Ha.

                   He told me he had run into this guy we knew in school together, Robert Macias. He told me, "Yeah, he's getting his PHD." Oh yeah, I asked him, "Did you tell him how crazy I was?" He went, "Yeah, he thinks your nuts." I don't give a figgity-fuck. I want him to.

                   25+15=40? That's exactly how much money I have. That's exactly how much I need. The microcassette recorder is twenty five. Also, some MUS-L Blast 2000 for fifteen. That's forty dollars. That's what I got. The spirits helped me out with some money for my mission.

                   Thank you, Love.

                   Did I mention Chasity wrote me back? I was pleased. A smile crossed my face. I kind of miss Chasity.

     9:05pm  Turning left on Old Prue. In front of Creekview Estates neighborhood.

     9:15pm  I stopped at the gas station here. The Chevron on Bandera/Old Prue. I broke my forty dollars. I bought me a Nutrageous candy bar for like eighty cents or something. I'm going to smoke a cigarette now. I am considering telling the guy my story. I don't know.

     9:46pm  Joey is hooking me up with a soda after he listened to my story. I appreciate it, brother.

     9:55pm  I am walking home.

                   I'm at where Prue turns into Tezel. I'll walk Tezel to Braun Road and turn left on Wickersham. Right, I mean.

     10:20pm  I am at the corner of Wickersham and Tezel. I'm just going to sit down here and smoke a cigarette. Man, I gotta stop buying cigarettes, I've realized. When I buy cigarettes I smoke so much more. And, bumming cigarettes is a perfect segway to telling people my story. When I get to the part where I say, "Prove that it's human nature to be generous . . ." I can hold out the cigarette and tell them, "Just like you did."

     10:21pm  I'm all stoned and having all these crazy ideas. I'm almost to my mom's house. I'm thinking I'm so stupid that I've waited so long to do this. I could have taken all the months of days I've been logging and just been massmailing my stuff to them. The actual text files. You know? Dude, I don't need a webpage. I just have to get to work massmailing.

                     I'm thinking, I'm going back to Arcata. I'm going back to my workstation at Kati's. I'll go back to Kati-Pie. Oh man. Even the shit that's already happened in San Antonio will be so rad to type up. I'm going to get out of here soon.

                    I'm all prepared. I bought socks today. I might even get some spending money.

     10:50pm  My mom's going to make me some pizza. I am so hungry. Thank you, mom. I appreciate it.

     10:55pm  Dude, I am just so happy. I showed my mom my digital camera and she told me, "Oh, I was going to get you one for your birthday." Just then, I decided that's when I'm going to leave. I just made up my mind right then. Not because I think she's going to buy me a camera, it's just a soon date. February 2nd. It's my birthday.

                     This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

Next day..