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04:43 - Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006
the podcast!!
hi everybuddy!!! i made a pod cast of todays drivel, and if ya cannot hear the podcast, you can read it here. to listen to the podcast and read at the same time,right click on the linky, and open in a new window, then minimise the new window so, click here for podcast

welcome listeners! this is a special podcast edition of the daily drivel by request from sallydally do, woo woo!! and requiel, who dont like the smell of rotten potatoes. i ate a rotten potatoe once. just once.
from the broadcast studios of who did it and ran, ink!! here is todays revelation, from the book of yikes, the itchy ear section:

what inspired you to change old habits and old lifestyles and started you on the path to a great new life.

tuff question. of which i will try to provide a snappy answer.

incarceration. naw, not really. i been locked up before.

jesus. naw, not really. he dont got no KFC meals.


ah! i remember!! i was tired!! not sick and tired, just i wanna take a nap tired.

i used to go from city to city, begging my way from here to there, working only when i felt like it, living in missions and shelters, motels and hotels, collecting library cards every where i went. sleeping in cars, fancy hotel bathrooms, ya know, i can go from los angeles to washington d.c. with no money in my pocket, and have a full tank of gas and cash in my pocket when i got there, and didnt rob nobody, or steal any gas. all i done was beg for it. baptist churches are best for begging. just pop in anytime, wednesdays or sundays the best, and get ahold of the preacher and tell him a sob story, and convince him you are saved. thats a plus!

salvation army is easiest, sometimes. there you dont get cash, you get a voucher, but thats ok. fill the tank up anyway. sometimes, i get a good job, then, when my attitude pissed people off, well, time to go!

and riding on the amtrak was so much fun, too!! sometimes, i'd get lucky, and ride 1st class. but i gotta tell ya, riding 1st class aint all its cracked up to be. the 1st class cabin is no bigger than a good closet, with fold down beds, not much room to move around, but the mattresses were nice and comfy!! anyhoo, when on the train, i would meet all kinds of folks on vacation and what not, and would have to socialise with them, so when the question came up as to what i done for a living, i made something up! and that was that.

when i was travelling by car, i used to like to make believe i was going to work in the morning, driving in rush hour traffic!! that was fun!! oh, on occasion, i drove a big truck, and lived in the truck, that was fun for a while too.

but ya know, between hitchiking all over the place when i was a kid, and for a time when i was married, we rubber tramped all around, til we got tired of it. i had settled down a bit at that point, but my alcohol and gambling were more important at the time than paying bills and rent. and when i got the heave ho from the wench for the last time, i was back on the street, then after i was found innocent in the death of my son, i was back on the street, but then i was angry, very angry, i felt like SOMEONE owed me!!! fuck all this working!! no ones gonna hire me anyway. so i develouped sob stories, mainly by listening to others on the street and what they had to say. heres a typical story:

well, i am on my way back home. my wife and i were seperated because of my alcohol use, and she had asked me to leave. i have been in detox, and went thru a program, and ya know, thru that program, i had found the lord! and through counseling, and remaining sober, and joining a church and getting baptised, my wife has decided to take me back. i have 3 kids at home, 2 in diapers, and i have a promise of a job in a wherehouse when i get home. but the problem is, i had some unexpected car problems, and that ate away my cash, and my wife cannot help me, and i am stuck here...yada yada you get the idea, folks!! so, after some counseling and guidence, and lotsa smiles, after all, most preachers i ran into loved to hear this type of talk, about a family reuniting, and overcoming adversity, so out the wad of cash would come, and money was pressed into my hand!! most times, anything between 25 towards a coupla hundred bucks!!! why work when people just give ya cash money? that was my attitude for many years. some times, i didnt even have to ask, the cash would just appear.

meanwhile, i was in and out of the VA hospital, varing degrees of mental illness would hit me hard. and i would take meds. and get therapy for my anger and rage. i have a bi-polar disorder. but it was worse at one time. and as the years progressed, and the travelling increased, one of the things i would always say was that if i found a place that was clean and cheap, i would stop and stay put.

one of the things i used to do was goto reno in the winter and get a motel room and find some type of job in a casino. cooking, security, money counting, what ever. work in the winter, and scram in the summer. but as the years progressed, reno lost its appeal, and the jobs started drying up. and i started getting tired of wandering all over north america. what i wanted was a real apartment, and a cat. i was getting tired, and too old for this shit.

the last few years, i was in a circle of wandering, so to speak, starting from vancouver b.c. and go south to seattle, portland, san francisco, los angeles, vegas, reno, boise then back up to b.c. in 2004, i was in san francisco, one of the cities i love to live in, but can never afford it, i was getting tired of the same old shit. i had a laptop, and i sold it and thinking about where can i go that was good and cheap. a few years back, i spent a winter in klamath falls, and my motel rent was 200 a month. but k-falls was nice, but BORING!!!! nothing at all to do there!! at 5 pm they shut down the streets and shops and busses. and winter was harsh!!! i wanted to give it another try, but the place i had rented when i was there, was no longer available.

i thought about boise, boise was nice, and there was a motel there that was 250 a month, but the problem with that was it was 15 miles from downtown!!! woooo!!! and the busses quit at 6 pm.

bored yet? im almost done rambling!!

so, i was thinking, where have i NOT had been inna long time? then slc came to mind. from time to time, i would look at the slc paper for rents, and noticed that it was cheap to live there, so i took what cash i had left from selling my laptop, and it was a good one too!! (sigh)
well i went to slc on the bus. its about 18 hours by bus from sf to slc, so i had thought of just getting off at reno, but i was broke, and tired, so i stayed on the bus and gave slc a try. i would give it a month, i thought, the other alternative was iowa city. if things didnt work out here, i would goto iowa city. i know the mission director there.

so, i get to slc, and get to the mission. i found out that the mission here only gives ya 2 weeks. well, time to get busy. i went to the shelter, and signed up for a bed, a two week wait. so, after sleeping at the mission, i went to the shelter. that place was a slob house, fil-fee rotten fil-fee. i started looking around for a cheap place.

i didnt have to look very far, cause i passed by the rio grande hotel every morning from the shelter along the way to the mission for breakfast and coffee. they had rooms available, 265 a month. so, after a week in the shelter, i applyed for a room. i met doyle the manager, and my 1st impression of him was that i thought he was an asshole. but i got accepted anyway, and when check day came, i took a pillow and a sheet from the shelter, and thats all i had, and moved in!!! i can afford this!! we will see how this works out.

that was in july, 2004. 18 months ago. and here i am working for doyle, and i have my nice and clean, no bugs apartment, assistant manager, and a CAT!!! woo woo!! and i have all kinds of stuff!!! im living like a regular person now, and overall, i am happy. i do worry a lil too much about all of this collapsing and me falling on my fat ass again. but all i have to do is live and breathe and do my job, which is so easy peasy lemon squeezy. i found my place here, and when i get the urge to just up and leave, i remember how it was, and how tired i was of the way i was living. last october, i went to journal con and met poolagirl and mom on roof and chaosdaily, of whom can tell you this whole thing is true facts, cause i been yakking with her on yahoo messenger since 2000. or there abouts. i have a CAT! when i went to san diego on the amtrak, i left creamsicle in a animal shelter, and pay when you come back, and i gotta tell ya, the thought did occur to me to just go to this journal con, then not come back. but the thought of that made me cry real bad. i was crying because of creamsicle. if i didnt come back home to get him, i dont wanna think what would happen to him. he needs me. i now have a purpose. i have a living breathing being who needs my love and care, and i have people who depend upon me. so im home. and im still tired, but now i can take a nap. so that is how i changed from my old habits and lifestyles, and became a better person. im not angry anymore, and i dont believe someone owes me anymore. i live in peace, which overall is what i really wanted!

contest time!!! true facts!! i have a 2006 far side calendar, still in the wrapper!!! be the 1st one to tell me the year i started hitchhiking, and you are a winner!! i will send you the far side calendar, free!!!

this has been a screen gems/ filmways presentation! note: shear-madness and hissandtell got it right, at the same time, shear got my age, 11 and hissandtell got the year, 1969. so, what i will do, since shear got my age right, and hiss got the year, hiss will get the far side calendar, and i will send shear a scotsman calendar! so i hope that will settle that!! thanks!!!

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