Yes, today is June 28, nearly a month after I posted that first little weird spiel on my adventures and travels. I have been keeping a written log, the old fashioned way, pencil and paper (who needs pens anyway), so I might put that up later. It just became kind of a drag to go over to the library every day, and be limited to the one hour access per day they give you, so I finally said 'fuck it' and went out and got a notebook. The only gripe with a notebook, though, is that it takes a long time to write down my day in detail. And as you know, I'm a ramblin' man sometimes, be going on and on. Thankfully, my wonderfull mum sent my laptop over to the place I'm staying at right now, a lovely Buddhist temple in the middle of the Mission District in San Francisco (I'll explain later, long story), so I've got a 'puter to chimp on. Kind of came to realize that in this darn world you just need 'puters, and as long as you don't let them consume your every day life and entire being, you can actually put them to good use and make them work for you. Like keeping this log, for example.
So anyway, I'll just put day's log on as I would have written it down in notebook. We'll see wether or not I'll get to putting up some of the days in between this and my last post. Just check back on a regular basis, I'll try to be consistent this time around. Will try to put up some pictures, too. Got a little digicam, but it don't work on me Mac, which means I'll probably still need to go to the library. Lame.
Popped at 330AM, slept like a rock. Felt like one too. These little Maxi-something earplugs Ed gave me really do work well, though. We've got all the windows open, in the temple, and since we're in the middle of the Mission district, you wake up at the sound of the more than occasional drunk or gunshot. It's probably a good thing that I hit the deck early every day, wouldn't want to be out at night in this area. Actually, that happened, a couple of days ago. They were showing the (AMAZING) Minutemen-documentary "We Jam Econo" about 10 blocks from the temple, but regular folk stay up until late, so I didn't get back home until 1150PM or so. Nothing happened, but I didn't feel like I could cruise home without a worry either. Trippy, what poverty and hard times do to people. I understand where they're coming from, but it still feels gnarly to be around that kind of energy.
So anyway, 330, did my morning ritual. The brush my hair & teeth thing. Put in my by now signature pigtails. Gone up to 4 hair-ties by now, won't be long until I have to go to six. I'm digging it though. Put the bandana I found on the walk the other day around my neck, as usual. Which kind of reminds me of when I was a kid. My mom dressed me up as a Cowboy a couple of times. Anyway, I found this thing when I was walking back down from Twin Peaks one morning, and many garbage cans blew over. There was this perfectly clean, brown bandana. So I grabbed it, and have pretty much been wearing it all day, every day, ever since. As soon as I get access to the digicam I'll put up a picture or two. Woah, watch out Max, you keep going on off on random tangents. Then again, might as well make people just deal with it, it's my log, isn't it?
Filled up the thermoses, put them in the backpack and at 445 Scott and I took off to Wang's house. Gathered at 5, just like every morning, and walked up the Twin Peaks. Foggy day, yet again. I felt heavy, like a rock. Probably because of those soy beans Scott put in his homemade hot sauce. He mentioned to me later that it was also bothering his stomach, so he threw it out. Good. Trippy, huh? When your body gets this clean even Soy can make you feel gnarly. I guess that confirms me once again that beans have a lot of energy, but it's all contracting. I'll just stick to the greens and millet-porridge, not too heavy, and it gets me through. I appreciate the simple food more and more with every passing day, it's a beautifull thing.
Got back at 745, I guess, so I heated up some of yesterday's porridge and continued reading this book that Scott lend me the other day. "Tales Of Power" by Carlos Castaneda. Good book, read it, if you can find it. The guy's actually got an entire series, or had, about the same subject. It's a delight to read, and anyone who knows me knows that I'm very picking about my reading, so dig, pick it up! I alternated between reading, napping, drinking tea and listening to my trusty old cassette tapes for the next couple of hours. The weather was kind of cold all day, so I just stayed inside (again, windows open at all times, what a trip, huh?) and took it nice and slow. Went out at 3PM to do some grocery shopping at the farmer's market, paid my metroPCS (cellphone) bill and went up to Wang's again, to walk Pema with Scott. Just to give people a quick overview, I'm living in this nice place called Medicine Buddha, together with two other people, Scott and Jenn. They' good people, and since I'm just working on keeping a healthy life style, I hang out with Scott a lot. He's a trippy dude, loads of history there, very interesting. Jams on guitar and drums too, we get along well. They both take good care of me, and I just try to return the favor. Kind people, I'm fortunate to have met them. Wang too. Doesn't live here, but the same goes for him, pretty much.
So when we got back we had some porridge, and I happily receive this 'puter. Glad to see the package made it over safe, all the way from Holland. My mom really is a packmaster, you should have seen the way she packed it, insane, in a good way. Tidy, neat, wow, thank you mama! Took my time, gobbled down some porridge whilst updating the 'puter and just setting things up, getting it into working mode. Watched a bit of We Jam Econo (got the DVD at the screening), chimped some log, and hit the deck at 10PM.
