101704

Berkeley to San Jose to Santa Cruz, CA

Sunday October 17, 2004

     7:50am  I just woke up. I'll tell you what happened last night. I told my story a lot in Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley. There's rumors the feds are under the building there. 

     8:19am  I'm walking to Telegraph now. Oh yeah, the vacant lot I slept in last night is at Blake and Fulton.

     8:46am  I came to People's Park. I thought Food Not Bombs feeds at seven in the morning, if I remember correctly. I came over here at this little cool spot by all these plants. I bummed a couple cigarettes and I'm going to try to tell my story to these two kids.

     8:54am  I came to People's Park to tell my story and guess who I see. Crow! Long time no see.

     9:34am  I came to the Mediterranean Cafe. Ishmael gave me a cigarette. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit.

                   I forgot to say my morning prayer. Great Spirit, please help me out today. Provide me with a camera please. Oh yeah, I ran into Crow and he found a digital camera on the ground. I told him, "Man, you know how much that would help me. He told me, "Yeah, seventy five dollars." Argh, I told him he should donate that to me. He knows about my cause better than most people.

     10:18am  David hooked me up with a quarter for a donut. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit.

     10:19am  Oh yeah, I'm hanging out on Telegraph in front of the Bay King, trying to spange up a donut. Some guy Greg who saw me last year came up to me, "Hey, what's up man. I saw you last year. I just wanted to say hi." I showed him the picture of my sign. He read it and said, "It's human nature to be generous? I don't think so. It's human-nature to be selfish."

     11:05am  Jesse walked by and gave me some change. I appreciate it, brother. For my camera. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     11:39am  Christina hooked me up with some change. I appreciate it, Christina. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     12:06pm  Stasia hooked me up with a cigarette in front of Zebra. I appreciate it, Stasia. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     2:30pm  I went to the library. I had lost my list, so I wrote up a new one. It sucks. I was walking by the Bank of America and I found a little fortune on the ground. It says, "People willingly believe what they wish." Duh.

     4:05pm  I went to the library and afterwards I was walking around and I saw Crow again. I was going to ask him if he wanted to trade my universal socket tool for his digital camera. He told me he already sold it. He sold it to some guy for $113! He hooked me up with BART fare to San Jose. I'm going to leave soon. He's going that way, too. We stopped at some store to buy some tobacco.

     4:38pm  We just bought our train tickets to San Jose. We're going down and boarding the BART.

     5:54pm  Ha, got a courtesy ride on the bus. All of my other friends paid. Sweet. The universe provides. See, you can count on it.

                    I haven't made an entry in a long time. I'm on the bus going towards San Jose. Umm, I don't know what time it is. I just parted with Crow and his friends.

     6:40pm  I'm in San Jose at the bus stop here.

     7:12pm  I'm walking away from the train station. I had a dollar and fifty cents on me. I went inside the train station and bought a muffin. I'm kind of hoping the bus driver going to Santa Cruz will give me a courtesy ride. I was hungry and spent the money on the muffin. The bus comes at 7:55 so I have time to go ask for spare change.

                   Oh, about Crow and stuff. Argh, it frustrates me. I should've told him, "Man, you finding that camera was like a sign for you to give it to me. I am doing some really important work." Then I thought, "Ahh, I can just keep buying disposables and keep doing it my way." He found a badass digital camera and ended up selling it for more than a hundred dollars. It was all about money to Crow. Crow cheats. Remember he had gone to the Western Union. He travels with money.

                   I came over to this place called, "Greater church of Jesus Christ." I only need four dollars for bus fare to Santa Cruz. They told me no. Hypocrites.

     7:26pm  The bus dropped me off at the train station in San Jose. I walked a couple blocks to get spare change for bus fare. I came over to this gas station and started telling the bums here my story. Coondog just smoked me out. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     7:27pm  Jose al frente del Chevron me dio cambio para mi boleto de autobus. Te lo agradezco, Jose. Todo el mundo recibe crédito, gracias.

     7:52pm  I had walked over to this gas station to try and get bus fare. These homebums gave me two bucks. I came back to the train station where the bus was waiting. I got on the bus and told the driver, "Hey, I got off the bus from San Jose and I had some time to go round up some spare change for my bus fare. I only got two bucks. Don't suppose you could give me a reduced fare?" He hooked me up. Cool, cool. I'm on my way to Santa Cruz.

     8:56pm  I'm in Santa Cruz already! Cool. I'm at the bus depot. I'm going to take off my layers and load up my stuff.

                   I'm going to try out the Taco Bell here. Let's see if Santa Cruz passes my gasoline-for-the-stomach test.

     9:09pm  No-go at the Taco Bell. Santa Cruz is greedy so far.

                   It was awesome how the universe provided over in San Jose. I had gotten off the bus, looked at my watch and thought, "Shit, I have like forty five minutes for the bus to come. I have time to gather some bus fare." I walked off and sure enough, I got it.

                  Oh yeah, the bastard manager at the Taco Bell. He was the only white guy there. The rest were all Mexican girls. I pulled out my recorder and told him, "I was just testing you. You failed. Santa Cruz is greedy so far."

     9:30pm  I saw all these street kids hanging out here on the main drag and I spotted Carla. I knew her from Berkeley last year. She had a shaved head last year.

     9:32pm  Pizza of My Heart told me no. They said, "No, I can't help you, man." They had an old pizza in the back and everything. Greedy asses.

     9:35pm  Noel hooked me up with a cigarette. She's driving a blue Mustang. On what street is this? I just got into town. The strip. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     10:15pm  This guy listened to my whole story. I had a great presentation. I'm going to go in the Subway and see if I can score.

                     Oh yeah, I told this girl in front of the Subway my story. In the end she was all, "Have a good night, Victor." Hehe, she knows my name. I told her, "Tell your friends."

     10:32pm  Saleh gave me a cigarette in front of the Subway. He's a taxi cab driver. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     10:33pm  Jiren hooked me up with some gasoline for my stomach. I appreciate it, brother. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     10:37pm  Sweet, scored me something from the Subway. Got me a sandwich. Perfect, perfect. The universe provides.

                     He even gave me a cookie. Third time's a charm.

     11:00pm  Welcome to Santa Cruz, Victor. I got smoked out. Ashanti aka Mr. J-cat. smoked me out. I appreciate it, brother.

     11:50pm  I'm walking around looking for a place to crash. Some waterway. There's nowhere to crash around here.

     11:57pm  Kendra hooked me up with a cigarette out in front of some pizzeria. I appreciate it, Kendra. Everybody gets credit, thanks.

     12:07am  Man, I had some damn good presentations here in Santa Cruz tonight. A lot of people listened to me. Everybody listened to me. 

     1:07am  These two sisters walking down the street, Stephanie and Liz. I started telling Stephanie my story, but she had to go. She gave me five dollars though. I can get me my camera! 

     1:10am  Welcome to Santa Cruz, Victor. I'm going to go find a place to sleep.

     1:30am  I came to some church and saw some guy in the back. I thought, "Maybe I can find a place to sleep. Usually churches are cool about that." I saw some guy with a sleeping bag and I told him, "Hey, I just got into town and I was looking for a place to crash." He said, "Oh, well not here." Argh, it's a church. I told him, "I forgive you." I walked around to the front of the church and thought I'd crash there. That bum came up to me and told me, "Get out of here, bye."

Next day..

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