Minor accidents

Today, our intrepid hero slipped and fell on the ice. Later, he spilled beer all over his bed. He tripped over the coffee table in a dark room. He also has betrayed his defense mechanisms and injured his pride. Life goes on!

24 and there's so much more

Today marks the 24th year of the author's presence on this blue planet. He remains a very scattered creature, one who is constantly deferring to embarrassingly stylized devil and angel advisers who ceaselessly perch & preach on his shoulders. Earlier in his life he was told by his personal angel to continuously out-pour love and truth and openness should any small opportunity arise. Friends, strangers, lovers, animals, all. The devil was a stubborn, stoic little thing that would demand just the opposite: higher walls, deeper moats, booby traps, sarcasm, egoism, derision. As the days and years fall away, results become slightly more visible. A conclusion one could reach might assert that following the lead of the former adviser often causes a recurring experience similar to shortsightedly locking oneself of the house on a cold, rainy day: Shivering, crestfallen, and impotently hoping for an external reversal of fortune. The latter's advice leads to trials akin to being as a rotted-out fortress under siege: pestilent, malnourished, and eventually mutinous and thus defeated. As the author continues to age and learn, he is finding it harder to discern any ultimate difference between the members of his dual council. Even harder to ascertain is an alternative.

Decemberween

I'm on my couch at my apartment in Worcester, finishing the freezer gin. I am leaving in one month. I don't know if I'll have an apartment, a job, money, or a car when I return. Are we going to Texas? Ohio, NC, Georgia? NY, PA? How will we afford that? Questions that need answering.
It is so cold here right now. Visible is my breath. I am happy for the winter, truly. Somehow the challenge of being comfortable under these circumstances is trying enough to make it feel worth it.
Everything is up in the air. 2010 is nothing but a daunting array of question marks and vague notions. Honestly, something big needs to happen. My trip to Australia feels huge in breadth, but not depth.

Recently

I love what I'm up to.

Selling & Buying

I'm once again on the 7th floor of Boston Medical Center. I am here for the day, giving blood and tissue samples. Glocuse syrup? Sure. Blood pressure cuffs and an ultrasound? Deal. Sublingual nitroglycerin? Alright. Internal vein scraping? Okay(ignore huge pit in my stomach), if you must. It's funny the things we do when we feel compelled. I will be in the USA for only fifty more days, and have no savings, many outstanding bills, and a personal loan repayment owed asap to a relative. Every single day needs to be utilized. Working part-time does not cut it.

Strange Days, Indeed

I'm laying on the Jamaica Plain couch. I've been here all week. It is raining outside, was that thunder? Yep. There is a big black purring kitten on my chest who keeps fuckin' up my computering. Computing? Interwebbing.
Yesterday I went to ride on a ferris wheel at the Topsfield Fair. I was by myself. They put me in a basket with a grandpa with a ponytail and leather jacket and a grandson with short blond hair, a redsox shirt, and funny loose/missing/crooked/little kid teeth. Both were afraid of heights, but I wasn't sure if either of them were feigning it to fool the other. It was pointed out that we were in basket #13. I wasn't afraid.
I had a strong sense of the sheer absurdity of life on that ferris wheel.

Hospital stay

I am writing this from the 7th floor of Boston Medical Center. I am undergoing a five-day clinical bedrest trial. It is pretty alright. Movies. Books. Bland food. 800 dollars.

Yussss

Pinto beans (canned)
Dark kidney beans (canned)
Black beans (dried & soaked)
Chick peas (canned)
Diced tomatoes (canned)
Whole tomatoes (canned)
Tomato paste (canned)
Green bell peppers
Hungarian long peppers
Small chili peppers
Corn
Yellow onions
Tempeh (marinated w/Braggs & balsamic vinegar, cubed)
Kale stems, finely chopped
Collard stems, finely chopped
Garlic cloves
Summer squash
Zucchini
Garlic powder
Apple cider vinegar
Chili powder
Cayenne pepper
Nutritional yeast
Salt

A new approach

I have found that whenever I realize that my life going in a direction that I truly am dissatisfied with(which is chronic problem), my typical response is to declare a reaffirmation of purpose(how overblown!) and to announce a new philosophy of living-and-being(how naïve!) as my solution. I am utterly ineffectual when it comes to putting these ideas into practice. Empty words, empty words. Yuck. Right now, I am undergoing the worst financial difficulties I have yet to experience. I am on the edge of being totally screwed. Now would be the time to hunker down, and commit to a regimen of frugality and hard work to get back on my feet. Right?
Wrong. I am throwing common sense and caution to the wind. Time to think outside the bun.
Full speed ahead. See you at my early grave.

How beautiful

Baby, when I think about you
I think about love
Darlin, dont live without you
And your love
If I had those golden dreams
Of my yesterdays
I would wrap you in the heaven
till Im dyin on the way

Feel like makin
Feel like makin love
Feel like makin love to you

Baby, if I think about you
I think about love
Darlin if I live without you
I live without love
If I had the sun and moon
I would give you both night and day
Of satisfyn

Feel like makin
Feel like makin love
Feel like makin love to you

And if I had those golden dreams
Of my yesterdays
I would wrap you in the heaven
til Im dyin on the way

Feel like makin love
Feel like makin love
(repeat many times)
Feel like makin love to you

Best/Worst quote of the month

Drunken D.S. on Janeane Garofalo:

"I would fuck the HELL out of her"

Looking back I wonder "why did I say that?"

Funemployed?

Here's some updates on my life right now.
Unemployed, broke. My cash supplies are growing ever the more scarce.
Oops! I signed a lease on an apartment, costing way too much.
Was dating somebody for a few months. Maybe could've worked? Maybe my heart isn't completely broken, my morality not completely flawed and corrupt?
Oops! I screwed things up.

Been driving back and forth to Boston a lot for band stuff. Fun, but expensive. Been scrambling to find work. Everything I have found so far is either demeaning and/or a scam. Waiting to hear from unemployment, but I am not very optimistic.
Spending nights in my way-too-hot room, drinking beer alone and bullshitting on facebook.

I wanted summer 2009 to be different.

On a bus from the future

Hello blog.

One can find the author riding a Megabus from New York City to Boston. This is clearly a bus from the future, as there are comfy reclining seats, a clean bathroom, and internet access. Eat your heart out Obama, this is change I can believe in. I just spent a hectic day and a half in this insane city, rehearsing with The Wailing Wall and doing a radio show on WNYC, the big public radio station in New York. Here is a link directly to the show archive if you are interested in listening. Silly interview sandwiched between two live songs with a slammin' 6-piece band. Fun.

My life sometimes feels like a level in Sonic the Hedgehog. A whirlwind of activity that moves at a truly jarring pace. How unsettling, thinking about what was happening in my life just one short year ago, how different things are right now. My skills at letting go and moving on can't always keep pace with my confusing and tired blur of a life. Shit bothers me and bothers me and although I should just forget it and move on, I get a block. Connecting with people is becoming problematic. Things getting "too far" is something I'm increasingly weary of and nervous about. It causes me to go down a path, balk, and the fight-or-flight response kicks in and it must be confusing and very uncool for other parties involved. I need to work on how to make it all make more sense for everyone. Especially for myself, right?

I haven't blogged in over a month so one would expect I would have more to say. Foghorn.

Spring has Sprung, Kicked out of Woodstock, etc

I am sitting at a kitchen table in Tivoli, NY near Bard College. Hudson Valley beauty is in full swing; spring has finally sprung. Wearing shorts is an option. Been opting for the shady side of the road at times. After coming to the realization that I have been neglecting my self-absorbed public internet diary for quite some time this month, I thought I might give some choppy and vague updates for all interested parties.
Had some truly stressful times earlier this month; probably why I haven't updated. Interpersonal bullshit issues. Trying to come to terms with feeling chronically taken advantage of by an estranged loved one.
I've had some serious lack-of-sleep issues, mostly due to stress. Fell asleep at the wheel resulting in a car accident; hugely scary. I was fine, no big issues on paper except for a huge slap-in-the-face, what-the-hell-are-you-doing-with-your-life-you-asshole feeling. A very real sense of needing to get my shit together. At one point I felt as if I truly knew what I was doing, these days I'm far from confident in that department. Searching for some purpose behind my actions at-large.
Lately I have been feeling great! I have been on a 9-day tour with the Points North and Manners, and this is day seven. We played at a very weird campfire on the Hudson last night at an incredibly beautiful and peaceful location. College kids got really wasted. Is that a given?
Itinerary:

BOSTON, MA - MassArt Squash courts. Totally beautiful, tiny gymnasium with boss reverb. Tons of friends and wonderful bands, including Brown Bird and Gracious Calamity.
BELFAST, ME - Waterfall Arts Center - sweet show, wine and vegan chili, lots of young punk families and parents/children in general. Really cool. Stayed in Freedom with Kyle and Little Man. Such a great time.
PORTSMOUTH, NH - Red Door - Fun show, great walks around Portsmouth/Kittery. I have a detached road sign that wouldn't fit in the car that I stashed away on Badger Island. I shall return.
KEENE, NH - The Starving Artist - Very cool diy-run art space in the town that Jumanji was filmed. Some dressed-up-fancy girls were in attendance, it was one of their birthdays. Weird.
WALLKILL, NY - Matty's house - At the top of a windy mountain. Show was powered by a PA system from Abercrombie & Fitch consisting of about two dozen small speakers. Weird, cool. Christmas lights. Walks in the woods. Huge bird. Moat. Sports cars.
ANNONDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY - Beautiful place. So calming.
BROOKLYN, NY - tonight! Not expecting much, honestly. Show with Wailing Wall, which will rule.
PROVIDENCE, RI
QUINCY, MA

Also, on the way to Wallkill, NY we swung by the site of Woodstock '69 in Bethel, NY. We played recreational flying disc(frisbeedude) on the site of the mainstage, ran around a bit, put dandelions in our hair and were promptly kicked out by a security guard in a jeep.

I feel really good.

No pueden quemar nuestros sueños!

I'm sitting in the normal coffee drinking spot. The Beatles are playing on the stereo. For this I am thankful. My friend Bryan is doing homework nearby on incredibly bright fuchsia paper. It is a rainy and cold day. I woke rather early today, as I went to bed before 10 pm last night. This week wore me out. Today finds the author hiding indoors, defiantly in a short-sleeve shirt but pragmatic woolen socks and hat. The socks are pure Icelandic. The hat is Canadian, and homemade. Both are grey, and just itchy enough that I never forget that I am wearing them but not so itchy that's they are at all uncomfortable. A perfect balance such as this is a rarity. I would like to summarize my life metaphorically as I do my socks and hat, but I don't think I have quite reached that level yet. But I'm satisfied.
Recently, however, a disaster occured. On Thursday night the Stone Soup Community Center here in Worcester suffered a serious fire. I was en route to work, driving down May St as two or three fire engines roared past. Every time I see emergency service vehicles with lights & sirens on I hope they reach their destination in time. In this case it was perhaps too late for them to keep our beloved building from sustaining massive damage throughout all three floors. Even more upsetting is that Coco, resident Stone Soup kitty, perished in the blaze. RIP, Coco.
The next day, everyone who loves and cares for Stone Soup came together in a beautiful way to assist in the preliminary clean up. I for one picked up shards of glass with a broom and helped relocate the contents of the library(thankfully not touched by flame) out of the building. Many people cleaned the soot off of the books and boxed and sorted them. The radical, local, sustainable, and social justice communities won't be stopped by a simple fire, no matter how structurally damaging. The rebuilding begins!

If you can donate time or money or want to learn more, please check out the link above. XO.

30+ hours of sleep deprivation

I am home from Iceland. It strikes me as funny, how it is actually colder here in Mass than it was just a stone's throw from the Arctic Circle. I have been awake and generally active for approximately thirty-two hours now. After landing in Boston, Megan(my life-saving ride home) & I ate T-Sam's and talked about the last year and so. It's hard to wrap my brain around that the last time I saw her was 15 months ago, oddly enough she was my previous post-Eurotrip ride home from Logan as well. After dinner I hit home for about an hour and headed to work. Awful, awful. It wasn't as painful as one might imagine, but it was far from optimal, to say the least. It's so unfortunate that our lives are wasted away making companies far more money than we are compensated for. At least that is(thankfully only partially) my reality, perhaps it's also yours. You have my back, if so. We shall persevere, if not overcome.

"you try too hard"
-- I was thinking about these words. I realize that I try very hard sometimes to project myself not as the rather awkward introvert that I probably am, but instead as a rather awkward extrovert who tells ridiculous and bad jokes/puns for cheap laughs. When I think of this it feels like a flick to the forehead. The one time I was told this outright it was like an elbow to the gut. I am my father's son.

I write the worst travel blog ever.

Things afoot

Will I ever adequately prepare myself for anything? I am a chronic procrastinator. I have never packed more than a couple hours before any sort of travel, and I have never finished writing a paper earlier than the day before it is due. Can I chalk it up to laziness? I'm not sure that both of my two examples fit neatly with that descriptor in a similar sense, because I indeed loathe writing papers and I rather enjoy condensing items and gearing up for adventure. Hmm. Right now I haven't been asleep in what feels like forever, and struggling to keep my head above water in terms of syntax, tense and general articulation. Hopefully this will not be too painful for the reader or the author.

I have been off-the-wall crazy these days, trying ever-so-valiantly not to become a big ol' stressball. My days have been filled with fun activities and my nights have been filled with work. Sleep hasn't factored into the mix to an extent that I'm happy with, but, I have been managing. I don't know where my energy comes from. I suspect bagels. SOMANYBAGELS.

Blastfest happened in Cambridge. I was a big mess that day, I was running on three hours of sleep and I was the SMELLIEST PERSON EVER. I usually tend to be on the pungent side of the spectrum but Jesus Christ what happened? It was my first show playing with the Woodrow Wilsons. We were rough, but people liked it. Not bad for two hasty rehearsals. The energy felt great. The Points North set was also good, also sloppy. Sloppier than it should've been, but these things happen. I hope to dig up some pictures from the show because the theater and the stage set-up were beautiful and such a nice change from the same old living room or bar thing. I will share some, in time. Please don't hold me to that.

Last night there was a surprise birthday party at the Worcester contradance, which happens every second saturday. It was my first time attending this dance. How nice! So many friends showed up. SO MANY FRIENDS! I loved how I felt.

Right now I'm just about passing out on the semi-couch. The St. Patrick's Day parade is a couple blocks away and in about an hour, so I'm planning on checking that out. I need to take a nap. I need to take a shower. I need to pack. I'm going to Iceland tonight, right? I think it's going to be really nice. The plans exist in name alone.

I've been thinking a lot about my life plans and I want to explore that via this medium soon. We're talking LONG TERM. This was spurred on by a couple brief conversations with friends. Oh my goodness, I am so ready to go to sleep right now. See you in Iceland.

Saving daylight, but at what cost?

I guess spring has been cancelled this year after just one pilot weekend. The(read: my) world has reverted back to slush and freezing rain and snow. How demotivating! Gross. I think today I'll just aim a pinch lower. I've been reading In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck lately, and it has me hooked. I'll work at that.

REALLY GREAT THINGS HAPPENING IN MY LIFE RIGHT NOW:

• The Points North album is just about finished!
• I've been playing drums with the Woodrow Wilsons lately, as well
• Oh my goodness sometimes it feels so good to just live and be
• Bike riding? Again really soon?
• Blastfest, big music festival in Cambridge next week, featuring both PN and WW!
• Leftover spring rolls in the fridge
• I really love my family
• Worcester contra-dance next weekend!
• My brain tells me the ice shall soon thaw. Does this mean the Elizabeth Bishop will make her maiden voyage?
• Oh my goodness music music music
• Making friends out of acquaintances
• April shows and an eight-day tour with Manners!
• A hastily prepared and perhaps absurd trip to Iceland- this weekend! Oh my goodness.
• A CRUSH ON A GIRL? I'm not sure if this qualifies as a really great thing. A little confusing, perhaps. These things are really infrequent, I feel. Therefore special? The theory of scarcity at work?
• Living as a human should: with other humans.

One of the biggest internal challenges in my life is trying to determine how to live as a human should. I promise I will not elaborate on this, today. I will spare you sophomoric philosophical rambling for the time being. However, it is high time for one of those spring rolls I've been hearing(read: eating) so much about.

Too much beer and a rather boring blog.

London Fog:

Steamed milk (soy or rice or whatever)
Vanilla shot
Earl Grey teabag

Delicious. Make it a "London Smog" by adding espresso. I coined this term myself, and a close confident tells me that it's wonderful. I hope that both drinks gain popularity.

Right now I'm working on staying awake after a lovely day of bike riding and a lovely evening of friends and homemade food and wine at Duck Yao in Worcester. I finally have steady internet access, which might actually be a bad thing in the long run. We'll see.

It is March 1st and Snow is Falling.

So, it's Sunday morning and roughly quarter past nine. It is cold cold cold outside, and light snowflakes are coming down in dozens. I'm locked out of my new apartment, oops. I tried a window and a reluctant cellphone call, but they were to no avail. So, instead of sleep it's back to coffee again. And blogging.
I'm back in Worcester after my trip to Victoria, BC. I enjoyed enjoyed myself. I can appreciate life there, despite the tourism, high prices and general fanciness. Not every city needs to be a dirty post-industrial underdog to be worth anything, remember? I need to tell myself this on occasion.
I moved to a new house. It's a messy apartment with friends. People and seemingly hundreds of mice inhabit this apartment, unlike my previous place which was in essence only occupied by memories, artifacts, and two cats which I feel awful about being such a bad friend to. I'm so so so glad to finally have escaped the eerily quiet and dark squalor. I returned after an epic cross-continent trek via van, airplane, another airplane, bus, train, and foot and found the apartment half-empty and half-gutted. My housemates have fled, and I haven't spoken to either of them since. I began to triage my sundry items and determine any worth, but in a hurried, curiously panicked way. I had been yearning to relocate for months, but at the moment it all felt so overwhelming. The electricity was shut off for no discernable reason and one could find the author sobbing in the dark, trying to pry posters off the walls and feeling utterly cut off from the world. Far from a graceful and tactful strategic withdrawal into a new living situation like I had hoped and expected, this felt as disorganized and pitiful a retreat as possible. I gave up and spent the rest of the day aimlessly outdoors, tail between legs. I popped in to M. Fox's place and he made me feel better. I tried again and got everything situated over the next few days, and 12 Vale Street is as good as buried as far as I'm concerned, and for the better.

The snow is coming down in hundreds. My bottom lip is chapped and cracked. Sister Hazel is playing on the radio. Remember that song? I recall being infatuated with it and the album it was featured on when I was in middle school. Guitar solo. I guess it's a CD as it's skipping. Or it's a weird, terrible remix. The girl working is complaining about her high school English class rather loudly. Boring poetry assignments, right? I suppose that I can relate.
I do love Sunday mornings. The quiet of the city is of a very comforting sort. I can find some peace in it. I feel that that is what I may need the most. Perhaps I've simply been looking in the wrong places.

Anglo-American Angst

There are times when I become painfully aware of my fragility as a young man, twisting in the wind of this silly world. I am doubtdoubtdoubting my abilities. I get those worry blues. But when my rational brain examines it, my life is so good. Here are some reasons why:

• HEALTH. I have a clean bill of health, never any health problems, no surgeries, no broken bones, no allergies to food or medicines, and no need for medicines at all for the most part. I get noticeably sick less than once per year.
• FAMILY. I have a family that loves me, emotionally supports me, and tries to understand me to the best of their abilities.
• FRIENDS. I truly have a large and sundry collection of honestly wonderful people who love me all over the country and even abroad, again, who try to understand me to the best of their abilities.
• SECURITY. I reside in what is arguably a police state where the rule of law is so firmly entrenched that although crime and corruption are very alive and well, I have little reason to believe my person and property overall are in much danger of overt violation. I can leave the house and travel freely without worry.
• MONEY. I can make more money in a week bullshitting and reading the newspaper than much of the world could earn performing back-breaking labor for months or even years. Never mind the macroeconomics behind it, bear with me. I have so wealth that I can more than afford food, rent, utilities, and total luxuries such as frivolous travel, music, hobbies, an automobile, etc.
• SOCIAL STATUS. The reality is that there are not very many levels that separate me from the top echelons of the international capitalist system. Income/asset disparity aside, I am white, male, from a Western country, have my wits about me, and have no obvious mental or physical handicaps or impediments to prevent me from dominating others except for those pesky morals and lack of funding and family/social connections.

What then, is the issue? I suppose I do feel guilty about not being overjoyed. Privilege? I didn't set out to talk about privilege...

White Powder in a Zip-lock Bag, or, "The Author's International Travel Tribulations"

After a harrowing series of events including barely missing a flight, needing to spend literally hours on the phone with two different airlines and Orbitz, spending extra money and time, and camping out in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport overnight, I made it into Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It felt unreal to actually make it here after several truncated but valiant efforts at various points in the past few years. Once I had landed and said my farewells to my very friendly fellow passengers in my small propellor-driven airplane, I checked into customs. No big deal, right? I was questioned.

Where are you going? Who are you going to see? How long are you staying-do you have a return ticket?
Sit down over there. Shut your cellphone off. Where did you say you were going? Who do you know in Victoria? How did you meet them?
What's your social security number? Have you ever been arrested? You've never been arrested in Oregon? Have you always lived in Massachusetts? We have your name and date of birth on record as having felony charges in the state of Oregon. Could you reconfirm your social security number?

Step this way. Put your coat and bags down on this table. Empty your pockets, please. Please turn your pockets inside-out. Do you mind me emptying your bags or would you like to do it yourself?
Do you have enough money to support yourself while you're here? So, that's a credit card? Or, a debit card. How much money is in your account? Do you have a return ticket booked? When does that depart?
Who's phone number is this? Is that the person you're staying with? Are you planning on heading east while you're in Canada? Who are these Montreal phone numbers? How do you know those people?
Do you work? What's your job? Tell me about your job. So, you're on vacation from work? How much time do you have off? So you're working again once you get home?
Why do you have a bus ticket stub from Miami? Why were you there? Where did you go? How did you also get that time off from work? Why did you go to Key West? How long ago did you get back?
Are you in a band? What is this in your calendar- "Middle East?" Oh, it's a bar? Are you playing music while in Canada?


Etc.
An unfortunate but hilarious bag of white powder, of the garlic variety, was also examined by the border folks but by this point they laughed about it because I was clearly not a felon or terrorist or something. But apparently all that separates me from an Oregonian criminal is social security numbers. Both me the border officer agreed that my passport photo doesn't help my case of being *not* suspicious. We both laughed.


Currently: Lounging around like a lazy American on vacation
Listening to: Dan Blakeslee

New year thoughts, leaving the comfort zone, and Florida, Part I

It's 2009. Undoubtedly you are aware of this, but it's finally sinking in on my end. I feel that the past year was spent doing a whole lot of nothing: saving money only to spend it on nothing, stuck in a dysfunctional relationship and living a dysfunctional and unhappy life, working and working and working at a job that became more and more painful as the time went on, living under a roof where I felt useless and alone, and clutching at straws to improve my situation. How that manifested was more dysfunction with the person I loved the most, chronic bouts of extreme guilt and internalization, and a series of unfortunate and embarrassing transgressions. I felt perverted, impotent, and ashamed. Eventually the situation straightened out and I my atrophied sense of self-worth became to ameliorate and some real growth took place. My partner and I decided to not date any longer, and for the better. A strange parallel to how I felt during the past year was the itinerary of fun and rewarding events: The formation of a new band, many shows, recording, meeting people and continuously seeing old and new friends, travels here and there, slumber parties, movie nights, sweating and dancing and loving.
I just returned from a silly trip to southern Florida with my friend Jen. I'll have pictures soon, but at any rate, it's time for renewal on a massive scale. 2009 will find the author in a good place.

SOUTH FLORIDA 1/4-11, 2009

Some background, first. The Worcester Regional Airport is something of a joke to most people, it is used for civil aviation missions, private flights and the like. Every few years a two-bit airline will move in and try to fill the obvious hole in the market. Perennial epic fail. Jen and I decided to take advantage of the almost affordable rate and fly to Florida, for no solid reason. Here is what happened:

We departed on sunday afternoon. The airplane was small and the fanciest either of us has ever experienced. We're talking a full-on multimedia system for every seat. We watched our craft's location live on googlemaps and played cheesy games. It was almost cool. We landed at an airport rather similar to ours at home, in Punta Gorda, FL. Oddly enough my rich aunt & uncle were on board the same flight. We were greeted by 70+ degree weather and flat terrain that always strikes my New England mind as alien and slightly unbalancing. We were staying with strangers, folks we met on couchsurfing. They were an older couple who lived in a gated elderly community. That description makes our hosts sound far less cool than they actually are; the wife was a former hang-gliding instructor and the husband is a part-time teacher of engineering and a veteran hitchhiker of several decades who gave us tips. He suggested that I shaved. We departed the next morning and walked to the highway on ramp in nowhere Port Charlotte. We were in good spirits as we watched fancy car after fancy car of frumpy-looking old folks pass us by and gawk at our cardboard sign and general scruffiness; we were in retirement country. Eventually a low-level KFC executive picked us up and brought us a little ways, perhaps to Fort Myers. Another man, a furniture installer from New Jersey brought us to Naples. We found ourselves stuck in this nowhere place, with night approaching and no rides. A member of Collier County's finest, an overweight and bald dude with a bad attitude, stopped his cruiser and informed us of the illegality of our travels(which in reality is false). He told us our behavior is not tolerated in his county, and that we could walk to the bus station and get out. We blindly walked for a couple hours past endless gated compounds and country clubs to the bus station and took a bus through the Everglades to Miami.
We walked around Miami all day after semi-sleeping in the bus and bus station. The sterile affluence of the coastline was downright disconcerting. We tried to get rides south. Fail fail fail. We took a nap in a park, got in good spirits again, and took a bus to Key Largo, where we had the opportunity to stay with our friend's dad.

- More, soon. Maybe -

xo
DS