endless horizon and fair skies
Ξ Wednesday, 26 Oct 2005 at 20:07 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Normal |
i’m feeling rather mellow right now; eyes, mind, and soul tired. been up since around 06.00, and let the record show that it’s now 16.07. it’s been a rather interesting couple days, what, with fucking up my sleep schedule a bit more and just general insanity. yesterday afternoon was fairly adventurous and interesting for sure. yesterday was just interesting in general. i was planning on going to In-N-Out Burger when I last checked in with all of you, but I ended up deciding I wanted to go to Burger King instead — burgers aren’t as good, but oh well, I hadn’t had it for two months+, so wtf not. before i left, however, I talked to a number of people, Chelsea being one of them (you’re fucking awesome, if i haven’t said that enough), and I did get to talk to Jenn a bit on the phone too, which was nice. anyways, I used Google Earth (yes! a practical use for it!) to find Burger Kings near my place, and I settled on the one at 9th and Irving (I think?), which seemed pretty straightforward to get to on the MUNI.
seemed simple enough. put on my hoodie, grabbed the quintessential iPod, walked out the door. needed to transfer the last of my money from U Lane O to my new credit union (~$260 or so), and then got some cash out for the trip over there, just in case (i had brought quarters as well for the fare). got to the platform just in time for the M train to come, which is exactly what I needed, and got on, only needing to go a couple stops on it. the “trip planner” told me to get off at Forest Hill, a station I’ve only passed through and never gotten off at, so I had no idea what was even there. I’d heard there was an insane asylum there (“psychiatric hospital” or “rehabilitation centre,” euphemised), which I thought was cool as fuck, but otherwise, I’d heard there were only houses and not much else there.
when I got off the train, I went to the stairs and started going up. normally there is maybe one flight of stairs, but in this particular station, there were about 4 flights. fuck. anyways, i crawled my way to the top, and then before I went out the exit gate, I looked for a MUNI-to-bus transfer machine. didn’t see any, so I went to the window and asked if they gave transfers. the guy looked at me like i was a fucking madman (what’s with the rudeness?) and told me they didn’t give transfers. ok, fine. another $1.50 I had to spend… shite. i waited at the stop right outside of the station, hoping I was on the right side of the street. the insane asylum was right outside the station, a place called “Laguna Honda.” it looked like a nice, hospitable place to me, at least.
rule #1 about me and MUNI/buses here: whatever side of the street I’m waiting on is usually the wrong side. hence, when I saw the bus pull up (#44) that should have been the right one, when it said “O’Shaughnessy” on it, I thought “oh well, this is probably the right one.” got on and sat down, hoping to God it was the right one. nope. 9th and Judah was supposed to be my stop — which was supposedly 5min down the road from Forest Hill, and well, it was nowhere in sight even 10mins down the road. however, I still held onto the hope that perhaps we were going the right direction. we passed by Glen Park, which I knew was on the BART route, and passed by a wonderfully lush valley, houses brooding over the chasm (and perhaps down in the valley, I couldn’t see), and I smiled at the sun in front of us at least. the bus was extremely full, unsurprisingly, and people barely had any room to stand — I almost felt bad sitting down.
it was a beautiful day though, to say the least. i looked at all the scenery, and I could see for fucking miles around through the pure, bright, clear sky, looking off at hills and mountains in the distance; the East Bay lay open before me, passim. although I was pretty sure I was going the wrong direction by now, I was full of happiness at being able to be going through such a beautiful city on such a beautiful afternoon. the sun shone brightly through the windows of the bus, and i smiled as i listened to music and enjoyed this scenery. we went inexorably further, the population of the bus growing and changing and fluctuating like crazy. i wondered when the bus would turn around and go back the other way. i saw the #44 going the other way about twice: the bus I *should have* been on. i should have gotten off when i saw that bus. but noooo, i had to ride this thing all the way to the end of the line, it seemed.
we went through a number of very colourful areas, such as “Southern Heights” (when I mentioned this to darwin, he chastised me and asked what the fuck I was talking about) and a few others. we passed way up into the hills, going towards the southeast side of the city, and we even passed by this huge sundial-looking structure. very interesting. when we got the crest of the hill, we made our inevitable descent into the flats, and my spirits dropped with the drop in the road. water appeared on the horizon, and I saw the bay in front of me, as well as some shipyards. the Navy shipyards, as I later found out, were down here. it was a pretty bleak-looking area. the driver stopped near a post office, and said “last stop.” i asked him if I could take it for the return trip, and he was adamant: “last stop.” so i hastily apologised and got off the bus. fuck. at least i had my transfer, good for another hour or so.
looked at the map at the nearest bus stop. aha! the #19 would get me back downtown and near where I wanted to be, and also where I remembered there being a Burger King (on the Google Earth map). at this time, i really wished my phone had web axs on it. i was in luck, too, for the #19 was coming soon, right across the street. i ran across the street to get to the stop, and I asked one of the guys waiting there if the bus went downtown, and he said “yep, goes to 7th and Mission.” wonderful. got on the bus, threw on my headphones once again, and relaxed while we headed back into the heart of town. life flowed back in. i got off at Mission and 7th, an apt place to get off, then I started walking up 7th towards Market. got onto Market, and took a left, walking in God knows what direction. as i kept walking, i started looking at maps for how to get to Judah…. and then I saw it, in all its glory, right in front of me.
a Burger King, right in front of me, on Hyde and Market. oh yes. it looked like mecca to me, and I crossed the street and went in. i haven’t been in a BK in 2 months, mind you, so it was a cathartic experience for me. went in, ordered a double whopper meal, kingsize. standard. very good. bacon and cheese only. after finishing it (much too quickly, I think), i realised I needed $1′s to get on the MUNI for the ride home. so, being a paying customer, i thought I’d get in line again and ask the cashier for 5 $1 bills for a $5, right? wrong. when i got up there, the bitch wouldn’t do it for me… why the fuck not? no sufficient explanation was given, and i gave up and walked away. then i tried to get to the bathroom there, and some old motherfucker cockblocked me when i went near there, asking me “can I help you?” i said puzzledly, “i’m trying to get to the bathroom,” and he said “it’s out of order.” fuck that shit then. walked out the door, started walking down the street to try to find a place to get $1′s.
i ended up happening upon (ἔτυχον) a liquor store nearby. ooh, perfect! two birds with one stone. i was planning on buying some Guinness at Albertson’s, but this place had it readily, and so I picked up a sixpack for $8.50. sadly, they had a $10 minimum for credit cards. i decided therefore on a small bottle of Bacardi 151°, which brought my total to around $22. fuck. oh well… good alkyhol. and besides, the guy was more than willing to give me 5 $1′s. brownbagged it, and then returned to the Burger King, which had a MUNI underground station right next to it. got some change, paid for a MUNI ticket, and waited for the next outbound M train. hopped on; the station was civic centre. i had to stand up for much of the way back, but i finally got to sit down, which helped a lot, since I was carrying my bundle of alcohol. i must have looked like a raving alcoholic, for christ’s sake, carrying that brown bag, but fuck it, oh well.
walked back to my apartment, triumphant. i put the guinness in the fridge, as well as the 151, to cool off a bit. after not too long, though, i pulled out a Guinness, cleaned out my UO alumni glass (perfect for beer), and poured the beer into there. wow, there was a lot of head on the beer… very foamy, as Guinness is apparently wont to be. so i started sipping on it and all, and well, it was beer… it’s good beer, but still beer. anyways, i was just chillin in the chair, and Ryan was sitting there reading for class. after drinking about half of it, i began to feel very queasy. i poured out the rest of it in the sink, washed the glass, and headed for the bathroom. most of the way there, i started puking. my mouth filled up with it, and then it started flying out, and my hand caught most of it, but the floor got very and verily splattered with it all. i spit the rest of it into the toilet, then went about cleaning off my hand and my shirt (which unfortunately had gotten some too).
i remember i cleaned up the bathroom for the most part with a small washcloth (agh, the lack of cleaning supplies here), and then i threw away the diseased towel after use. anyways, i felt very embarrassed after that. i remember i stayed up for only an hour or after that happened, watching southpark and all, and then everything began to get rather fuzzy and i became pretty tired (i had, of course, woken up at 7am). i climbed into bed arbitrarily around 11pm, and well, you can guess what happened next.
awoke, disoriented, at 04.00. ryan was still awake, working on a paper, apparently. i laid in bed, languishing, relaxing, trying to wake up from the grey mire of sleep. i talked to him and bullshit for awhile, and i think we ended up just shooting the shit for like an hour, and then i tried to descend back into sleep. it didn’t really work. my brain didn’t turn off; i kept cycling strange theories in my head, perhaps conspiracy theories or something. i can’t remember. anyways, i finally ended up waking up and getting out of bed around 06.00.
wednesday, 26 october: i remember i dicked around on the computer for about an hour and a half (umm…. in some ways literally, but don’t ask). anyways, i decided I’d better get to my homework. you see, i had a shitload of homework — greek and latin both — that i didn’t do last night. bad news. hence, i needed to play catchup. i started in on my Plato homework, which was simple enough, and puzzled over it with eyes that hurt like hell, weary eyes. i finished it around 11.00, and then got into the shower. very important, crucial part of the day, of course. i remembered that Krista said that my Latin prof had found my dictionary in the room — apparently I had left it during class on Friday — and so I decided I’d better go on a quest for it. first though, i went and got some food. onion bagel and cream cheese, as well as an Orangina. ever had Orangina? the first time I ever had it was in Paris — when I didn’t think the US had anything of the sort — and it was a very exotic drink there, tasting like electric orange juice. that’s the only way i can describe it. check it out sometime.
i ate on the 3rd floor of Humanities. that was my ultimate destination, which was good, and so I went to the Trapp Library (classics library) to see if I could find my dictionary. when i got in there, Rhiannon and Seth were studying over the Greek, and I asked them about my dictionary. they said it was in the other room — Krista and Nicole were sitting in there studying, and i grabbed my dictionary. i asked Krista if I could study with her for Latin, since I hadn’t looked at it at all (it was about 11.30 by this time, with class at noon), and she said sure, so I sat down and we went through a large amount of the assignment. after that, it was time for class, and so I headed downstairs with some of the others to class. always a pleasure.
Latin was fairly straightforward, except I was the 2nd person she called on to translate a couple sentences. it was ok though. we got through it all, and she also assigned another prose composition (always fun!). I got my old one back too (A-!!!), and then we all left, triumphant, and headed upstairs for Greek. i was very excited because I had hoped we would get our orations back. of course, this was an unattainable wish, but i’m using it in the pluperfect either way. bleh. so we get in there… I’d sketchily done my homework this morning, of course, and I did the best I could. He gave me the worst sentence to do — we spent probably 10mins on that sentence alone, trying to puzzle it out — and then we didn’t even get halfway through our assignment. we didn’t get our orations back either, nope. i was planning on going downtown right after class, but I stopped by the apartment for a sec to drop off some of my books and all and lighten my load.
picked up some change, made sure I had enough money to take the MUNI there and back, and also grabbed some money out of the ATM. headed for the MUNI station, and got on the train a couple minutes later, listening to my iPod. you know, everyone around here has an iPod. probably 10% of the people on each car *aren’t* listening to any music. it’s very, very strange. anyways, my stop was way down the line at Civic Centre, and so I waited for a bit until we got there, and then got off, coming back aboveground at 8th and Market. you guessed it: i was on another quest to go see the King. baahaha. except this time, i looked at the menu a lil closer — and I realised that BK now has a triple Whopper! holy fucking shit. i just *had* to get that shit. cheese, plain. yep. i sat down and looked out at the SF public library across the street through the window as I ate, and just sat back and relaxed. it was a really nice day today too, greyish and somewhat windy and cold, but nice.
after eating (which seemed like it went down too fast), I walked outside again, went down the street to Walgreens. of course, this was the 2nd time I’d ever set foot in Walgreens — since we don’t have them back home. on the way there, I saw some homeless guy on the sidewalk, and, feeling generous, i gave him 50¢. darwin said cynically when I told him about this, “congrats, he spent it on crack.” oh well. Walgreens was nice… I was able to buy some good toothpaste, deodorant, and shampoo — all that I needed. not bad for $12. after that, i went back to the MUNI station, paid my $1.50 fare, and hopped on a train back to SFSU. listened to music pretty much the whole time. gotta love the iPod. it was a nice, relaxing ride home, and I loved the way the sky looked as I walked back to my apartment. when i got back, i had to set forth all of these things I’ve just been writing, and well — I got back around 16.00 — and it’s now a little after 20.00. wow. i think it partly took me so long because I’ve been multitasking and talking to about 50 different people on IMs… lol. anyways, i’m done writing for now. i love you all. thank you for reading if you’ve gotten this far. i love you best of all if you have. peace.
2 Responses to ' endless horizon and fair skies '
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on October 26th, 2005 at 23.01
You love me best of all? Awwww…sorry you were sick.
on October 27th, 2005 at 11.01
Wow…never read about a bk trip that detailed….go old BK!! I can’t believe they closed the one by the UO campus…it makes me so sad…That was my BK!! haha!! Anyways sorry about last night…I was a lil out of it…didn’t mean to ignore you!!