Van
I’ve been sleeping in my family’s van this weekend—parked in the driveway,not out on some trip. The van is where I’m writing this, actually. It’s strange being displaced from my own house. But—not too bad. Being in the van is a little like camping.
It’s a surplus of visitors. What’s brought this about, I mean. Since shecame back from Japan, Miley has been staying at my house—we’re helpingher until she gets a place of her own. Being, of course, female, she needssome privacy—so I’ve given my room to her for the duration of her stay.This hasn’t been bad at all. My niece has been at her dad’s fairly often,freeing up that bedroom to sleep in—and when she has been here, well,the living room sofa is more comfortable than some hotel beds I’ve slepton.
But these last few days, some friends of my brother’s have been crashing inthe living room. And this weekend, my niece has been with us. So—no placefor me to rest my head. Hence: the van. It affords some quiet and solitude.
I remember the last time I slept in this van. We—my family and I—we werein the mountains. The forest, near a lake. We didn’t bring enough tents, Iguess, or I just wanted some more space—I can’t remember. But I do recallthe elevation was high—we left early because everyone was short of breath(and I think it was colder than we anticipated). I laiddown in the van—across one of the seats—was I shorter then?–and I remember writing. But what? It’s been lost in time. I didn’t have ablog back then, of course. How much luckier, now, we all are, that I canpost my ephemeral thoughts—everytime, now, that I sleep in the van. Hmm.
August 24, 2004 2:08 AM
personal
Look Back and Laugh
Ahh, for the heady days of my youth, when I was unjustly imprisoned for crimes I did not commit.
I then proceeded to the Covina Police Department Jail for booking. While at the jail, I advised S-Tolle of his Miranda rights which he said he understood and waived. Tolle stated that he was walking along the west sidewalk with [S-Beta]. He said he was walking closest to the street and [Beta] was walking closest to the Covina Bowl parking lot. He said as they were walking along the sidewalk, they thought it would be “fun” to run the the two unknown friends that were walking with them. Tolle said at no time did he have a knife, nor did he puncture any vehicle tires while walking along the west sidewalk. He said due to being intoxicated, he was unable to tell me if [S-Beta] did in fact have a knife. Tolle said he could only speak for himself, and he said at no point did he slash or puncture any vehicle tires. He said [Beta] and “he ran along the west sidewalk southbound toward Badillo because they were trying to ditch their friends.”
I spoke with [S-Beta] while at the Covina Police Dept Jail. I advised him of his Miranda rights which he said he understood and waived. [Beta] said that he was walking along with S-Tolle and two additional unknown friends along the west sidewalk of Rimsdale. He said as he walked along the west sidewalk, he thought it would be “funny” to run from their two unknown friends. He said at no time did he hear RP-Hall yell at them to stop running from the location, and he was only running because they were trying to “ditch” their friends.
During my interview with [S-Beta], I could see that he was visibly intoxicated. I asked him if he remembered puncturing or slashing any tires, at which point he replied “I don’t remember.” I then asked him if he thought that he had slashed “12 tires” at which point he spontaneously said, “I don’t remember it being that many.” I then asked [Beta] if he believed that it was possibly three tires that he had slashed or punctured with a knife, and he said, “I don’t remember.” I then asked him if he had a knife, and he said that it was a “good possibility” that he had a knife but he could not remember. [Beta] then told me that he “remembered” having a knife with a black handle. He then admitted to causing approximately $600.00 in damage to the vehicles in the parking lot. He said he dropped the knife “somewhere” in the bowling alley parking lot. He said he vandalized the vehicles because he was “drunk.”
Here’s two cute canaries for you, Mr. Beta, because you sang so beautifully.
August 5, 2004 12:08 PM
personal
Luck Runs Out
Take a good, hard look at your life, and figure out what runs only on luck—because luck runs out. Luck runs out inevitably, inexorably. You can’t trust it. Luck runs out and when it does you better have something solid to fall back on. You may have a good run; you might roll those 7s for thirty years; but if what you’re doing is simply, solely gambling, never forget that eventually the house will win.
Remember. Repeat. Luck runs out. Like it did for one of my friends last night.
August 4, 2004 9:08 PM
personal philosophy
