Sunday, December 28, 2008

Re: Job Possibility

They should get someone with care-giver experience and who wants a long term agreement, not a fly-by-night gypsy like myself.
With the number of musical instruments I plan on getting for my next apartment I think I should live alone. Or do you want to live beneath a full acoustic drum kit?
My Christmas flu came right on time, reminding me why I planned on getting out of here before Christmas. I could blame my living situation but these germs found me for the last 5 years no matter where I lived. But sleeping in a refrigerator and working in a garden shed just makes the illness more miserable. Then a bike fell off the bike stand onto my big toe. 4 days left but I don't know if I'll make it. The conditions at Target are so unnatural I can't begin to describe them. To be surrounded by walls of junk thirty or forty feet high is unsettling. It's all brand new but reeks of junk. It's controlled chaos every day of the year. Target is very lucky for immigrants who will take $8 an hour to deal with that mayhem every day. It's a job that shouldn't be done but it's in high demand. I guess I'm the exception to question the conditions. And Impact really pulled a fast one when they got their workers to do their own accounting paperwork, drive their own cars, keep their own time, file their own orders, fax everything, in addition to the job of assembling furniture and bikes. If one thing goes wrong, guess who loses money? The key is keeping the employees separate and isolated. Don't let them organize. In other states the employee even has to rent the tools. Ha! Who said sharecropping was dead?
I plan to do the absolute minimum this week. No working class hero here.
All for now.

Friday, December 26, 2008

trapped in Target

In a new low for this shitty job I drove all the way downtown, 7th and Union, some bullshit law office wanted a new desk and file cabinets. I swear I'd be better off walking around to all the law offices in a square mile (there are hundreds) and giving them a card that says "Assemble Any Item" that's it. Charge half as much as they do at Impact and I get to be Johnny on the Spot in my own area. that would be better.
Of course I drive 12 miles to get to the office and the security people would not let me up because the insurance paper had not been filed. so that's a bust. All that driving. Useless.
Now my dispatcher tells me I can go to Cudahy, way the hell over by Bell gardens near. The conversation on the phone with the dispatcher was like this.

"You want to go to a Kamrt. They have more bikes than we originally thought."
I look out at the desolate asphalt landscape and sigh. I gotta be the hero.
"Ok. where is it."
"In Cudahy."
I wince. He might as well say "Kill Whitey Springs"
"That out east?"
"Yes, near Bell Gardens."
"Ok. Remind me how to get there."
"You take the 110 to...where are you?"
"7th and Union. Downtown."
"Take the 110 to the 10."
"Ok."
"To the 710."
"Ok."
"South on the 710. Don't go to the 115. That's too far."
"Right."
"South on the 710 to Cudahy. To Atlantic. 8100 Atlantic."
"So south on the 110. To the 10. East on the 10. To the 710. south on the 710. Got it. What's the work order?"
"998889."
"That'll take an hour."
"I gave you until 1."
(It's 10. At 1pm they will put out a phone call to me if I haven't signed in yet.)
Ok.

So I go and it takes an hour (It's 6 miles away but, you know, traffic and accidents and the car overheating and an attempted car jacking...)

I get there and can say with certainty that Kmart 3337 is where Huffy bikes go to die. this old wood floor warehouse up a conveyor belt and bullshit. I set up shop and proceed to build one bike an hour for four hours. These bikes are so poorly made and the tires are completely twisted and the parts are falling off them that I spend more time searching the floor for parts that may have fallen out of the broken boxes. Awful.
Fernando, another tech, tells me stories of ten years ago when Huffy was in Ohio and made their bikes here. ha! That is a long time ago as these bikes are now made in China and are complete crap. They get ridden once or twice and then returned where the parts will never arrive. Awful. So this is where Huffy bikes go to die. Fernando shakes his head and says these bikes are the worst of the worst and this store is the worst of the worst.
" I haven't been here in two years and there are still the same bikes waiting to be repaired."

I felt it was an insult to accept $12 for my work so I just threw my paperwork away and gave the bikes for free. to accept money for that work would have been saying that I thought it had value but when I KNOW those bikes can never be ridden more than a block or two without falling apart then I know that these bikes were not worth assembling, but I assembled them anyway, and that was my mistake, my sin. So I shouldn't be rewarded for it. That Kmart was a slummy, rotten, evil place. I wanted nothing from them.

the next day I got sent back to my old Target in Culver City and wound up in a garden shed with the busted or defective christmas wreaths and broken toys. Awful. The place closed early and there I was building these bikes in the cold and damp and dark. christmas eve. I kept thinking, why should I go home and feel sorry for myself in that broken down van? Why bother? Well, because the Target had closed and now I was trapped in a cold garden shed.
It just gets worse and worse with this job.

Just a plug for Pandora.com. I am listening to Connie Francis radio and am loving it. Linda Scott. Ricky Nelson. Dusty Springfield. Elvis. It don't get better than that and the station pics songs and artists based on what YOU like and I must say they are doing pretty good.
merry christmas everyone!

Monday, December 22, 2008

casita fireplace

http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/parks/casa_adobe.asp
it is called the casa adobe de san rafael. It has a "Monterrey corridor" a fancy name for a covered porch. I like it. I also like square houses with a courtyard in the middle. That's class.
I went to the Casa Adobe because it was just down the street from the clinic I went for my surgery and it was the only green square on the map. I didn't think the map was right until I opened the old wrought iron gate and stepped back in time. Very nice. I want to recreate this fireplace my own house one day.
Glendale was a strange place but this one historic building made the experience good. It's the real California to me because it's like a ranch. Something out of a Steinbeck book.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Best Christmas Story Ever

Best Christmas Story ever —
My brother was spending his first Christmas in Iraq during the gulf war in 1990-1991. There was a great build up to this war if you remember with Bush Senior really laying it on and Saddam calling for the "Mother of all wars" Remember? We thought Iraq had some great arsenal but it turned out to be a house of cards. Saddam swung on the end of a rope some 18 years later, but that's beside the point.
My brother was going off to Iraq to cover the war and no one knew if he was coming back. In fact, my father considered him dead already.
So pops would shuffle around the house, deeply depressed while I slept on the couch, crippled by a foot injury which had dashed all hopes I had of becoming a professional baseball player. My baseball glove, probably a Christmas gift years earlier, collected dust, utterly useless like my foot.
My pops would pass me in the morning and give me one of those smiles that a dying dog gives when its stomach ulcerates. I wanted to kill my father, to put him out of his misery but I was too weak and suicidal.
"How did you sleep?" my father would ask.
"I didn't sleep. I lay here thinking about what a waste everything is."
I had heard my father shuffle to the bathroom to piss all night long. he hadn't slept either.
"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine?"
"Keep mocking me. Go ahead."
"I wonder what Brooklyn is doing."
Brooklyn is my brother. My dad said this with the tone of voice someone reserves for a wake.
"Probably loading his automatic rifle to kill some loitering kids."
I meant it. That's what the army actually did anyway. Dropping death on innocents every Christmas.
"God damn it. You think you know everything."
My dad was pissed. His face got red. He got in my face.
"You don't know what you are talking about!"
I turned away.
"Ok, dad. Sure. You're right. Whatever. Go on."
I waved my hand at him, taunting him like a little kid. He slapped my arm and raised his fist.
"You don't know a THING!" he yelled. "You know nothing. NOTHING!"
His fist shook in the air between us. A pathetic christmas tree leaned against the wall in the other room, undecorated, dying for want of water. My foot throbbed. The x-rays had been bad news.
"Go ahead. Fucking kill me. Kill me like Brooklyn is going to kill those little kids."
Spit drooled off my dad's chin. He had been spitting with rage. He hated me so much right then, all his hate boiled over. He stepped back and we stared at each other for a few moments. I wanted to fight him but was too weak. I had been on a hunger strike to protest the war. The only person who knew of this hunger strike was my family. It had been two days since I had eaten.
"Every day the United States spends in Iraq I will not eat." I had pronounced during a dreadful Thanksgiving dinner during which my dying grandmother had gotten drunk and dropped a glass of wine on the table cloth. As he carved the Turkey my father had said that if Brooklyn died he would assassinate the president.
"Whatever," I said. "You live in this country. You pay your taxes. If Brooklyn dies then you killed him. You're a coward, just like every other tax payer in America. No one has courage. This is the most disgusting country in the world. I renounce my citizenship. I renounce this family of rapists."
I lay back on the couch, my sweat had long ago discolored the fabric of the seat cushions. My father turned away and got his coat. He normally ate some oatmeal before he left but this time he just slammed open the door and banged down the icy steps to drive to work. I could hear him peeling out on his way down the driveway. I was so unhappy. I was crippled and depressed and had no future and was hungry and in a country that had betrayed me, was killing in my name, was a fraud. Across the street some Christmas lights blinked in the post dawn fog. Red white and blue red white and blue. Patriotic Christmas lights, like the yellow ribbon on the tree out front, a marketing strategy by Kmart.
I struggled to my feet and with the help of my crutches I stumbled to the front door and opened it, knocking down a Christmas wreath hung on the door knob. I looked at the yellow ribbon and the newspaper on the snowy front walkway with the headlines "We will win!" and a smiling, blood thirsty President Bush. I looked across the neighborhood. The first time I spoke my voice broke like dry sand. The second time was loud. The third time was a scream.
"You all ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

Saturday, December 20, 2008

How did I end up here?

Of all the places
Of all the faces
fixed in frozen memory

here I stand
lost in time
how did I end up here?

Here...this dirty fare
the filthy air choking down on me

here, this circus sad
the clowns are gone
the carousel is still

How did I end up here
here among the beaten
souls that have not eaten
souls that have no home

how did I end up here
the song has all but died
life has left me here
how did I end up here?

Lyrics from 'The Sons of Job - The Musical"
by Oggy Bleacher
If anyone knows Vince Clarke of Erasure then tell him se's supposed to write the music to the musical.

purpose driven lives

took a trip to some commercial centers. It was awful but it helped me define my objections to the state of our culture. Some people lead lives drive solely by marketing. either they are marketers marketing to others or they are marketing influenced consumers. this is dishonest because it is disconnected to a purpose. there is no purpose. it is RE-actionary. you react to marketing or you react to what the market can be influenced to buy. It has not purpose and is circular and pointless. It's like packaging plastic bags in a plastic bag to sell at a plastic bag store so someone can put his plastic bags in another plastic bag on his way to the plastic bag manufacturing plant. where the fuck does it end? It never ends. More Dove deodorant to wear on your way to the Dove deodorant plant where everyone is trying to figure out how to sell Dove deoderant to people on their way to the Dove deodorant plant. does anyone know what they are doing ? does anyone choose what they are doing or do they simply react to the petty whims of the moment?
Some people aspire to be as pointless and purposeless as Americans. DON'T!


These are all marketing vehicles. The man in the van does not promote any of these crappy products. The man in the van was at Costco and he bought an apple pie. Just give more apple pies. They didn't make those in China. That's for damn sure. In fact the apple pie was the only American made item in all of Costco. Pretty prophetic.


Friday, December 19, 2008

in the future...

serial killers will be hunted by the government to be forced into service as mercenaries. This ultimately creates a crown jewel of mercenaries, "The Death Squad". These serial killers have found their zen together. They are an all star team of killers. Then the bureau of justice decides they are too strong and too good. They must be eliminated. So another crack squad of killers is assigned to kill them under the guise of a separate assignment of attacking a country of drug lords. First the death squad gets the idea that the other squad is going to try to kill them so they pretend to be dumb at first then get the drug lords to team up on them. The best of the second squad is spared so the three teams can team up against the department of justice. IT WAS ALL PLANNED BY THE DEATH SQUAD from the beginning. The Final confrontation decides the fate of humanity.

"I feel like a Tutsi in Hutu-ville"

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

pics of george's house


george's house


Woofie the dog.


It's not every day you get a tour of one of the filthiest run down houses in America. This is a cross between the house Buffalo Bill lives in in Silence of the Lambs...and you average garage. unfortunately there is only junk here. no sweet condition Triumph motorcycles. Just junk and some dogs and used up people.

on the bright side

At least I didn't have enough money to invest with Madoff. I thought losing $800 on a crappy car was bad. At least I get to drive the car. I don't know what the investors got from paying for Madoff's apartment. IT's this credit fixation we all have. There is no actual money being paid for things. It's just phantom currency. I think it's a real problem. And so many jobs were overpaid because there was no actual money to pay for the position itself. So if you have a job that shouldn't exist in the first place then why not have a high salary too?
Regulation is cheaper than intervention. That's the lesson. George has 13 credit cards and shuffles the balance between them. How can I have sympathy for the credit companies? They give him cards and have no idea what kind of situation he is in. He's TRYING to run up debt because he knows he can't pay it off. And they keep giving him more credit. Like Madoff said, "There's no innocent explanation."
I just don't understand where the money went. I mean, there was actual money being invested but where did it go? I guess the details will come out eventually.
IT seems easier to just be honest.
I read an old Groucho Marx quote, "The secret to life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that then you've got it made."
It looks like Madoff was a fake but not brilliant enough to get away with it. I don't trust any broker. It's not an honest business.
all for now.
marco

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Oh Yoko

What is this all about? I gave my notice and the bastards don't even have the guts to call me back or even acknowledge that I gave them the boot. Bullshit. I went to Inglewood to instal a new sidepanel on a file cabinet...and then went to an Office depot and built two chairs and a right return for a desk. I'm ashamed to look in the mirror.

box

thanks for the box of gifts. The van is actually deathly cold so I will be sleeping in that shirt you sent me. And I had to cover the van with a tarp to keep the rain out. This cold weather was exactly what I was trying to avoid. I have given my notice at the cotton field and hope to be leaving as soon as I buy my freedom. Maybe when Obama is inaugurated there will also be an emancipation proclamation for white slaves such as myself. One can hope our people will be free one day.
It's just one crisis after another here at George's. Just imagine feeble old grandpa, gasping and wheezing but STILL trying to start the fire and cook for five people and three giant dogs. There are mountains of paperwork teetering next to the fireplace. Ash is overflowing onto the carpet. Meanwhile the newest tenant is driving a car with no hood and a battery in place of the passenger seat, but instead of doing anything he is beating on a drum video game. It's totally out of control and though I try to keep his computers running they are beyond hope. And the printers are all falling apart. It's too much. That and the wheezing. He's lucky that he won't live long enough to have a stroke, though his blood pressure is high. And his blood sugar topped out at 334 the other day. 334! 210 is type 2. 334 is like a worlds record. But he insists on pie and twizzlers and soda. It's a household of the doomed.
I gotta go take the ash out of his fireplace now.
thanks again! love marco

this sucks

I'm really suffering here in the van. It leaked pretty bad on my bed. Then I went to Inglewood to assemble a bookshelf right next to the projects. I was certain I'd be killed. Then I went back to Inglewood and passed the remains of a car and tell-tale bullet cones and police. Crenshaw and Manchester. The worst. Freezing. Wet.
So I gave my notice. Fuck this job. I should just stop going but I feel a week or two is still possible. But if I get gunned down because I'm trying to make $25 assembling a fucking shitty Chinese computer hutch then I'm going to punch god or the devil in the fucking face.
Then I see a nice mexican trailer for rent and I'm dying in the van and I've got to sell this other shitty van before it kills me.
This is all bullshit. The fuckers stealing peter to pay paul the car companies that built this shitty van are asking for money? Fuck them. They can't build a car worth a shit.
I'm pissed. In general. And I'm not healthy and I'm not playing the guitar. this fuck ass job. Awful. I can't wait to quit. Then I'm going south. I don't care.
How are you dealing?

$300 / 1br - Beach Front Residence for Rent (Punta Gorda)

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These were supposed to be the pictures I would post, me in the van next to a gorgeous beach. Running water. Power. Cooking beans on a stove. instead of this, a picture of me with a damn oxygen sensor of a crappy dodge van, even as Chrysler GOES OUT OF BUSINESS. what a joke! What a disaster!




I fucked it all up. Everything is fucked.

freezing and ranting



I just wanted to play guitar and be a bum. Working has fucked everything up!

P.S. That's Genesis "Supper's Ready" playing in the background. Maybe the only good thing left in this world is old Genesis.

Countdown: 16


Gave my notice today. These bitches don't even deserve two weeks. I'm not sure why I care about keeping in good standing with them. They suck shit. Send my ass to Inglewood. Jesus! Worked in a fucking ghetto. Building a bookshelf in a closet that was maybe 10 X 6. Next door I heard someone argue, "I gave you a five and five ones. I done gave you that shit!"
It was a bitch. And then I fuck up and put the damn backing on backwards, so the "faux cherry finish" was facing the wall instead
of the front. That cost me ten minutes pulling nails out of cardboard. What a shit job. What a complete waste. I'd rather do this job for free. The pay is an insult. I got my paycheck stub today and just threw it into the fire. I don't even want to know what they think this is worth to them. It won't remotely come close to what it is worth to me. But to send my ass to Inglewood was an insult. Especially when people say, "You're going to mexico? You better be careful."
Oh yeah? No shit. Careful? Oh, I must be a fucking asshole. I MUST LOOK LIKE A COMPLETE ASSHOLE! You think Inglewood, Crenshaw and Manchester, south central los Angeles is some fucking care-free carnival? huh? You think it's safe on Crenshaw and Manchester, for a white boy, in his fucing broken down mini-van? You think that's safe? I'd rather go to beirut! I'd rather run naked down the street in Mumbai. This is Los Angeles, the ghetto, it's one of the most dangerous places on earth. To open up a business you have to go to the projects and ask permission from the gangs...and pay protection. That sound safe to you?
So save your advice about being safe because unless you live in South central then you have absolutely no idea how dangerous it was for me to go build that bookshelf today. Not a clue. That $15 wouldn't even buy me a .38 special to defend myself.
But don't worry, I go back tomorrow and will probably be gunned down for my tool box and mini-van keys. Shit, you ever been in a post office that looked like it had been bombarded? Well, I went to one today and I was scared shitless.
Let me say that going to mexico, knowing that executions happen daily, is not safe. But I KNOW that going to Inglewood isn't safe either. Plain and simple. But going to mexico is at least taking control of my destiny. Going to Inglewood is just being a bitch for my company. they send me to the worst place on earth to build furniture because they don't give a fuck.
So I gave my notice. "I'm moving to the east coast. When do you want me to drop my tools off."
Plain and simple. no excuses. No bitching. Just get out while I can. So I've got about 16 days of work left. give or take. The bike assembly didn't work out at all. I saw my numbers and I was spending too much time. Below average. Bullshit. What do they care?
It's about 40 degrees here. I'm freezing every night. The big storm hit last night when it was too dark to see the rain pouring inside the van and onto my bed. The only way to know where it leaks is when it rains. So this morning was a nice adventure running around in huge cold puddles outside in my poncho trying to get a tarp that would cover the windows.
I saw that La Paz is about 70 degrees right now. So I really fucked up by delaying my departure so I could take this craptastic job. Now I'm stuck here and I might as well drag it out and try to make some money until I get robbed or killed by some thug from Compton. But sure, I'll be careful in Mexico. Cause I'm such an asshole that I don't know how to take care of myself. I'M A BIG FUCKIGN ASSHOLE THAT NEEDS YOUR ADVICE ON SAFETY! OBVIOUSLY! WHAT AN ASSHOLE I AM!
days without Mcdonalds: 10

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Rock N Roll Nigger

It's a patti smith song. she knows how to rock.

Rock N Roll Nigger


Baby was a black sheep. Baby was a whore.
Baby got big and baby get bigger.
Baby get something. Baby get more.
Baby, baby, baby was a rock-and-roll nigger.
Oh, look around you, all around you,
riding on a copper wave.
Do you like the world around you?
Are you ready to behave?

Outside of society, they're waitin' for me.
Outside of society, that's where I want to be.

(Lenny!)

Baby was a black sheep. Baby was a whore.
You know she got big. Well, she's gonna get bigger.
Baby got a hand; got a finger on the trigger.
Baby, baby, baby is a rock-and-roll nigger.

Outside of society, that's where I want to be.
Outside of society, they're waitin' for me.

(those who have suffered, understand suffering,
and thereby extend their hand
the storm that brings harm
also makes fertile
blessed is the grass
and herb and the true thorn and light)

I was lost in a valley of pleasure.
I was lost in the infinite sea.
I was lost, and measure for measure,
love spewed from the heart of me.
I was lost, and the cost,
and the cost didn't matter to me.
I was lost, and the cost
was to be outside society.

Jimi Hendrix was a nigger.
Jesus Christ and Grandma, too.
Jackson Pollock was a nigger.
Nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger,
nigger, nigger, nigger.

Outside of society, they're waitin' for me.
Outside of society, if you're looking,
that's where you'll find me.
Outside of society, they're waitin' for me.
Outside of society. (Repeat)


Days without Mcdonalds: 9

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The price of failure should be failure

you produce a crappy car for twenty or thirty years then you should go out of business. You work at a factory that produces crappy cars then you should be out of a job. That's what capitalism is about. If you don't like that, if you want handouts or handups or handjobs or bailouts then YOU SHOULD MOVE TO CHINA. Work at the fucking factory producing these incredibly shitty bikes I'm assembling. NO ONE SEEMS TO MIND. Shit, they even opened a chain of stores to specifically sell Chinese crap. But if Dodge can't make a car or a mini van that doesn't fall apart after five years then they can close their gates. If the past twenty years of failure add up to a 30 billion dollar bailout then capitalism is dead. If a government regulates commerce then we no longer have capitalism. IF a government rewards failure then we don't have capitalism. Go look up the definition of capitalism.
Now, it's clear that capitalism doesn't work at all so maybe we shouldn't have capitalism. Lord knows we have to compete with slave labor in China and Malaysia and Vietnam so it's impossible to beat those prices. But the quality should have been better, and it wasn't. A 15 year old kid in Vietnam simply builds better shoes than a 30 year old trained seamstress in Colorado. What does that tell you? That America is a fraud...an absolute fraud.
Maybe the homeless guy who talked about the 4th Reich in the United States where even the Jews have joined forces with former Nazi warlords to obliterate and enslave the underclass is right. Maybe this isn't all some gigantic fuck up. Maybe it is part of the larger plan and this is actually a diabolical success...for the 4th Reich.
I don't know. But the news, the fucking airline stewardess-style news that is complete crap really makes me wonder what is going on. It's too clean to be a failure. These people are too smart to repeatedly talk about a cat whose face is being sewn back on...instead of several homeless people who were killed on the PCH. So is it an oversight, or a deliberate smokescreen?
The culture is poisoned. The government is broke. The people are illiterate slobs. Yes, mouth breathers, that means you. Our cultural peak was Elvis. Think about that.

P.S. As I typed this my computer crashed. Coincidence?
Days without McDonalds: 5

Sunday, December 7, 2008

mexican scam

I just heard about a scam that is done in Mexico that you should hear about. They steal or find my cell phone, Call you and say I'm in the hospital and You need to wire money to get me a doctor. It's like virtual kidnapping. I guess they could steal my phone and say they kidnapped me too, but I kind of like the angle of saying I'm sick and can't talk and you need to send money and there is no time for you to fly down there. Anyway, don't send any money. This scam could happen in Los Angeles too. Your number is right on my cell phone. I'm not sure how to protect against it. Just insist on seeing proof. I shouldn't even carry my cell phone. nothing is safe.
all for now

Fashion Rules

picture me in the bowels of a Target receiving warehouse, surrounded by plastic
toy bikes "Made in China". Dozens of mexican girls in red target shirts walk
around using laser scanners to scan bar codes off giant cartons of diapers. I'm
assembling a little girl's bike "misty" and putting the plastic streamers into
the handlebars by licking the plastic end and forcing it through a little hole.
I'm wearing ear plugs not only because of the impact wrench I use but because of
the hip hop music coming from a nearby boom box. I pause to ponder my life and
see a sticker on the side of the misty bicycle, on the side of every misty
bicycle across the country in every target store getting ready for thousands of
little girls on Christmas morning. What does the sticker say?
"Fashion Rules!"
It's truly horrifying. You don't want to know what the Barbie bike sticker says.
ten seconds later I slice my finger open on a jagged piece of metal left over
from the Chinese factory. A target "team member" walks by and says, "Nigger,
please". Over the loudspeaker I hear a tony bennet Christmas song cut off by
"Good evening Target guests. Could Angela please come to housewares. Could
Angela please come to housewares."
This was a job I should have passed on. I could just buy a bike and take it
apart. I'll give all the money I make to charity.

in hiding

=============
I had to move into the backyard of my old house. The police raided Third street and they came with guns. So I'm assembling bikes and keeping my head above water for the next month. Have you seen the news lately? I've very concerned. Am I dreaming? It's like some graphic novel has come to life. Trillion dollar bailouts. Factories closing. Groups of Chinese going on tours in California to buy houses. Driving in luxury suvs purchasing houses. HOME BUYING TOURS!! Vast areas of Arizona being leased to oil companies. No water. Which brings me to the latest shitty Bond movie. What complete shit. It makes Bond a sissy. And it was as confusing as hell. hard to follow. too jumpy. When you can't get a good Bond movie then things are really bad.
I'm baffled by everything...and distracted...probably depressed. It's like every man for himself. I only feel right when I'm playing guitar. That's it. That's my only outlet.
Was there much chaos over there when Mumbai got attacked?

Friday, December 5, 2008

Santa's Nigger


`The man in the van has sworn off all mcdonalds food. No more! He found himself vomiting in the backyard last night. What came up? A Mcdonalds milkshake, some indian food (probably rancid) a ham sandwich, a license plate. He's like a shark. You can tell where he lives by what he throws up. Awful.

Then the sweating and stomach pain. DIdn't think I'd go to work. But I made it and struggled through some bikes. It was slave labor. No music except the christmas musak. At first I called myself a christmas elf. No. THat was too kind. I'm Santa's nigger. That's more accurate. I'm his bitch. I build the shitty bikes for him. I gotta get a picture of the sticker on the side of this girl's bike that says "Fashion Rules" I almost lost my shit when I saw that. What awful propaganda to put on a bike for a little girl. Jesus! Fashion Rules? Where? In Hell? Fuck Target. Don't buy anything from that chinese import agency. All they sell is chinese shit. And every mistake that a chinese slave makes ends up costing this nigger money. Have some balls America! Stop buying exported chinese junk! Stop it! It's destroying everything. Fashion RUles? SOme chinese girl is slapping that sticker on these bikes and I end up assembling them. God damn it! Fashion rules? $70 for a day of assembling that piece of shit. And it ends up polluting the world with it's crappy slogans and shitty workmanship. It's a piece of junk.

That's all.

Days without Mcdonalds: 1

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thursday, November 27, 2008

earning some money

`It only takes me a minute to put the wheel on! THe whole bike should take no longer than six minutes. this is just a bad way to lose money.

backyard man

the man in the van is thankful for a backyard where the police can't get him.

building a disney "fairy" bicycle

that's some chinese engineering and disney fuckall marketing put together in one plastic package that will last all eternity, longer than the image of Micky Mouse is recognized. An indestructible, yet utterly useless bicycle.



``

electronic "fairy soundeffect" box. Earnings =$3.56
the fairy box made sound effects like a fairy flying or dropping fairy dust. When I played it I could hear the tears of chinese slaves dropping on concrete floors. It sounded like an unfinished Hiaku.

a hard way to earn a buck
building bikes for dead children
plastic never brakes
it merely melts into our lungs

monkey rant



no worries

Monday, November 24, 2008

billingsleys

Billingsleys is a prime rib joint in West LA. I took my crew out to dinner to celebrate my new situation livingin the backyard of the house owned by the older dude, George. If you stick around you'll learn quite a bit about mr. Hernandez.

Friday, November 21, 2008

mixo part 3


Rock Bottom

It's not often you get to video tape yourself hitting rock bottom. But here it is.
Stoned on some yerba mate enhanced medicinal tea (doctor's orders) I was out on the town, having a good time, laughing it up, on top of the world, feeling good. Bulletproof. Then the shit storm hit and the cops came in numbers too large to count. It's a war for territory and they had all the guns. So they stormed in to take back the land. But just imagine the scene of terror when the helicopters and alarms and megaphones "All Jews are hereby ordered onto the streets. Bring your belongings!" Knowing that the belongings would end up in piles. That is what happened on the night of November 19th 2008. Crystalnacht II. Except everyone was stoned or drunk or stumbling schizophrenics. A circus of insanity. The cackling homeless could be heard in the shadows. The crazed veterans fled like roaches.
We were all pushed into our broken down vans. Some abandoned their belongings for the street. Some vans were towed away. I thought I should just give up and accept my fate since driving in my condition was insane. But the police of Santa monica brought it on themselves. So I tried to move two vans in a few minutes while fumbling with my keys and my bicycle and jump starting another van and dropping change all in the spotlight of the police helicopter. Probably funny to watch but believe me my heart was racing and I was certain the club would come down at any minute.
It was awful. This is the video of a man on the ledge.


Tuesday, November 18, 2008

street jam

Here's some of the musicians on third street playing. The man in the van was in there and actually cut some pretty good licks but he didn't get it on tape, so this is what you get.

amused to death

If there is anything like smoking a pipe of chronic and listening to a Roger Waters solo album then PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THAT IS!
Because, for the money, there ain't nothing as cool as that.

"The album title came from a short book by Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, which is about the history of the media, particularly as it relates to political communication—i.e., how things have changed since such works as Lincoln's speeches were made available for the general public to read."
"And I had at one point this rather depressing image of some alien creature seeing the death of this planet and coming down in their spaceships and sniffing around and finding all our skeletons sitting around our TV sets and trying to work out why it was that our end came before its time, and they come to the conclusion that we amused ourselves to death."
"Things coalesced slowly as I became more and more interested or obsessed, pick your word, with the inordinately powerful and all-encompassing effect that television seems to have on the human race. My general view is that television when it becomes commercialized and profit-based tends to trivialize and dehumanize our lives."
"So I became interested in this idea of television as a two-edged sword, that it can be a great medium for spreading information and understanding between peoples, but when it's a tool of our slavish adherence to the incumbent philosophy that the free market is the god that we should all bow down to, it's a very dangerous medium. Because it's so powerful."
"I think the motivation is at the root of its current evil, i.e. it's because they have to compete in an open marketplace that their standards get reduced so the programming tends to end up as the cheapest possible saleable item. I don't believe that wanting to beat the opposition makes for good programming, but it's an ideology that is still rigidly adhered to."



We were watching TV
In Tiananmen Square
Lost my baby there
My yellow rose
In her bloodstained clothes
She was a short order pastry chef
In a Dim Sum dive on the Yangtze tideway
She had shiny hair
She was the daughter of an engineer
Won't you shed a tear
For my yellow rose
My yellow rose
In her bloodstained clothes
She had perfect breasts
She had high hopes
She had almond eyes
She had yellow thighs
She was a student of philosophy
Won't you grieve with me
Fo rmy yellow rose
Shed a tear
For her bloodstained clothes
She had shiny hair
She had perfect breasts
She had high hopes
She had almond eyes
She had yellow thighs
She was the daughter of an engineer
So get out your pistols
Get out your stones
Get out your knives
Cut them to the bone
They are the lackeys of the grocer's machine
The built the dark satanic mills
That manufacture hell on earth
They bought the front row seats on Calvary
They are irrelevant to me
And I grieve for my sister
People of China
Do not forget do not forget
The children who died for you
Long live the Republic
Did we do anything after this
I've a feeling we did
We were watching TV
Watching TV
We were watching TV
Watching TV
She wore a white bandanna that said
Freedom now
She thought the Great Wall of China
Would come tumbling down
She was a student
Her father was an engineer
Won't you shed a tear
For my yellow rose
My yellow rose
In her bloodstained clothes
Her grandpa fought old Chiang Kai-shek
That no-good low-down dirty rat
Who used to order his troops
To fire on women and children
Imagine that Imagine that
And in the spring of '48
Mao Tse-tung got irate
And he kicked that old dictator Chiang
Out of the state of China
Chiang Kai-shek came down in Formosa
And they armed the island of Quemoy
And the shells were flying across the China Sea
And they turned Formosa into a shoe factory
Called Taiwan
And she is different from Cro-Magnon man
She's different from Anne Boleyn
She is different from the Rosenbergs
And from the unknown Jew
She is different from the unknown Nicaraguan
Half superstar half victim
She's a victor star conceptually new
And she is different from the Dodo
And from the Kankabono
She is different from the Aztec
And from the Cherokee
She's everybody's sister
She's symbolic of our failure
She's the one in fifty million
Who can help us to be free
Because she died on TV
And I grieve for my sister

white inferiority

It's a crazy time. the sky if filled with ash from 500 mobile homes. But the people are dancing in the street. We are strong because we are too fucked up to care. Obama liked to smoke weed back in his Chicago days. He'd smoke weed and play basketball. Ain't nothing wrong with that. A man has to find out who he is and sometimes the wacky weed helps.

obama takes the prize

Barak Hussein Obama won the presidency election. That's some major shit.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Wheel's on Fire

What better way to capture the black and white difference between economic classes?


Wheels are, or should be, the man in the van's motif. He loves wheels. And he especially loves wheels that have become so worn out as to be sort of useful, only to homeless people. Nothing exemplifies the homeless, beat, down and out life as a tire with no air, or a wheel with no rubber.
And when the wheel is on a baby carriage, and is pushed by a guy with no teeth ragged clothes, staggering, yelling, tripping over shadows, pushing his baby carriage full of junk and half empty boxes of cereal and old books and bike chains and things he believes may bring him a dollar for some wine...then that wheel is golden. That wheel is a holy thing. It carries on despite the problems. It is not only junk, it kind of helps a homeless guy but only a little. Every step is an effort he must overcome the resistance of the plastic on the cement. But he takes his time in the rain. What does he care if the cars stop in the road? He is pushing a baby carriage full of junk that has three wheels.
More holy wheels later!

Monday, October 27, 2008

DWP

Don't Park Here
Police Will be notified!
License and Registration, please
Where Do You Live?

All Niggers out of town by noon.
nameless, faceless cowards wearing white suits.

Love it or leave it, say the cancer cells.

American's don't trust Americans.
Why should they?

These are the days of the goon squad
in black coats and flashing a badge of justice.
Poor is the new nigger.


We are monkeys run amok in the land of the fraud
our economy is in ruins
We are unwell, sick, desperate, paying off dinners we ate two years ago, driving with gas we don't own yet.

But the fraud hates an honest man, hates his face, hates his presence.

So the fliers are posted in the night, "Out by noon, nigger. Out! Out! Off My Street!"

These streets are filled with irritation, pain, loss, fear. Better to blame the man on the street than the crook in your heart.

The lights flash behind you...you pull over, give the goon your paperwork, try not to look him in the eyes (goons hate honesty).
We want you out of town. Understand. Get off these streets.
You slip and ask,
"What did I do?"
The goon tosses your paperwork at you.
"DWP. Guilty!"
You were Driving While Poor.
In a land of false wealth, the honest poor must be criminals.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Moped man

The idea is to have a moped that will run and so the man in the van can be just like Batman and when his van finally bites the dust or gets shot with a bazooka then he can just get on his moped and ride away. He may even modify the van's driver's seat so he can ride the moped and just as the van dies he can engage a special catapult that will whip him forward and start the moped and off he goes!~


Red Sox Rant

It's hard to win back to back championships. But it's also hard NOT to win back to back championships.
Maybe next year.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

junk

gone of the man in the van's favorite places...the junkyard.
Photobucket


I think I can get one of these bad boys up and running. No problem. Some of those dents will just buff right out. A light here, a seat there and the man in the van will have his motorcycle back on the road!


Photobucket

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Good morning mudslide

This morning, the man in the van was crippled with cramps. These are natural reactions to the laxative pills he takes to help him shit. Why can't he shit like normal people? Well, it's an unpleasant story, that will hopefull come to an end one way or another on Wednesday, as the man in the van goes to Glendale for a hemorrhoidectomy.
but that's beside the point. This morning the man was slow getting his act together and he paid for it as the normal morning shit came early and the man ended up taking a gigantic shit in the middle of the L.A. Weekly newspaper spread out on the floor of his van. Man, this was a steaming pile of sloppy shit that you don't want to see up close. Fortunately, the man was too flustered to take a picture of it.
If it happens again then you can count on a picture.

Friday, October 10, 2008

pain diary

the man and his fans

The rain man

on the economy

anecdote

once upon a time...

post op

The man in the van will withhold the videos of him taking a bloody shit into a to-go container. Those are not something he wants to share with the world. But you can tell by his lack of mobility that pretty much everything took some effort.

desolation angels




T
he man in the van was hanging out at the old Long Beach oil drills. At night so he had the exposure set for 2 seconds to get light in. IT was actually almost pitch black, and the only light was from the nearby industrial wasteland.

Monday, October 6, 2008

So much drama in the LBC

The man in the van is in Long Beach, recovering from ass surgery. He'll be back in action soon. Keep it real!

They Cut my Ass Open

The man in the van doesn't want to gross people out, but the realities of his life have crossed paths with some nasty afflictions.

Now, kids, if you don't want to have prolapsed hemorrhoids, like the man in the van, then don't do the following:

1. Put 6 inch dildos in your ass. "just to see what it feels like" lol. who hasn't done this?
2. Sit for 18 months writing a book.
3. The only exercise you get for 18 months is walking to the donut shop for an apple fritter. Mmmm. They taste so good but they turn to drywall mud inside your colon. Then you gotta strain like hell trying to shit it out.
4. Ride your bicycle from The East Coast to The Rocky Mountains.
5. The only fiber you eat is when you accidentally chew a piece of Styrofoam off your cup of noodles cup.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

ouch

$50 to sell some plasma. Next is the sperm donations. This nurse butchered me.

office

call me

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

alarm

the man in the van felt guarding his possessions by installing an alarm in the van would be the right move. Someone had already patched into the wires and set up an alarm but the actual siren and the brain box were dead on arrival. So TMIV bought the exact same alarm system and swapped out the brain and the antennae and a few other wires...and it actually worked. He left the old siren so maybe someone would cut it thinking it's going to disable the alarm and then used the new alarm and put it in the cabin. Of course, if someone really wanted to steal the van they would just take it with the alarm blaring and disconnect the battery once it was started. Please don't!

Oops I live in a van

With apologies to Mrs. Spears and the writer of this melody...by popular demand, the man in the van has tweaked the tune a little to match the times.




The lyrics to : Oops I Live in a Van

(verse 1)
I think I pissed in a jug
it's all I have
don't call me a scrub

I shower every day
at the same place I shit
it's two miles away

(pre chorus)
But to sleep on the sidewalk
is just so typically me

(chorus)
Oops I live in a van
I don't have a job
I don't have a plan

You might think I'm a bum
that I live on the run
but I'm not gonna change my ways

I own a '69 Ford
it's got no brakes
cause I can't afford...them

Stop! Don't step on the gas.
We'll surely crash
then what would I do.

(pre chorus)
(chorus)

what would jesus do?




One thing I love about Venice is the funny guerrilla art that springs up when no one is looking. I just think about all the things people ask WWJD? Like marital problems and kidney failure and world crisis and crime and death and hurricanes. And this is the answer. Wow. Who knew?

good night man in the van

This is the last installment in the day in the life:

a final goodnight from the man in the van. using his red LED night vision flashlight. this day was a little busier than usual but the people he met and the average experiences were about normal. Of course this day didn't differ too much from his life when he was living in the $1.2 million dollar house and paying $2400 in rent and managing two tenants and all the bills except he was wasting tons of water and electricity then and now he's pretty much a drop of seagull shit on a giant carpet of seagull shit.

marina

This is the second to last part in a day in the life:
The last stop before the man in the van returns to the van.
He did some stretching and light weight work. The sauna was about 220 degrees so he skipped that. most importantly, boys and girls, the man in the van took a shower. sometimes he takes two showers a day. But he doesn't want to waste water so one is enough. then he changed his clothes and was ready for a few more days of fun in the sun.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

venice skills center

Part X in a day in the life:
the man in the van is all about self-enrichment. So taking a computer electronic repair class seems like the right move.

Glengarry

Part XVI in a day in the life:

The trick with anything is to practice. So here's another shot at the Ricky Roma monologue. The man in the van wants to get the words right, but not imitate Al Pacino and also to add a little bit of his own personality. One of these days he'll get the whole package and be satisfied.

Gustavo

Part XV in a day in the life:

Gustavo is from Chile and plays the guitar. He's an aspiring director and an all around upstanding dude. The man in the van needs a cameraman so he isn't always holding the camera two feet from his face so everyone can look up his nostrils. the man in the van isn't stupid...he knows that isn't a great angle. So what's the solution. At least for a bit find someone to hold the camera. At least for the Final Warning music video.


crossroad blues

Part XIV in a day in the life

Why not pay tribute to the original blues man...Robert johnson. That man lived in his fair share of vans and suffered for us all. He passed this gem down and it only truly sounds right when played by a man on the street. You sing with heart and you will go far. Too bad the man in the van isn't talented enough to make it on broadway, because he'd sing this song like a man done wrong by the boss.

The man in the van is at a kind of crossroads. Take a right and go to jail, take a left and end up a corpse in the gutter. What to do? Ain't we all just looking for a way to the source? Like Dorothy, we're clicking our heels and asking to go home. Then the hand of God comes down and crashes your commuter train into a freight train and you go flying through the air at 40 mph and crash into a pile of briefcases and seats that have been torn up. And you split your head open and lie under a burning hunk of insulation. There's no way to know when you number will be called!


final warning part 2

Part XIII in a day in the life:

Here's some footage of the second verse of Final Warning, the man in the van's protest song directed at the Riviera Ave Neighborhood watch association. The reality is that the RANWA is probably just one old bitter man who is trying to sell his house so is afraid buyers will be run off when they see the man in the van squatting on the sidewalk taking a shit. Well, too bad, buddy. You can name yourself the "VENICE WANTS NO NIGGERS ASSOCIATION" and I still wouldn't give a fuck.

earning some change

This is around part XI in a day in the life

The man in the van found his piano fix for the day. After an hour of playing Burt Bacharach and easy listening hits from the '70s like Take this Ribbon from my hair, And I love You so, Weekend in New England, he got down and hit his stride. The Blues comes easy to a man living in his van.

He made $11 in an hour. But he gave $5 to the owner of the Piano, the dude dancing in the background who is named Nathan Pino. Pino plays some mean keys and makes about $50 in some good hours. I'll post some video of Nate playing the piano one day. Just enjoy!

Venice Beach

Part IX of a day in the life

Riding north on the boardwalk.
Venice Beach

Mayor of RV Lane

Part VIII of a day in the life:

Oh boy, there's one in every bunch. Dennis is the Messiah of RV lane...not the mayor. Well kind of both. Who knows? He's everything. The dude is driving around in...well, he's PUSHING a VW van.

Thing is broke down and busted up. Must be a 1971 van. Everything he owns is in it. I met him because he was pushing the van into a parking spot. I helped out.
And then it begins...his plan to save the world starting with an army of homeless people installing solar panels on top of every building in Venice. He says these visions come to him at night, "Like those flip story books"
Technically he's on the money...if only we didn't live in what he calls "The Fourth Reich" in which the Nazis have returned under disguise to kill all the poor and foreigners. Solar panel installation would take place, I presume, right after we are all gassed and buried in the caverns they have dug for this purpose in Nevada.
The man in the van has heard some wacky shit in his day, but Dennis was firing on all cylinders. We would steam clean the streets.
I guess the problem is that the poor are despicable people as far as most citizens are concerned. They would see us working as the massah sees the house nigger washing plates. It's a privilege for us to work for them. I say fuck them. Fuck their condescending attitudes. Fuck their Bentleys and their Chryslers and the BMWs. How about this for a novel idea: Let the rich wash OUR piss of the sidewalk. LOL. I will take a fat dump in the middle of the street and Donald Trump can come on over and clean it up. How about that?

J.O.B.S

Part VII of a day in the life:

When the movie called J.O.B.S comes out then you will know where you saw the writer and star. This cool cat came out and said, "Shit you gonna be cutting up black people with that saw?"
We had a good chat and then he started harassing the women in the women's shelter next door ("You got a baby? You want one?") LOL

Well, you gotta take the good with the bad. HE could talk all day if I let him..and I let him talk a little too long. If you turn it off before the end then you will be in good company.
His screenplay was called "Jump Out Boys." Get it. J.O.B.S He said it was like Fight Club meets Reservoir Dogs. I said, "It's a westcoast Godfather!" And he agreed, though what that means was not clear.

Shit, it was about a drug dealer who sells pussy and gets busted because his choices were bad. My man kept saying "It's about choices." He claimed to be Al Jarreau's cousin. Living on the street. Selling busted sun umbrellas. Everyone always says that these colorful characters will make a good screenplay. Well, take a good look. Is this something you'd watch? Or pay money to watch. It gets boring after ten seconds. Why? Because these characters are stereotypes. One is a hustler. The other is a dweeb. What the fuck do they have to talk about? Nothing. So where is this movie going (the one with the dweeb and the hustler?) would it be like Pineapple Express? Sort of stoner odd couple? Bullshit.
I'm not buying drugs from him at the beginning, I'm paying him because he is a broke person riding around looking for work and hustling for change. I'm interviewing him and taking his time so he gets a buck.

George in his element

Part VI of a day in the life:

Here's George in his zone bullshitting the city on the phone. No one can sling shit like George.
This hot tub has seen some crazy times but everything must come to an end. I was the last one to see it in the house with water in it so it is fitting that I'm the one to finally toss it into the garbage. Cutting it in half was not ceremonial...the City is coming to pick it up and needs it in two pieces so it will fit in the truck. The hardest part was the pvc pipe. Not to mention the man in the van is using a saw that is more suited for cutting small twigs. But it's low resource!

Hot Tub Cutting Party

Part V of A Day in the life

What's a day without cutting a hot tub in half? Not a day the man in the van wants any part of.

Lincoln Place

Part IV in a day in the life:

The last of the affordable housing in Venice...sold out and in litigation because...gasp...the deal was illegal and destroyed many lives. But Fuck them..they were only blacks and Mexicans.


Litter picking

Part III in A day in the life.
Help the man in the van clean up the world. Keep your trash where in belongs...in Congress and the White House!

RV LANE

PART II in the DAY IN THE LIFE. 3rd street asleep.


Morning With the Man in The Van

Wake up sleepy head! The Cops are coming!

This is the first installment of A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE MAN IN THE VAN

Monday, September 22, 2008

RV lane




check out the man in the van! 3rd and Rose in Santa Monica







That's 10 RVs on one side of the street. And 10 more on the other side of the street. One block. 20 RVs. It's a party!Photobucket

you see how 3rd street dead ends against sunset? The man in the van ain't stupid. That means no cars drive down 3rd street. They all drive on 4th. On the west side is a production company warehouse...on the east side is Public Storage...where most of the RV dwellers have their belongings. $90 a month for storage and street parking. That's the fate for lost of folks who lost their houses to hurricanes. The man in the van didn't make the laws, he just breaks them.


No Eddie, my place doesn't look like this. I'm clean!

Father Son Dialogue

Theater for the masses

Glengarry

the man in the van digs glengarry glen ross

levon

elton john rocks



Final Warning

The man in the van wrote a song for the Riviera Ave Neighborhood Watch Association
Partial lyrics:
Final Warning:

Riviera High Class Living
They Say it's what you give
and not what you're given

Final Warning That's what you gave to me
like you got the right
like you ain't guilty

To The dark night says the bright morning
this is your final fucking warning

To the dark night says the bright morning
this is your final fucking morning:

Oops I did it Again...lived in a Van

Here's a cover of Britney's pop hit...maybe the man in the van will do a parody of it later. Oops I did it again, I lived in a van, I pissed in a jug...

tour the van

check it out!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Near Death

The man in the van had a near death experience last night. Maybe it was brought on by the hibiscus/cannabis tea that he drank...maybe not. But he is born again and he wants to share his experience with the world.

1. We all write our own stories. The Man in the Van was near death and he was freaking out...he was going to die...in a van...alone...broke...with Mexicans selling stolen bikes on the street...the smell of dry cleaning wafting through the holes in the side of the van wall. He looked around and took an inventory of his life. What did it all mean. What did the man in the van's life add up to? He realized that he had constructed his own coffin. The van was his coffin and he had decorated it like the vikings, with artifacts that would help him in the afterlife. A Guitar, records, some clothes, some sheet music. But the details are very telling. For instance, the 8 record jackets that the man in the van has screwed to the top of the van are just memorabilia in the day, but last night, in the dim light of the streetlamps shining through the curtains, and the car lights bouncing off the ceiling, and the police lights doing their thing...the record covers all joined to look like the hand of Jesus reaching down, offering his comfort. Was it a sign? Definitely. The Man in the Van needs to wake up, hold onto the hand of Jesus.

2. All signs are important. The Man in the van has been ignoring the signs around him. This will all be gone one day. The man in the van will turn to dust and so will his van. All the petty details of his life, the small debts and grievances he has, the people who owe him money, the indiscretions, the police run ins, the lies and the pain. What do these mean? What do they add up to. The Man in the Van fought through the night to stay alive. But the hand reached out to him.

3. We all know when we are going to die. We can ignore the signs but we know they are signs. We can deny the ultimate passage is waiting, the hand reaching down, the unavoidable end, but it's still there. These dozens of people who died in the train crash. The others who die in bombings. One day, that has to be you. You have to die with the rest of the meek. It may come as a surprise or as though you were meeting a doctor for a consultation. When the time comes it will be peaceful because you make amends with the world. The rough corners are no longer a problem. You take nothing and what you leave behind is free to be judged or forgotten.

The Man in the Van will make a video tribute to his van and describe the intimate details of his possessions. Perhaps it is not for him to decide what these artifacts mean. He can look at the parallel lines Blondie album cover and think it was chance that brought it to his van, but it was destiny. Do not judge the man in the van lest ye be judged.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Lunch

Keeping it real with a meal.

Breakfast

Champions eat alone:

Don't Touch That Dial

Get it off my chest. Move on down the road.

Mas Mas Mas

I got a big mouth. What are you gonna do about it?

Fourth and Rose

Public Storage on the Right. Dry Cleaners on the Left. That's as Political as the man in the van gets.

Riviera Rant

Wassup Riviera Ave Neighborhood Watch Association?

Beach

Dockweiler Beach

Creative Commons License
Man in the Van by Oggy Bleacher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.