Chris and Robert

I sat down at a local bar and Chris bought me a drink.  He told me how much he loved visiting Louisiana.  I thought to myself, Louisiana, that sounds like a nice place to visit.  We talked a bit about traveling. That's the first and probably last I'll see Chris.  He was a random stranger that did a nice thing for a random person.  Whenever something nice like this happens, I try to pay it forward.

I was on the way back from work when I saw Robert standing on the side of the road.  He was in his late 30's, Hispanic with tattooed forearms, a lip ring, a black shaggy beard, and dressed in grungy black t-shirt/shorts.  Robert held up a small brown cardboard sign that had "Hungry" written boldly across with a black sharpie.

"Hey, if you're hungry, I'll buy you dinner at In-N-Out."

Robert gave me an incredulous look, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, grab your stuff," I replied.

Robert snatched his skateboard and backpack just in time to jump into my truck before the traffic light turned green.  We drove down half a block to the In-N-Out and we each ordered double-double burgers with drinks.

I didn't ask, but Robert seemed compelled to share his story.  He told me he was kicked out by his roommates for not paying rent.  He used to work construction for 10 years and described to me in detail some of his previous projects.  He was born in LA, raised in San Diego, had a stint in jail (where he got his tattoos), is trying to clear his criminal record so he could find some work, and found it irritating when his parents compared him to his more successful brother.  He also loves gardening.

Today's panhandling earned him a few dollar bills, half a roast beef sandwich, and a hit of chronic.  He offered me the hit, but I had to politely refuse. He's now off to visit his girlfriend, whom he cheated on before with some other girl named Tammy. He felt ashamed that he's homeless and didn't want to admit this to his girl.

At least that's the story that he told me. I didn't offer any money (only the meal) and just waved goodbye to Robert after we finished eating. It was simple; we both came in hungry and left delightfully full. Most likely, we will never meet again.

I like to think that Chris just fed Robert.

Tuesday 4/20

I don’t know who the mailman is, but we should leave him a note thanking him for all the hard work that he does.

Warm, fuzzy, vibrating feel, and slight, constant pressure centered on my chest (feels like slightly above the solar plexus); I can feel the vibrations pulse like radar when I breathe in and breathe out deeply.

My roommate and I both look at each other. I say, “Dude, I want some chips”. He replies, “Dude! I was just thinking that!”

Tingling feel in arms as I type. Senses seem heightened (in taste) and admittedly worse at thinking and hand eye coordination. Psshh... hand eye coordination is overrated when you're sitting on the couch.

Ate probably 50 sour patch kids since I started typing. They taste sooo sour!!!

I can control my senses!!! If my mind moves to a different part of my body, I can feel the different sensations. For example, if I think about my head, I see a picture in the back of my mind. This ‘picture’, it has a black backdrop, looks like an x-ray where my skeleton is outlined in white. The image it zooms in and focuses dead center on my head. I feel a high / floating feeling on the top of my head, feels like my head is pulsing in and out.

Eyes strained. Eyelids pounding head, eyes squinting, may be because of bright light in the living room. Light switch is about 10 feet away... I decide it's too far.

I blink and it feels like I only blink 2/3 for each full blink. Not X X X where each X = 1 blink, but more like X X X where each blink is only 2/3 of a normal blink. Adjusting rate of blink to compensate. Rate of blink for normal blink =1 and Rate of blink for blinking while high is =1.25 x (rate of blink while normal), wait… 1.5 x…

Right leg just twitched; there was a quick jerk on my upper thigh / hip. Tickling sensation in my wrists. Whole body feels warm and tingly, like being on morphine. Was laughing at something on tv, snorted out loud.

Concentrating my senses to ‘point’ to my nose and I feel my nose ‘high’; it feels more like a pinch on the bridge of my nose (similar to stopping a bleeding nose). I’m exploring all these new senses! I concentrate on my chin; it feels like a vibration on the tip of my chin. Slowly moving my concentration 'beam' towards my lips; I feel the 'high' concentrated on my lower lip.

My mouth is open, hanging somewhere between a smile and a grin. Right foot just involuntarily twitched about 45 degrees upward. I’m half sitting (top) and half lying (bottom) on the couch. My butt and spine feel slightly numb. Mouth still sour and now dry/thirsty from earlier sour patch kids.

I’m closing my eyes for a little bit in order to rest. Opening eyes to see Mitch Hedberg playing, how appropriate. “You have to sleep on the floor. Damn gravity”. “You happen to be a king? Well you won’t guess what I have in store for you. A King sized bed! It’s made to your exact specifications.”

Show’s topic is now focused on food; I’m hungry. Nuked up some hot dogs, don’t have any buns, so really just eating half a pack of kosher hot dogs from Costco. Sandwiches. Yummm… Subway. They have triangular cheese slices, can tessellate across entire bread. Why do they stack the cheese over each other so they overlap instead? Finished all three hot dogs now.

Eyes feel slightly blurry; eyelids feel like I’ve been reading for hours by candlelight. Who uses candles still? Sleepy. Sleeping.