Good Afternoon;
And a fine day it is for a holiday weekend, I wish that I had somewhere to go to celebrate. If I can find a ride,(no bus service available), I am going to go to the Md. Veterans Cemetery, in Garrison, on Monday for the ceremony, and to stop by my father's grave site. I hope I can find a BBQ, but it's not looking good at this point, everything seems to be family only this year, I guess because of the recession folks are downsizing picnics too. I can not get in contact with Rachel for some reason, her mother has not answered the phone, and since I am out of minutes and calling from a payphone, I'm out of touch. Since the Starbucks closed in Pikesville I have not had as regular contact with quite a few people, who could always find me or leave a message there. I would see Rachel at least one weekend morning for sure.
Speaking of Starbucks, I stopped in the St.Thomas store as usual this morning around 7:00 am. and when I went up to order my coffee, Michael hands me a gift card in a holder/envelope with my name in and said a customer left it for me, and that there was $3.00 left on it. Nobody there at the time knew who left it, it had to be between 11:00 am. and close yesterday though. Whoever you are, and I have 3 good guesses who are probable suspects,...THANKS!!, and if you are a loyal reader who just tracked my there from the blog...DOUBLE THANKS!!..(at least this time it wasn't an "upside da head" greeting.....LOL!
I saw my friend Chris on Thursday night at the Giant about 10:00 pm. as I was making my dinner and he was shopping for dinner,(both single guys, does it show...LOL), and he invited me over to shower this morning. Afterwards we jumped on the bus and went down to the Forman Mill's clearance store, if you need some solid color tee-shirts, 100% cotton, check it out...4 for $5.00!!!.. if I can find some cash this evening, I'm heading back...also..men's Jockey briefs,...3 pr. for $1.99!!!!!!!!!, that's about $10.00 off! and white crew socks...6 for $2.99/4.99...and everyone knows, you can never have too much underwear or socks and tee-shirts.......LOL!
I spent a while yesterday while I was writing the blog having an IM conversation with my old friend Heidi, (who is married to Terry, and they went together for so long and so steadily that they became known as 'HeidiandTerry'..[one word] for years BEFORE they were married...and it's been 30 years since the wedding......I guess it's not a flash in the pan........LOL), it's nice to regain contact with folks you love and be able to pick up almost where you left off. Of course there is a wee bit of catching up to do......LOL, but that should keep the conversation fresh for a while.
They live in San Diego and we reconnected by a Facebook message that started...."Are you the Dave who went to Milford Mill in '74......" This is the second reconnect I have made with Facebook, the other went the reverse, I was the one asking..."Are You...." and hooked up with my friend confidant and former boss and landlord, Janet in New Mexico. (that is quite a combination of 'hats' for someone to wear, take my advice if you are ever in a similar situation and DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, take it to the next level..girlfriend/lover.....especially when you both live and work in the same building, [in separate apartments].....you wanna talk stressssssssss!!!!....{Oh I better clarify, this was another relationship, Janet and I were/are friends not lovers}. Anyway, Facebook, by way of Jeremy may also have brought some of you here, so it's been worthwhile for me to join, even if I only look at it once in a while.
I left here yesterday and met my friend Longwind, who negotiated the acquisition of my 'bupes', so I don't have to be more than on the fringes of the drug culture anymore. That is a relief on many levels, first and foremost...having meds, but secondarily, I am relieved of the lure of the pull of the adrenaline rush that comes with making a 'scoop', believe it or not that is part of the thrill that comes with getting high, the danger and the subsequent release of endorphins when you successfully clear the area and feel safe. That can be as addicting as the drug, to say nothing of the needle.......if you are totally mystified by what I am saying...GOOD....KEEP IT THAT WAY!!!!!!!!!!!, just take my word for it that I'd rather be begging on the street to stay clean, than making the easy money I know I can get and firing up for free!!
Once again, and probably again later, I'm going to remind everyone that this is "Memorial Day" weekend, and we should not lose sight of the fact that our fathers , sons, grandfathers, uncles, cousins, friends, (and in some cases the female equivalents), and most importantly, total strangers to us, died so we can be here today. Whether you believe in the politics or not, don't forget those who made the sacrifice, sometimes not willing, but fighting and dying nonetheless. And remember also the firefighters and police who lost their lives on 9/11 and elsewhere.
Speaking of police, it's time for my daily rant against idiocy, ignorance and incivility in public service!
Last night about 8:00 pm I was on the corner, about to leave when a cop pulled up to the line of cars waiting for the light. I did not notice the car as it was hidden by another vehicle, or I would have laid down my sign and stepped away. I mean I'm not stupid, I know it is technically illegal to panhandle, and I am not about to flaunt it in a cop's face, ( I like it when we treat each other like a West Virginian treats his teeth.....'Ignore them and they'll go away'...........LOL). He gets on the PA and says, in a very sarcastic tone, "Hey, Homeless guy, find a place to be.", and I could hear him and the other cop cracking up at their wit. I waved in acknowledgement and bent over to zipper shut, and pick up my bag, and I hear "C'mon, C'mon, lets go lets go...", this is about 10 seconds after he made the first comment. As I began to cross the street on the way to the Light Rail, the light changed and he shouts out on the PA, "You're too clean to be homeless". Well I could not see the car to get the number or tag, and I could not tell if he was black or white, but he sounded white, and I shouted back...."You're too stupid to be a cop.....oops I guess we're both wrong." He was in a lane of traffic that was committed to entering the expressway and could not stop, and I really don't know if he heard me or not, but I kinda hustled to the Light Rail stop and got on the '..first thing smokin'...'' and '..got the hell outta Dodge'..!...LOL! Now the funny thing is, I'm wearing a tee-shirt that is damp with sweat and a pair of shorts the are ripped up the side seam 'halfway to glory' if you know what I mean, and i am sweating because it was in the upper '80s and the Sun had been beating down at a low angle. I was slightly covered with road dust, and personally felt very dirty. the part of this story that is ironic is the fact that the car next to me at the time was an unmarked cruiser driven by a fairly high ranking officer of the BPD, who had been talking with me and asking about my situation and my kid and had just given me a buck!
This is not the only example of cops acting like 'pigs' and deserving the derogatory title. I have talked with many folks on the street and in jail for stupid little minor offences that later were dismissed or not even prosecuted, and the result of police egoism and power madness.
I don't go shelters that are served by BPD as security because of an incident 2 winters ago, where a cop standing under a sign that said "All clients of this shelter deserve dignity and respect and will be courteously treated."
sees me walking past with a sports bag with the popular logo 'BUM Equipment Co.', and says "I see you've got your name on your bag" after another security officer pawed through my bag throwing out my food and all my writing utensils and my eating utensils without even asking if I wanted them disposed of or was I going to choose not to enter, which is the written posted procedure, now understand these were NOT contraband articles, just not allowed in the shelter for whatever reason. Another incident of the treatment of the homeless by some cops as less than human, is the bastard who threw me off a 7/11 lot (where the owners told me that it would be good idea to sit outside with my sign),and he said to get out of his area and go down to the ghetto store at Belvedere and Reisterstown and maybe I'd be where I belonged with the other garbage and started slamming his baton against the wall, and threatening to lock me up. When about 6 people, among them the store owner and a Rabbi confronted him, he let go of my shirt which he had bunched in his fist, and hissed, that he'd get me later, well I avoid that area now for obvious reasons unless I am with a witness of impeccable character.
And of course there is the foreign born woman cop who hates the homeless, and tried to cite or 'aggressive panhandling', which, as anyone who has ever seen me s patently a lie and a false accusation, as was the whole report she concocted and which was debunked by witnesses.
Now do not misunderstand me, I know that there are many good, and many, many more mediocre cops out there in Baltimore, but the bad examples, many of whom can be found weekly in the pages of the Sunpaper being accused, indicted, or convicted from everything from sexual abuses, to petty theft, to corruption,to falsifying and changing reports, to perjury (and being banned by the city's prosecutor and the state's attorney from testifying), to civil rights violations, to terminal stupidity. These few paint the whole force with a broad brush....and people who sit in high rise offices wonder why the 'majority population' and others at 'street level', who they see only on their drive back to the suburbs and exurbs don't trust the cops. Get out of the BMWs and Lexi..lol...and ride the bus and listen to the 'conversating'...lol....behind you, then re-read those news stories.
Again I reiterate, not all the cops are fools, I have been the recipient of gifts from cops on and off duty, and I gotta give a 'shout out' to the MTA Police, also known as transit cops or Metro cops, these men and women are consistently polite respectful and courteous, and seeing what they have to deal with on a daily basis, and the lack of thanks they get, (which is less than the city cops get), I gotta give 'em credit.
.......................................gotta sign off now..........more later.............Dave
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