5:30 a.m. I woke up. I have to use the bathroom. It’s a number 2, and it wants to jettison fast. I’m in a residential area, having slept outside. There’s nothing I can do. I’m only half able to avoid catastrophe by holding it in.
6:00 a.m. I pack up my gear and head over to hang out at St Francis house with LA for a little bit. LA wants to record the homeless talent show that is happening today. My plan is to head out to the North shore and play handball with my friends. Spend the night in town and visit my mom on Sunday. My train leaves at 7:25 a.m.
7:00 a.m. I head out and ride my bike over to North station. I go to use the restrooms there. And make it on the train just in time. The train arrives in Hamilton and I ride to my mother’s house to get my truck. I take my truck to my friend’s house in Danvers where I take a shower and wash my clothes. There’s food in the refrigerator which I eat. Although, I slept in the night, I still feel very tired. I get so caught up in doing things that I don’t have time to go play handball with my friends.
10:15 a.m. I jump in my truck with my bike and I drive to Salem. There’s people with signs everywhere in Salem trying to direct people to parking areas where they charge money for parking. These people are exploitive and they’re trying to make tons of money off of Salem around Halloween. One lady tells me she has parking, I ask how much, she says $40, and I yell Fuck that! I found free parking near one of the rail trail parking lots. I grabbed my bike and I rode to the pet parade to film all the cute animals in costumes. I take pictures of tons of cute pets and get some video. I handed my card out to many people and told them about my project. It’s a good opportunity for business development. One man named Ryan is getting a petition signed to allow use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes. This interests me so we talk for a while.
12: 10 I ride my bike back to my truck. I take my truck to Rockport to meet up with Lori Ann who is the director of donations for Tiffany’s recovery Incorporated nonprofit. The non-profit I helped found a little over 3 years ago. When I get to Lori-Ann’s house I go speak with her son Jake for a little while, him and I smoke a cigarette. I have been a recovery coach for both of Lori-Ann’s sons for about 3 years now. I know! Smoking cigarettes! I feel ashamed. I’m allowing myself one cigarette a day, let’s hope that I can continue not becoming addicted to cigarettes. After I speak with Jake, Lori-Ann and I sit down and discuss the ins and outs of the different media platforms utilized by the nonprofit. It’s a tedious and boring task, but I need help with all the stuff I have going on.
3:15 p.m. I leave Lori-Ann’s house. I say goodbye to Lori Ann, her son, and her husband Orlando and I head to my friend’s house in Danvers. I get a message from LA while I’m driving that somebody has stolen his gear. LA has stashed his gear and someone found it and took his stuff. LA messages me and says that he’s done and he wants a ticket out of Massachusetts, he wants to go to Colorado, he’s really frustrated. So I began looking into that as soon as I got to my friend’s house in Danvers. I make some calls to friends and I write this blog. It’s been a long day and I’m tired. Sleeping outside on the ground even with a blow up mattress leaves me tired during the day, especially in the afternoons. I have work to do. I have to work on the non-profit. We have to work on fundraising to provide more service for the homeless. Building Identify LLC alongside Tiffany’s Recovery Inc. is a lot of work. I work on the computer updating links on the website. The plan is to bring more gear to LA when I return to Boston on Sunday.
7:30 p.m. I’ve looked up how much it cost for a bus ticket to send LA to Colorado where he wants to go. LA has requested another sleeping bag, backpack, and tent and wants to ride the bike out west to Colorado. At this point I think I might be better off on my own. I’m tired, I’m going to sleep. I slept in my friend’s spare bed. I feel guilty about this. It’s the first time I slept in a bed in 14 days. It’s been a long day. I’m going to get LA situated tomorrow and hopefully he’ll be on his way home by Monday.