————-

The Fear permeates the city with a dense fog in the mornings. As the day lingers, the fog dissipates, but the Fear just stretches out over the people, engulfing us all in its decadence.

We stroll the streets, looking for some kind of trouble to get into. But nothing comes. Sometimes it’s like that. No matter what you do, or where you are, you can’t get anything done. Creativity fades and seeps through the cracks in the sidewalk and you are left with nothing but some sunburn.

Courting the muse is a long forgotten path. These days people don’t wait for inspiration, or even try to draw in inspiration. They just do. And so we end up with a bunch of crap that is passed for “art” or “poetry” or “fiction” or any number of other things. But when you see it, it just fucking bores you to tears.

Court your muse. Find your inspiration. Then bang out that piece of crap you’ll never be proud of. Life keeps on moving down the line. The train will not remember you, and it does not forgive. Walk out on the tracks and stare at the ground. See those are steel rails? Is this what we’ve become?

And so here I am, waxing melancholic, for no reason other than I know not what to write.

Jack
I Listen.

Fragment #7
May 06, 2008

—————————–

It’s hard to quantify things when you are looking backwards through the filter of memory. What happened? What did we do? Where did we go? Two months in California, surely I have stories to tell. For a singular moment in time, I am that goofy, straight-faced, storyteller again. I remember. I remember good things. I remember bad things. I remember sloth and melancholy. I remember unbridled joy and wonderment. If anything I mention here has been in a previous post, I apologize. Perhaps the stories will be slightly different now with the influence of time.

So, let’s get started.

Scarab and I are walking down Sunset Boulevard to the library so that we might check emails and such. We’re a little early and the library is not yet open. We light up cigarettes and try to kill the ten minutes or so before we can go inside and get out of the heat.

A man, no younger than 60, approaches us. His clothes are tattered and he carries a small backpack and a 3 day beard. He asks for spare change. We scramble through our pockets, but find nothing. Scarab offers him a cigarette and begins to roll up several as we talk. He tells us that he’s homeless, which we could have guessed. Talks a bit about his former life. A happy gleam in his eyes. Then the present breaks through the dream-memory. He says his wife is gone. His children won’t speak to him. Everything he owns is in the pack on his back. He was a Vietnam Vet, like so many of our nation’s homeless. He sleeps on the wheelchair ramp to the library when the LAPD doesn’t run him off.

Scarab finishes up a handful of cigarettes for the man, and he departs. I’m sure we’ve already faded from his memory. But we don’t forget.

Jack.
I Listen.

Fragments
#2
Homeless in LA

Welcome everyone to my new tumblelog. I’ll be using this to document my travels across the US, and possibly other parts of the world. Right now I’m still in the getting ready process.

Within the next week or two I(and my friend Scarab) will be departing on a trip around the US. There is a very good chance that we will be hitchhiking a majority of the trip. It’s also really possible that we will be hopping trains throughout the south.

The purpose of the trip is the all-important pursuit of the American Dream. We are young and terribly aware of the Fear. We need more experiences in order to become the people we want to be.

Everyone has been super helpful so far. Here’s a couple of examples.

Dark Gracie posted this. Which has lead to several donations already.

$36 donated thus far. First to donate – BrooklynBeast

Sorenj was kind enough to post a link on his blog to the original note from Gracie.

Epiphani has graciously donated a Sony Vaio laptop for the trip.

Things are looking good, but we can always use more.

You can help by linking to me in anyway, or by donating. Send all donations via PayPal to jackstravelfund at yahoo dot com.

Thanks for everything and much love!

-Jack Lhasa

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: travel, blogs, writing, donations, hitchhiking, survival, tumblr, twitter

Loki.
Developmental Theology 089
Lesson #43

Life is certainly getting interesting.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: says, ideology, philosophy, theology, class, original, sayings, quotes, advice

I have fallen..

Blogged with Flock

Tags: original, philosophy, ideology, theology, religion, zen, developmental, series, classes

Homer Chalk Giants Angers Pagans

So, apparently, this, frankly, hilarious advertising scheme has upset some of the locals.

Isn’t it about time we got over ourselves a little bit? It’s biodegradable. It’s going to wash away with the next rain. So let it go. It’s not like it’s graffiti that’s going to be there forever.

And honestly, who knows who painted the original giant? Maybe he was just a commercial for a cartoon too.

-Loki.

Liven up, people.

I run a few continuing series on this blog. Here’s some info on what they are, and why they are.

Developmental Theology 089.
– This is a series that covers the very basics of philosophy and religion. I like to think of it as practical knowledge for the modern man. Attributed by date.

Chattanooga: A Love Story
– True stories about my city and the people in it. All names are changed for the privacy of individuals involved. Attributed by fragment.

Ubuntu
– A series of articles about my experiences with this Linux based system. Attributed by phase.

—————————

Okay, some of you may have noticed this is a replica of my “free beer!” page, tab 2. I feel like the page needs some explaining, so here goes, bit by bit.

“Enter the Hanged Man” – This references the tarot card The Hanged Man, with which I identify heavily.

“Loki Liesmith is Jack Lhasa, as well as many other people.” This line implies that I use several pseudonyms.

The following phrases that are also links are things that I feel describe my life. The links lead to the original artist.

After the Snoopy quote, all the writing is original. The last section describes some of the ongoing articles I do.

-Loki.