Your in Nation

Lotsa water. Long bus ride. dark street. no lights. my neighborhood. i need to pee. .. .. but i don't have the guts to pee on the side of someones house in the lightless night. can you imagine if someone saw me. something so natural, yet so looked down upon in public. cats do it. dogs do it. dang conscience. i waited til i got to the side of my house after much holding and despair. I didn't even go in my house. i had the urge to relieve myself in the shadows of neighborhood darkness. open air. freedom.

The bus rides.

The other day after my evening class i walked to the bus stop. It's a dark bus stop, about 4/13ths of a mile from my class where San Pedro meets Ashby. There was a man there. I stopped a bit away from the bench where he was to sit under a tree in even darker, shady night light. It's about 8:20pm. The man starts talking to me. Obviously drunk. Obviously sad and regretful about his life. His name was Mike. I don't know if he was sincere or not. It seemed he was when he said he received his BA from Palo Alto college. It's a two year college. He had a wife. Now he just drinks and has a job picking up trash. He wants to be a tattoo artist. He was covered with random markings on his body.  none looked like anything to brag about. He said he was a scratch paper for others to draw on when he was younger. We got on the bus.

mike

Yesterday after class, about 9pm at the bus stop, a 37 yr old man was at my first transfer at Broadway and Jospehine, down the sidewalk from Sams burger joint. he was talking to another gentleman. a few minutes later he declared.."ya'll wouldn't mind if i smoked a joint would you?" I didn't mind. no one else seemed to care. There were about 5 others. so he started smoking. a bus stopped in front of us for about 10 min. for the drivers to change. .. All the while the man smoked his cannabis cigarette. When the next driver showed up in his bus, all his people transferred on to this bus in front of us. As they were passing by, there was a young black male passing by, and as he passed, the white man smoking the joint tapped him on the shoulder. The man turned around and looked to a see a white man appearing to raise a joint to him. .. it looked to me like a "wanna smoke?' gesture. i couldn't tell. i thought it was strange. the black man kept walking but then turned and asked, "hey,...what chu want?" He proceeded onto the bus. A few seconds later he reappeared outside the bus with 3 others with him that had gotten on the bus just prior. It was another guy and some young females. They came out wearing pomp and attitude, ready to put fear in a white man. They walked up to the white man and started asking questions in an accusatory way. this is like right next to me. They were threatening and walking around with their chins up ready to throw down. kinda strange, but amounted to nothing. The man with the joint handled it well. I got on the bus. The black young men and women got on the bus right behind me being really loud talking a bunch of shit like they were all tough for their display of random machoness. Then to my surprise, the white man got on the bus, and came all the way to the back where we all were. he sat right next to the black gentlemen and started talking to them. He had no intentions of being a jerk at all. He was being real nice to the guys saying "i thought it was a nice gesture." The young men continued to be assholes. The man who smoked the joints' name was Allen. He just lost his kids. He's from Louisiana. He's a manager at Sonic, but loves to paint houses and do stain.  As the younger kids got off of the bus, Allen decided to throw gang symbols and start talking childish to the young men after they were off the bus. They were looking at him like, "'we'll remember you." it was an odd scenerio.

I see lots of interesting things on the bus. Lot's of different people. Lot's of things going on. Lot's of bible readers. Lot's of students. Dirty workers. Loud mouths. Hispanics. Blacks. Whites. Chinese. Restaurant workers. Lawyers. Single mothers. Smokers. Drinkers. Texters. A lot of people.

Anyway. I enjoy taking pics on the buses. I feel kinda awkward doing it cuz i don't want people to see me. but heck. i do it anyway.

Adamo

a small note about my bike... err... to my bike.

chapa, rochester NY

woodlands, TX

Dear bike, you did me well. You rode me thru places i've only seen on the television or read about in the books. you brought me close to death riding thru trails several times.... i speak as though it's your fault, ..there actually is no fault, we worked so well together that no major accidents ever happened. You've carried me up horse trails in Minnesota, windy cliffs in Tennessee, freezing temps in Boston, snowy paths in South Dakota...even to work. Sometimes you rode through dog shit. Miles and miles and miles. You were dear to me. you took hits for me. several times i almost whapped my foot on posts, and tree stumps but moved my foot and you took the hit. your pedals were soo jacked up. for this i am sorry. You were there with some good times riding with my other human friends. I recall Derek B, Big D, Yvette, Walt, Kat, Urbano, the boys, chapa, Deja,

Duluth, MN

Abe, and a few others who will forgive me for not remembering. Interesting times. Photographic times. I thought I almost lost you in New York, remember that one?  i was looking for you for like over an hour walking up and down the confusing streets of Greenwich Village. geez. You sure were a blast. I'm sorry i didn't have a stronger chain on you. You were worth it fo sho. This I regret. No one jacked with you in all these other crazy cities, for some reason i thought you were safe here in your home, San Antonio. I was overconfident in my past experiences. Again. I regret this move the most.

NY,NY

you will be missed. you will be thought about. every time I ride my friend walts bike (which he is loaning me, and for which I am thankful) with the seat that feels like it's going up my butt in a gross way, i'll think of you. You were comfy on the tush. MMMmmmm. Grand ole memories mister bike. Thanks for the good times and the fast speeds, up the hills, down the roads and through the towns. If you find a way to make yourself to some major streets that I ride down on the bus, I will see you. I will call out to you. We will be together again. I will never stop glancing at other bikes that go by me.. NEEVVVERRR!!!! =) Yes, we will be together again.
Godspeed,
the adamus.

Niagra Falls

Camera Exchange, San Pedro Dr. SA, TX, just hours before your bikenapping

Running.

I ran this morning. I purposed last night to wake up early and run. I didn't want to wake up early and run when the alarm went off. So when my first alarm went off i had this horrible thought about my car. To let you know, my car is headed back to San Antonio (where i am living) from Wyoming (where it broke down back in December). It's going to be dropped off at a mechanic on the East Side of San Antonio... no big thing. The big thing actually is that I have a butt load of expensive junk in my car from my traveling journeys and the east side isn't the best side of town to leave a car parked on the side of the road with a bunch of valuables in it...ie. an expensive bike, and guitar and mp3 player and a rowing machine (which i am transporting for a friend). The day it's going to be dropped off, i'll be in school all day.

I couldn't go back to sleep.

So I got up to run. Now i'm tired. but i'm glad i ran.

I love this mirror on the bus.

The first day of school.

This was a pretty interesting day.
I liked all of it. Down to my reheated macaroni and hamburger meat dinner. yum.
I caught the bus and made my first transfer. Where I transferred there was a woman. She got off at the same school stop as me. So I got to school early and bought me some pens and a notebook. I went to my first class at 9twenty five. I was sitting in the class for about 20 minutes before 9:25. At the time class was to start.. nothing was happening. No one walking in. just two other kids were sitting at computers when i got there. At 3 minutes past I asked one fellow if there was a class in here. Nope. Oh crap. Is this such and such a room I asked. He said yes. So i ran downstairs and asked the department where the class was. i was in the wrong building. I was really far away. Thank goodness for bikes. So i hauled butt to the building. I couldn't find the class. I asked for help and bam. I made it.. like just under 10 minutes late. Excellent and fun Photography I class. I learned soo much neat stuff about lighting, aperature, shutter and ISO speed.. but i'm sure you don't care.
So I learned in the class that there is a photo conference going on until about 6pm today at the Henry Gonzalez convention center. I have a 3 hour gap between classes (which will be used to do most of my homework). So i jumped on the bus down town and rode my bike about a mile to the center. It had just ended when i got there. everyone was leaving. The lady at the front said that they wouldn't let me in.. Well i snuck in anyway.. and i got away with it for about 20 minutes looking at beautifully manipulated photos that won awards. so then i decided to check out the products...this is when i heard in an abrupt and bone chilling voice of a small mexican woman, "Sir, I need to see your pass." "I'm sorry?" I asked. "I need to see your pass." I smiled and said, "no pass." "What?" she asked. "No pass." "Then you need to go out that way thru the exit sign." =) heh. so that wasn't too beneficial to ride all the way out there.
Before I left the campus I ate lunch. There was a young man walking with crutches missing a leg. When i grabbed my food, i looked around for a place to eat... no empty tables, so I asked this kid if I could eat with him. =) His name was Ricky from Monterrey Mexico. He was really hard to understand but we had a great convo. This kid has seen 3 people executed in Mexico because of the violence going on there. He likes it here in America. He was a real shy kid... kinda like me.. but i don't have a bad accent. Americans used to make fun of his accent. Assholes. I'd be kinda insecure too if people treated me like that cuz of my speech. Anyway, I spoke as much spanish as I could and he spoke as much english as he could... I often had to ask him to repeat himself cuz i wanted to understand him. Nice kid.
So then I had my next class. This teacher is funny and odd in a strange way. Her humor is kinda out there. But when you do something wrong.. She's a real bitch. She rides you and makes you feel stupid. jeez. I'm glad i didn't mess up on anything.
So I got out of class early. I looked at my bus schedule. Right when I looked at it, the bus was about a ¼ mile away. I ran to my bike (that i'm borrowing from my good friend walt). I hauled butt to the next stop that i might be able to catch the bus. As I was riding up a the street perpendicular to the road that the bus was traveling, sure enough, there it went passing by me.... i tried to wave it down but it was about 100 feet away. I pedaled my booty off chasing after the bus. Thank goodness the bus hit a stop light long enough for me to ride up to it and bang on the window.. =) yay.
I hopped on... and that same girl is on this bus again. going back to the spot we transferred at.. kinda odd. this is about 12 hours later.
Some other strange odds and ins happened. I don't think they are worth mentioning.. but they added to the spice of the day.
So then i come home and eat my macaroni! yum.
good day.

Back to school foo.

I've been attending college since 1998. I graduated in 1997. My degree has changed soooo many times from such things as fire science, (before i was a christian, i had no motivation or hope in life and didn't really care if i died, so i guess i wanted to go out saving a life) real estate, business management, music, graphic design and....there's more in there somewhere. My mind changes with the wind. It's not new. It's not good though. I want to finish something. But I don't want it to be a waste. sheesh. So i have the option of getting a liberal arts degree, which i could have this semester if i wanted, or work my hiney off and get an associates in photography by the end of next semester. Either degree will do no good as far as work is concerned. But Photography is way more interesting to me than a hodge podge of courses composing a liberal arts degree. We shall see the result of this.
I find myself not having much to do these days. no bible studies. no church services. no hanging out with my random christian buddies. sooo...i guess i'll stop smoking weed and apply my brain to some book work. It's good to only know one guy to buy weed from and it's good to not have a car to get there. =) So here we go.
I have two classes on Tuesday, one Wednesday night, and another two Saturday from 8-4. Sheesh. What have I gotten myself in to? 13 hours. I have never done 13 hours. =) so i'm kinda excited.

So before my big first day of class tomorrow, i'm gonna go cut some rugs tonight. Translation: i'm gonna go swing dancing at Sams burger Joint. One bus there, one bus back. Get out and dance. it's good for you!

Long live the Adamo. Here's some bus action below.

a people watcher.

So, I don't have too many friends.. anymore.  I have zillions of acquaintances. So what does a guy do with no wife nor a life, nor a car? He jumps on the bus with his camera and walks downtown and watches the masses and tries to talk to other people who stand alone. Why? I have no clue. I have always been like that. It was a big part of something I liked in Christianity. I liked finding the loners (for I have always been a loner) and offering the hope that I then had. But now since i have nothing spectacular to offer, i kinda just want to try to talk to your average joe schmoe human without an agenda. Imagine that...talking to someone for the purpose of pleasant humanity sake discussion...not with a hidden agenda to get them to understand my faith perspective.

so we shall see. maybe i'll just ride the bus to one of my friends house and record some music.