I was kinda getting over San Diego. I mean, Southern California is great. No doubt about it... but eventually the number of people around (especially in the water) and terrible air quality do get to you and it leaves you missing the pacific northwest. so me and stan hopped a plane north to his hometown of Gig Harbor. The whole reason was to drive his '73 (?) VW bus down the 5 down to San Clemente to see Lauren off before she split to Brazil.
I don't now a thing about VW buses... only land cruiser... and even then, really only my own truck. But that was kinda why I came, to fix us when we broke. Well, we broke. at about 2 am in nor cal surrounded by fields of agriculture and drainage ditches for miles. So that kinda sucked... the I-5 is scary. and working under a bus thats inches off the highway with semi's ripping by at 70 miles isn't much fun. We got a tow and got an inline fuse replaced. Thought we were killin it till a few miles down the road we were broken again. Eventually ran a new wire to the fuel pump and we were rollin. and feeling pretty good that we actually fixed the van ourselves. we made the drive in 3 days i think? about 18 hours hanging out on the side of the road scratching our heads later. Anyways, Me and doug had driven the 101 all the way down earlier so it was cool to take the 5 the whole way this time. The west coast is LONG.
uhh.
hmm.
yes. Biking to Hollywood.
Doug and Nikki had just left to hitch out to hollywood. There I am sitting at James' place thinking I'm missin out on all the fun. And the chances of scoring a ride with 3 people hitchin are slim so I stayed back. Instead I decided to bike there and just meet up with them there. Right?
So I beach cruised my way through Newport, Huntington, Seal Beach, I dunno really where I was when I got picked up. Next to the ocean and some wetlands...
anyways, I'm biking along and this truck drives by with a canoe up top and slows down at the light I'm waiting at. I throw out my thumb halfheartedly. Like, yaaaa right these folks are gonna take me and my bike down the PCH...well they did. Mike and Yakura. And then they offered to drive me to Hollywood. So I'm stoked. We drove to their place in Long Beach. Things get kinda weird now. I had a shower and we're hanging out Mark, after taking another shot of Vodka, pulls out a box and shows me a postcard from his Ex. weird? random? ya, Yakura thought so too. So they get into a fight and come to the conclusion that driving a few blocks to meet this Ex girlfriend of Mark's is a good idea. For both of them. RIGHT. We get in the car and pull up to Eileen's house. We walk in and you could cut the air the atmosphere was so thick. But still I was just kinda enjoying the moment being thrown into this kinda drama totally randomly. Eileen and Yakura are sitting there talking about Mark and life and what not.... and then Yakura just kinda exploded in anger on Eileen and was yellin and being all crazy... so they left... which left me at Eileen's place with all my stuff just kinda sitting there like...what just happened?...
ANYWAYS....
i ended up chillin with Eileen for 2 days eating her raw vegan food and watching her grateful dead dvd's. This lady is dead head to the core. And had ridiculous stories about psychedelics and following the dead around the world. I could go more into detail....but its 7:30 am, all three of us slept in the truck again tonight, my back is sore....and honestly, i guess the whole Eileen experience was really cool to have been part of, but writing it down and trying to actually explain what all happened clearly is way too much effort right now... How bout this, Eileen, you write about our visit and I'll throw it up here. You're far more eloquent than I am anyways.
We're somewhere in Ventura. That's really about all I know about this place. I'm sitting in front of a church, and I know we came off the 101....but other than that I have no idea where we are. or what are going to do here for 3 days until our trucks exhaust is fixed....
ventura is not far at all...hope your truck get's better. haha. we all miss you 3 already!
ReplyDeleteokay kristoff, i'll give it a go. my side of th story. thanx for th vote of confidence....so yeah, th ex drops by and i'm only somewhat surprised to see him. he's 8 yrs ex and a longtime gone,but still occasionally drops by to conjure up some strange. so on th last day of may, he comes a rapping on my door, new girl friend in tow, along with a sparkly dreaded stranger, th one y've come to know and love, Kristoff. it's right here, at th intersection of WTF and Really???! that you just knew th show was about to begin.
ReplyDeletenew girl friend(NGF)is young and spunky(read hostile), and tho she seems to have no idea what she's doing here, she's fully aware of her own distate for me, th old girlfriend. kristoff is just cucumber cool. no worries, no sweat, no visible sign of any discomfort. i hug NGF as she enters my home and feel th immediate recoil and shudder as she shuffles in and mumbles something about not usually liking to be touched. a few moments later i'm shaking hands with kristoff and exchanging short introductions. beautiful stranger.
he sits on one end of my couch, i sit on th other. he sez yes, he will share some tea. with NGF and mark on th other side of th room, th stage is set. th games begin. NGF plead her case, defending her new man, lashing out at who she thought i was, and finally getting to th point or th real purpose of their visit--- flashing th new engagement ring, while insisting that th big reveal was not meant to hurt me. she came in with a head full of ideas that were driving her insane. and while all this unfolded, kristoff, he lay low. calm, collected and unabashedly bemused. i can only marvel at his dignified sensability.
after NGF had her say, she was ready to bolt. without any consultation between any of us, it was clear she and th ex were leaving. kristoff, he aint going nowhere. as ready as i was for her to be gone, i wasn't even close to being ready to see kristoff walk off as quickly as he walked into my own sphere of influence.
i was mightily impressed and intrigued. i felt strongly that this scene we had just taken part in was less about th ill-conceived introduction of NGF to OGF and more about my fated and karmic meeting of kristoff. here is where th real story begins. and i wish i cd tell it, i do. but i don't have th words. i hope i'm not failing you here kristoff. YOU are a force of nature. you are pure unadulterated WOW. when y're around, time stops. or maybe i just wish it did. what with all that zesty zeal oozing out yer every pore.
40 hours with kristoff. in th scheme of things, a tiny fraction of a blink of an eye.
but certainly long enough to know you are a rare and different tune. y're th song that i'm so grateful to have heard. and it's delightful to know that you out there have heard or will hear th tune that is kristoff. drink it in. it's heady stuff.
now, back to yr regualr programming......
okay. i felt a little badly that i cdn't language my 2 days with kristoff. i found something that approximates th experience.
ReplyDeletecheck it out.
http://lsdex.ru/fla/interactive-kaleidoscope