Las Angeles Adventures: Giving and Being Grateful

My mission was clear as I walked up to the McDonald's to meet my friends for our morning cup of coffee, I was going to GIVE whenever I could and backlash at all negativity with good deeds, no matter how much I had.  After breakfast Sam and Carlos let me to the Drop-In center where Sam would be obtaining his ticket home via a program called "The Road Home".  We arrived at the center and my heart suddenly felt heavy as I watched the array of broken people wait in line for various services.  The center provided haircuts, mail, bag lunches,clothing and medical for the people of the streets of L.A.  I watched as drug addicts and families and veterans stood in lines to gather the r survival necessities. More and more I realized how much I had, even in having nothing and was grateful for my outlook on life, I was not broken.

Feeling the weight of the suffering of others on my shoulders I left and strolled off to the beach for some silent meditation. Seeing others who had nothing really made me see the blessings which were bestowed upon me.  I had my health, my charisma and looks and my mind was strong.  I saw how so many people had given up and I wondered the reason why and while I was in a similar circumstance I was not stuck, my perspective was one that was unlimited, yet I saw so many people who's situation was like my own who were stuck and had given up and it became my mission that day to spread the joy that I had found in any way that I could.

I spent the day on the beach that day, just me and the ocean and I thanked God for giving me this experience.  Never before in life had I felt so strong in a situation which was potentially so dangerous.  As the sun set on the Pacific I headed to Hollywood to see Sam off and I decided that my stay on the beach would be ending soon, there was a rave this weekend and after the party I would seek out an apartment and begin the next stage of my adventure.  As Sam said his goodbyes, I thought back at our time on the beach and the many stories he had to tell about the goodness of people across the land.  I made up my mind that from here on out, I, was going to be one of those good people.

Short and sweet today, the message is shared

and the turning point of my story was

this moment and it's theme implemented.

Thank You for reading

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L.A. Adventures: Breakin' Through

Stumbling across the stars I wobbled towards Highland and over to catch my bus to the beach.  As I sat on the bench and waited I was entertained by the transvestite’s turning tricks, every few moments there was an outburst and fancy cars with tinted windows would stop and pick up like they were New York taxicabs.   When the bus hit the corner, I popped in my headphones and kicked back for the 45 minute ride back to the beach with JimMorrison.

I felt like I was in another world when I arrived on the streets of Santa Monica after midnight.   I wandered down the empty Boulevard passing benches cluttered with blankets and bodies and the foul stench of unclean bodies.  When I reached the beach, I navigated my way through the sand towards the 2 towers which marked the life guard stand where I knew I would find my friends.  Fires are not allowed on the beach in L.A., but when I arrived my friends were sitting by the fire, Sam strumming his guitar.  “Genius” I thought when I saw the fireplace that they had constructed, they had dug a hole and on two sides built sandcastles as obstructions from the Police view and to kick onto the fire pending the sight of headlights creeping through the sand.

We sat and we laughed under the moonlight.  Sam had decided to that his journey was ending and he and Carlos told me about a place that they found a few blocks up which provided supplies for the people of the street.  Sam’s journey was coming to a close, he had crossed this great land with his guitar and it was time to go home and the people at this center were providing him with a ticket home in the morning.  As we drank and we talked my friend Carlos became a bit angry and began acting a fool.  Angry with him for ruining this perfect day with aggression I told him to stop and this large tattooed man got in my face.  Being the crazy little man that I am I stood my ground and told him he was acting a fool.  Moments later I hit the sand as he came across my head with a right hook.  This was the first sign of danger on these L.A. streets and for a moment, I awoke from my dream.

I had no backpack tonight and no supplies so angry and a bit drunk I walked away shouting and headed towards Malibu.  For the first time since I had arrived, I felt angry and scared and vulnerable.  As I trolled down the beach in my stupor I spied a Mexican family jumping out of a Van with plastic bags, Grandparent to Grandchild about six of them scurried across my beach to collect bottles and cans.  It was at this precise moment that I decided I would take my negatives and turn them into positives. “I will not be bound by fear and anger” I thought to myself, It was at this time that I decided that no matter what happened from now on, no matter how bad things were, I would do something good and find joy and I began collecting cans with the family.

We barely spoke into the morning as I filled bag after bag with my new friends.   Each bag I filled, I politely brought over to the stout woman by the van and a young child who sorted them and loaded them in.  As the time neared daylight I brought my last bag over with a smile and I thanked them in Spanish and walked away, I had gained nothing for the work that I had done with that family, but I HAD GAINED so much.  This deed on the beach brought me a peace which I cannot explain and provided fuel to my fire. I had broken through to the other side. 

I walked the streets until daylight passed lumps of flesh skewed about listening to a haunted man stomp the block screaming that the End was imminent.  I put in my earplugs to block out the tormented shouts of the disturbed man and drifted off in “TIME” by my dear friends Carlos and Patience – The Omega Project and drifted off.  I walked until the sun filled the sky. Content.

Thanks for coming back.  I hope that you find my stories interesting and that you might see things through my eyes as I experienced L.A.  Please click my links throughout the story which lead to the people and place's with me on my journey.  

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L.A. Adventures: Bingo America

If you didn’t already know, “The Valley” is where most of the pornography in the United States is filmed.   I was the laughing stock of my little crew when I told them I had to hurry and catch a bus to work on a “Bingo” show, no one believed me.  I packed my pack and headed over to the gym to grab a shower then headed to the Public Library in Hollywood to map out how I would get there.   Once I had plotted my course, I began what would be a 2 hour trek over to the TV studio to film the show.  I got off the bus in front of a car dealership in a weird area and searched for my location, as sweat beaded on my face I realized that “The Valley” was much hotter than the beach, like a 20 degree difference.

Finally I found the location of the studio, there was a Diner nearby so I grabbed a quick bite and then walked over to get into the already forming line of characters for the show.  I was surprised when I recognized a few people from the last show and a couple from the beach, one dude in particular was looking over at me and grinning.   I walked up and introduced myself as “Tilly” as I always did and he told me his name was Bill.  Bill was a clean cut looking guy around 30ish and he was with a girl name Jen.  We chatted for a while and I learned that Bill was also crashing on the beach, he claimed to have quit his job and dropped everything to put all of his money in foreign currency, he  was convinced that God came to him in a vision and the American Dollar was going to crash and riches were coming his way.

As the line grew longer the crew began selecting us and pairing us into groups outside of the studio, suddenly a red Maserati pulled up and out jumped Richard Karn.  A young African American guy called me and the Jen over and asked us to put on T-Shirts which had numbers on them, mine was G52.  We were ushered to our seats and the lights went on and a girl came out and explained to us the premise of the show.  The idea was, 2 contestants competed and were asked questions, they drew a “Bingo” number and if they got it right they would gain that spot.  I was “G52”.  Nervousness crept in and I felt a bit stupid when I realized that I would be standing up, A BINGO NUMBER, on Television.   We were told that we must celebrate for the camera with funny fake moves like slam dunks, or reeling a fish, when the answer was correct.  If the player got Bingo, we would get an extra fifty bucks.

All of a sudden I was shitting myself.  When the day began I thought I was going to have an easy day watching a game show get filmed and making an easy hundred bucks, now I realized that I was going to act like an ass for eight episodes on a film.  Jen, my “tv date” was also nervous as hell, she also didn’t know what was going on she handed me a Valuim and said “Fuck it, embrace it” and that’s what we did.

The lights went out and then came back and the stage was set, suddenly Fook Mi, (Diane Mizota) from Austin Powers was next to us in the crowd of Bingo Numbers cracking jokes, the situation was so weird I just started laughing and maybe even peed a little.  The excitement grew as between questions Richard cracked dirty jokes and cursed, obviously stoned out of his gourd. No sooner did I stop laughing when G52 was called I stood up and waited as the question was asked, the lady got her answer correct and now I had to respond with my goofy action, like The Sultan of Swat I pointed to the stands and gave my best home run swing!

The day went on and I was called on a few more times.  My new friend and I laughed our way all the way to the bank when we made a combined $425 for our day filming the show.  We chuckled as we left the show and got into a car with a new friend and headed to Hollywood for drinks and stories and more debauchery.  Fuck it, it was only GSN.

Thanks AGAIN for coming back.  If you watch re-runs of Bingo America on GSN there is a good chance

that you will spot me acting like a fool!  The whole thing

felt kind of like "Fear and Loathing" but it was really fun!

Please come back and read and "like" my page on face book. Tilly's