Stories from the Mission... bit 63

3/5/12
   I'm sick as a dog now, and have felt it coming on for a while now. You would think that living in a building with 600 guys that head out into the city every day, crawling into all kinds of nasty spots and dragging it all back here with them, that this would be sickness central but his is my first cold here so far. Maxamino, on the top bunk across from me, has been sick for a week, coughing and puking, so it was only a matter of time for me. Max was found by a lady living in a park, he knows English perfectly well but pretends that he doesn't, angry and arrogant, I don't know how he has made it through the program this far. At times he is very quiet, then at others he will be singing in Spanish very loud, it wasn't till much later that I found out he was drinking the whole time he has been here. Ok, not the whole time, just when he was singing.
   I rode with Clarance yesterday and had a lot of fun, we seemed to agree on a bunch of stuff. He has a funny way about saying things, like when a girl driving a car made a left right in front of us, he leaned forward and said emphatically, "YOU... ARE... A BUTT!" We got comped some big ol burritos at a Chipotles, and where did that place come from anyways? I had never heard of it before I came down to the mission! The food is fresh, chopped and mixed up every morning, I've seen it being down, but the interiors of the restaurants is very stark and industrial for some reason.
   Why are the bridge towers so plain on Lake shore drive, flanking the river? They are just big, blank blocks, so dull compared to all the other ones in the city with fancy metal roofs and bas relief  sculptures. These dull monoliths make the view out onto the cold lake even colder.
3/6/12
   Lil Ed is gone, got kicked out for fraternizing with a woman in the elevator. many of the women end up here due to abusive situations they had been in, they shouldn't have any fear of that here, and frankly, Ed was a strange little guy, enough to freak out any woman. He knew better, he just has some damage.
   Today on route A5 we went past a place the Sharon and I used to visit, the general area where her mom lived. It's like a dozen scattered data points fit a memory and bam, I knew it. The buildings all have more stuff on them, some colors have changed and the trees are bigger, but that is it for sure, even after 26 years, I know it. Hard to believe that was my life as I look back now. If it had worked out, we would have been long married, a combined income of easily over 100K and have kids of drinking age now. Dang.
   Oh hey, got some cool news, I'm going on the trip to Oklahoma on the 23rd! Last year there was a Bible camp down there for kids that got some damage from a tornado that the mission has some connections with. After some planning, the mission sent a van full of guys down to help rebuild.  The group I'm going down with will be the third trip, and lil Ed had been on the list to go for some reason, which would have driven all of us nuts. Seriously, is a guy like that one of the guys you want to represent the mission?? In the immortal words of lil Pimp Ed, "You ma nig!" Yeea yeea!
3/10/12
   Got a weird idea for a plot device for a movie. In Revelations 9:5-6 it talks about being stung by locusts like a scorpion does and they shall seek death and not find it for 5 months, that death will flee them. I could see in a movie a guy allowing the sting so he could be invulnerable to death for 5 months. A horrible existence, for sure, but able to do things the rest of us couldn't. Oh, we also need to search the Euphrates for the four bound angels, set in place 1 year, 1 month, 1 hour before killing a third of mankind, Rev 9:14-15, a bit of a paraphrase, I admit.
   Many of the doors can only be opened with key cards, which is really pretty cool for a homeless shelter from a security point of view. In practice, these guys are forever forgetting their cards. As I write this, there have been 5 guys banging on the dorm door, and it's not even noon yet. Good news is I'm over the cold now, slept 12 hours, missed breakfast, so hungry now.
   A week ago, Angel got put in Office C and to mess with him a bit, I asked for form 43c and for the 8th month test study guide. He stumbled a bit and looked bewildered and finally admitted he didn't know where they where. (They don't exist, lol). Today I related the story at lunch to Phil, "Froggy" H, and not realizing I was talked about a joke, took it for real. Fred was at the table and joined right in, telling him you need to memorize Psalm 119 (The longest verse) and John 11:35 (The shortest verse), LOL. I later asked Angel about the 8th month test and he said someone came in asking about it, and that he still couldn't find it.  I laughed, stomped my foot and said, that's because I made it up! LOL.