A Cruel World

Yesterday, I received word from my mom, that she was going to wire me some money.

After checking the Western Union locations online, as well as their hours of operation, I set out on a 3 mile walk to the Piggly Wiggly on Plank Road.

Through a crack neighborhood where I was asked if I had any money "No, I'm on my way to the check cashing place now..." I went.

"Give me a beer on your way back."

"Ok, crackhead, I'll do that."

I got to the Piggly Wiggly to find that the Western Union had closed at 6 p,m.

"The website said 10 p.m."

"That's the store hours, not the Western Union hours; we need to tell them to change that on the webpage," said the friendly manager.

"There's another one at the Rite Aid about 2 miles back that way."

"I know, I walked past it about 2 miles back that way on my way here..."

I walked back to the Rite Aid, where I was told that I needed a pin number in order to pick up money.

"But my mom used the test question feature so that I wouldn't need ID or a pin number."

"In our system, you need a pin number. There's another Western Union at the Greyhound station (downtown, 7 miles away)."

"Thanks."

I was flat broke.

I waited at a bus stop and when the bus stopped, it was empty so that might be why the driver let me on with no money, after I showed her my Western Union form and told her about my situation. If she did it for me she would have to do it for any passengers on the bus who might have overheard.

"It's a cruel world when you don't have any money," I said to the young black lady who was driving.

"Tell me about it. It's a cruel world when you work all week and then don't have any money," she said.

 She deposited me at the downtown terminal and I walked to the Greyhound station and picked up 100 dollars and then walked back past all the crack heads, who seemed to be able to smell it on me, to the city bus station and took the last bus back to Scotlandville.

Replacement Stuff

I have one more thing that I can try in order to get my missing stuff back. That is to call the shaved headed cop (Officer Chutz is his name; his prayer is that people have committed crimes) on his phone sometime after 4 p.m. when he will be on "duty," if that is what you could call what he does.

I was told that that was my last avenue to take before filing a complaint with Internal "You think we stole your harmonica?!?" Affairs.

I don't look forward to talking to Officer "You're stupid. You don't contribute to society!" Chutz. I am prepared to hear him say that he doesn't know anything about any stuff.

The challenge is to figure out what stuff to replace first and foremost, like razors, what stuff I can wait for a better price on, and what can be considered an investment, like a bus ticket to the music festival in Mobile where I made a couple hundred bucks last year, or possibly a new used guitar from a pawn shop  which is not damaged like mine and will sound better; A replacement reed pate for my harmonica -the one that the police didn't steal- falls into this category, also.

And then there is the splurging on something that would be merely for my own enjoyment, like headphones A 10 dollar power adaptor for my other laptop would be nice, as the screen damage on this one keeps getting worse, and in fact I can't see what I am typing right now, because it is behind a dead spot on the screen...

No Reason To Stay In Baton Rouge

There is just about no reason to stay in Baton Rouge. I am about to e-mail Sue to tell her that I am on my way to New Orleans and points east.

The State Of Things

Right now, my fingers are tender, the callouses have fallen off and it will take all of two weeks to resume playing the guitar at a comfortable level. 
The future seems to hinge upon getting to NOLA and busking a bit and riding the freight train to Mobile for the Bayfest Music Festival, hoping to make a couple hundred bucks. Just being in the same city as Willie Nelson and the band Loverboy will be worth the trip.  
And then either a jaunt to Atlanta in order to find my old girlfriend Karrie, who would become a better travelling companion than ol' Howard, and then long range plans for the winter months will have to be considered. Tucson???