Tuesday, June 10, 2014

On The Track To Being Normal Again

I have only slept about 4 hours in the past 48; up until sunrise on Monday morning, I decided that I could get a lot more done by staying up and making it to the VA Center, where I got all my laundry done, grabbed a razor; and started the process of organizing my laptops folders; using their electricity.
You might think that I would have so much time at my disposal that I could work on a novel AND keep interesting posts flowing.
I was so broke Saturday evening that I borrowed 5 bucks from Louise, The Tarot Card Reader, so that I could put batteries in my LED spotlight, so I wouldn't be playing in the dark.
Tiffany owed me 13 dollars; but it turned out that she wasn't working that night.
Playing under the spotlight helped me make about 21 dollars, on a night when it was just slow; and none of the tourists seemed like they were here on vacation, to celebrate having closed a huge real estate deal, and to paint the town red. One group threw me a couple of 5 dollar bills, which I never saw until I stopped playing; proving to me that I had gone into my "zone."
I was half hoping that I wouldn't see Louise and be compelled to pay her back the 5 bucks; and I didn't; so I bought a pack of American Spirits and one last beer and woke up Sunday morning with 13 dollars, the same amount which Tiffany owed me.
It is kind of funny how the whole numerology thing has reared its head since I have been hanging out with Louise, the Tarot Card Reader a bit.
The batteries were exactly 5 bucks, after tax; I had 13 bucks owed to me, but wound up with 13 of my own the next morning.
Monday, I encountered Louise, after having spent the 13 bucks just about down to nothing.
She was miserably broke and had even forgotten about the 5 bucks until I mentioned it in regards to how the batteries cost me exactly that.
"Oh, do you have it; 'cause I'm miserably broke?!"
She had had only had one "reading" that whole afternoon, and "You can't live on 20 dollars, even if you're homeless."
Well, Tiffany paid me off in American Spirit cigarettes plus 6 dollars and change.
I went to the Lilly spot and managed to make another 21 dollars that night, that, after half deciding (not for the first time) to quit busking and try to get a normal job.
I seriously sat there contemplating just that, when a group of 4 came by and said "Play something," and then said "You're doing really well, you sound great!," before throwing  me what I thought was about 5 one dollar bills.
After I knocked off a little after midnight, and began to walk down Bourbon Street, squeezing the wad of bills in my front pocket, trying to assess its value without having to pull it out and count it in front of skeezers; I encountered a black guy, who high-fived me, and who I thought was ready to skeeze me, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and high-fived him back.
The next person I encountered was Louise, The Tarot Card Reader.
I decided to pay her back the 5 bucks, before she had to ask, out of what I thought was around 10 singles, wadded up in my pocket, but when I started to separated them, there was a 10 dollar bill amongst the singles.
It felt like my decision to be nice to the skeezer; combined with doing the right thing in paying Louise back promptly had produced the effect of causing a 10 dollar bill to materialize in my pocket. Unless I was doing well and did sound great...
I had clean clothes and had the satisfaction of knowing that I had been able, on the spur of a moment, sound out the chords to a Grateful Dead song which I had heard a thousand times, but had never tried to play, for Barnaby, who requested it from across the street.
The song was "Half Step Mississippi Uptown Toodaloo," and is another song for which I have a (7,500 word, but not now) story to go with, and which falls under the auspices of "he can remember lyrics of songs from when he was 24 years old, but he can't remember where he just put his lighter" type of thing.
Barnaby sent a beer across the street with someone to reward my long term memory.
Other than that, there are not too many vivid recollections of the past couple days.
I AM procrastinating upon embarking upon another juice-fast-and-cleanse, upon which I will attempt to slay the demons of tobacco and marijuana, to go along with alcohol.
Daniel....Daniel....Daainieelll!!!
I saw Leslie Thompson outside of Uniques, who saw the Steel Reserve Blackberry Lager in my hand and began to taunt me, saying "Daniel...Daniel...Daniel," in a high, quavering soprano voice, the likes of which demons use to speak out of bodies whom they have in their possession, and it became clear to me that shutting him up is all the motivation that I need to embark upon the fast...soon, but not tonight....
  Now I must cut this short, as it is nightfall and my batteries are getting weak in the spotlight; and I am just one good 60 dollar night away from getting things on the track to being normal again.

1 comment:

  1. My earnings last year amounted to just a hair under $20 a day, so it could be worse, you could be working in high tech.

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