50th post!!!

This is my 50th post! i wanted to do something big with a bang! but maybe the next one, because this is technically my 49th- my moderator Tim snuck a post in last week-
i think it is a fair achievement seeing as though the lifespan of a regular blog is about a month or two, or between 6posts to about 20 and that's pushing it,

i don't know this for a fact but pure observation, particularly my three friends blogs who are on my links pages, tim, lachlan and simmo. simmo i thought he had many more rants in him than about four posts, and lachlan well i hope he is continuing to write! and tim who knows what that kid is doing, but the novelty has obviously worn off, the honeymoon over seeing ones own words on the 'net' and people actually reading them probably lasts about a month, i know i felt the 'month' pang and the only reason why i keep doing this is because it's primarily a travel blog, so by definition when travelling there will always be something new to talk about, it is a good record of my trip and an open interactive diary that sure beats writing a real one every couple of days.

sobriety. it has also been a week since i have had my last drink, i have been in bars several times and have opted for cordial, i think im actually sticking to this one! i feel really good, i have been going to the smoothie king and getting malts loaded with 'enhancers'!!! like vitamins and immune boosters and all that stuff,

today i had a failed trip to the chiropractor so i think i'll write about the trip back to my dorm
i found myself in downtown today, the side of the city that is for businesses who have had previous glories, and people who haven't quite succeced in fulfilling their dreams, this is the side of downtown that isn't the celebrated 'historic' revival, with the cafe's and the pubs and the hustle of urban gentrification, this is the other side of the tracks that we like not to think of. The wind of fall was blowing crisp in the air, and i could smell the freshness of the changing of the seasons. My internal compass was pointing in every direction that wasn't home, and my lack of familiarity was beggining to upset me with the compound effect of an empty stomach.

A dubious lucky seven hotdog and crazed mexican standing out the front of the store later, i still walked the streets looking for the CTS trolley stop, this was my lift back to the world of college and comfort. I noticed an oddly shaped plump man running after a bus that had idled past him, and purposely slowed down then continued. I did not want a bus to another part of town that i didn't recognise, i wanted the trolley, the only way i knew back. and i wandered what that bus driver know about this tattooed plump man that i didn't?. He was not at all affable, and after a short one sided discourse , without so much his words, but the location of his bulbous body proving the beacon for the CTS stop.

There was a man, he was black and had a light grey beard, he too had the proportions of someone who had eaten a calorie rich diet, from the age of his clothes and the must oozing from his skin i knew he was poor, but he smiled. His legs were bent just as his eyes, and the smile he bore was lacking some teeth. When he spoke i could understand him, with some difficulty i could understand him. And the empathy he was directing at the tattooed plump man, who had now walked on, was directed at me. He was a nice man

The cars rushed by, they had someplace better to be, and i stood next to the friendly old black man, him wearing clothes from a generation he still thought existed, untill finally the image of the pretend tram become apparent amongst the myriad of armoured black chevrolet and cadalac SUV's, suburban battleships and pedestrians the enemy. Boarding i didn't recognize the sound, it was silence, there was no caucophony of both eager and bored students, there was only the grind of the old engine and a stale smell that is only found at pubs on a sunday morning.

The two solemn passengers sitting on the backrow, were wearing clothes more befite to the location and in fact the times, they were 'street', one black and one white. The friendly old black man followed me on and sat at the front of the small trolley, yet still called back to the street youths who were avoiding eye contact on the back seat. I was the silent mediator in the middle, yet there was no disagreement to mediate. For the both the youths on the backseat and the old man where exchanging a weird set of pleasantries, a true street man conversing with the pretend, only humorously exagerated by the fact that they were yelling the length of the empty trolley.

Several stops passed and the old man uprighted his rigid body and pulled the stop cord, and walking down the step and back onto the streets ,he said hello in his special way to the new travellor boarding who also appeared young and 'street', the old black man with his bent knees was being friendly and had bubbled from the previous exchange and blown it in the face of the newcomer, the exchange was short, and for this i was thankfull, because the new young black travellor with a pair of white painties, which pass for street clothes, on his head, took offense in misinterpreting the old mans well wishes. I smiled when i saw that the old man hadn't noticed the offending and punishing looks of the youth, instead he had continued up the street, walking to his destination, and saying hello to all those who walked by him.


Quotes
'do you believe in something beautiful? then get up and be it.' - ted leo