Bad headache all day. Foolishly neglected taking any painkillers until the evening.
Continued web-reading today about the "resistoleros" <1> - a
morbid curiosity compels my research (continued from yesterday). I
know very well the strong urge to latch on to any altered state possible,
for whatever brief escape from misery it provides. The fumes they inhale suppress their hunger, generally
bummed feelings and sensitivity to the cold of night, making their shortened
life-spans tolerable. Plus they're despised by the local establishment and authorities - they consider them all
desechables - disposables. And once the kids have adapted to the streets it's
difficult to get 'em back into any structured life, like school attendance. In a
perverse way I can see the attraction - remembering the totally fun mind-set
of the playground at age twelve, combined with no teachers or parents, running
wild in the streets with a gang - it's rather like Fagin's kids in Oliver
Twist, or Pleasure Island in "Pinocchio". But still, what an awful,
ghastly situation. I'm so lucky, so privileged! We all are, up here in el Norte.
Long distance chat today with Z concerning her upcoming trip here (turns out her
on-line paramour lives just a couple miles from me) and D & G. D tells me about her
13-year-old nephew - although straight, he enjoys behaving in a manner which could be
described as "gay". (An assessment one could make about me, at times.) A favored,
humorous expression of his is "I've got a secret, and I can't live a lie" spoken with
an affectation which D reproduced. G advises me of this new "watermark" GeoCities has
added to their (and my) pages - he says it's horrible! My profound apologies. If
it bothers you and you've got web-space to offer, wherein my anonymity could be
preserved, please get in touch.
Bought a new tire (I wanted a Continental but they only had a Specialized in my
size), installed it on my front wheel, and then pedaled over to
Tung Kee Noodle this evening, with the
usual visits to the adjacent bookstores afterward.