Another Night And What Two Days On The Road Shows You

Originally, I thought that my night was going to conclude with preparing my sleeping bag in the nearby camping ground and I really didn't think any part of that was enough to justify a whole new entry. However, "Life is what happens when you're making other plans" sang Lennon and that is exactly how my evening played out.

I decided to take public transportation to the couch that had been offered to me for the night, thinking that the directions were simple enough that I didn't need to write them down or even try to harshly commit them to memory. Needless to say, I was just riding on a bus down the middle of Austin with no basic hints of where to go and I started playing with the mentality of breaking down and getting a room for the night. Slowly, I began noticing the streets we were driving perpendicular against; I saw 3rd Street, then 4th Street, then 5th Street.

6th Street. The epitome of everything that makes Austin such a cultural area; an endless supply of counterculture, live music, and a few more adult locations. I already was lost, but sometimes when you lose your way, it is really just as well. I decided to stop and walk around a little while.

Up until this point in my journey, I've still been sheltered. At The Bugle Boy, everybody was very welcoming and kind; and the only other people that had really seen me were the drivers I hitched with (not counting Skip and the couple that hosted us). Tonight, I saw the other side that I'm not going to be welcomed by everyone and many are going to look down upon it. I walked down the street passing clubs and bars on the left and right with my backpack on my person, and was continously greeted by looks of distaste (that was, of course, whenever I even got looks; most looked away when I was coming). The bouncers would announce specials of the evening to men in suits then never when I was passing.

There were exceptions to the rule, however. I came upon a group of street performers playing a more cultural cover of Purple Haze. I began to join in with a little vocal work, and had a conversation with a few of them, before the police broke us up and told us that we couldn't play there anymore. I was back at my original position again, walking down the street with the same looks in my direction.

That was when I started thinking, this lifestyle is comparable to high school; when you love this girl or guy more than anything else and you love them more every day, but it is never returned and is possibly shunned. I begin to pick up more interest in the people around me every day, I find myself listening to conversations because I am genuinely interested in what they have to say. Sadly, at the same time, I still get more of those same looks in return. My love and interest still continues though.

I finally came back to my mentality of settling down in a comfortable hotel for the evening and came to another bus stop. I was sitting there for a moment, when an older man came up to me and stuck out his hand for a power fist and wished me well, and as I assume anyone would, I returned it. He told me that I had been the first to wish him well in return, and told me his thoughts on it in a very spirited manner. He told me all about how you will never matter to some people because you don't have enough money for their class.

It can be funny how life can show you lessons when you are too stubborn to see them yourself.

I boarded the bus afterwards and met a helpful man that told me parts of his story and assisted me in finding a cheap hotel for the night. Upon reaching the IHOP near the hotel, I had the strangest sense that I had been here before. It turns out that two years ago, I had attended a conference that a friend invited me to concerning ways to make money and become self-made millionaires.

Life can also show you how your priorities were changed in such a short time.

Two years ago, I was greeted with the most passionate smiles and friendly attitudes because a millionaire was sitting with us and he made it very evident based on his attire and attitude. If you go forward two years, you see a tired and weary man enter the same restaurant with a backpack, and he is put in the back of the restaurant and barely spoken to.

Yet, I am happier now than I was then, regardless of the treatment I receive from others. I really don't think little things like this will change that.

I've got a big day ahead of me tomorrow and it is just after midnight, so I'll call this it for tonight. No worries, and may we all meet in the valley before we meet in the plain.