The way I was....

"When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself. "
Jacque Cousteau


I believe this to be true. I believe through fate, and adventures in the pursuit of happiness, I have been living an extraordinary life. I often feel guilt, wondering if I deserve it, or if it is rewards for "dues" that I paid when I was younger.


I've been reading over my old blog on myspace. Wow...so much living in the last 9 years. I want to share some of it with you all over the next few months. I am going to make a real effort to blog. Time is an issue with me now, working in the City and Mason's skateboarding. I also want to share some stories of when I was young.


Here's a pic of me in 1985 with my friend Mike Hauser, RIP

Here is a blog I wrote in 2004 about 1984-85:

Part time Gutter Punk

When I was 17-18, I was in and out of my parent's home. They would kick me out or I'd just leave and be gone for a couple days or a couple months... During one of my escapades to San Francisco, I traded a beer for a stolen BART pass that had like 19 dollars on it. Back then BART cost about 1.35 to go from the City to Fremont which was where my dad lived. I would leave my mom's house with about 4 or 5 bucks. Take the bus to Palo Alto, then catch the Sam Trans to SF. It would take me like 4 hours to get there, but I'd be let off in the Mission. I'd take muni up to Haight or North Beach and look for people I knew or just meet new ones. Back then, almost every night of the week there would be a show at the Mab. Local bands, and sometimes some headliner types. There was a liquer store accross from Clown Alley in North Beach in China Town that would sell booze to minors. I would usually spend my last 1.50 on a quart of beer or Boonesfarm. I can still taste that Boonesfarm Stawberry Hill or Tickle Pink. It was like fruity juice that made you all warm. Me and whatever group of scamps I'd be running with would go to this HUGE pit around the corner from the Mab. There was a mesh fence around it, I guess it was where there was once a building, but it had been torn down. We would go through a hole in the fence and walk down and sit on the ledge of this open pit and drink and bullshit and get high. When we all had a good buzz going we'd walk back up the hill to Broadway, past the barkers yelling at us to come look at the strippers inside. Why the hell would they try to lure punk kids into an asian strip club, I don't know. Once we actually went in...about 8 of us, and there was this tiny little asian chick, she didn't look older than me...standing in the front of the room totally nude. She was holding up a veil. The barker had said it was free to get in, we were drunk, and when we sat down he says "OK, I need 7 bucks from all of yous" and we just got up and walked out...the Asian stripper, looked sad and dropped her veil as we walked out. Don't know why...it was obvious we didn't have any money. We'd walk past these places and the sex shops and Taquerias to the Mab. Sometimes the show would be free, sometimes we'd wait in the alley for when they would be loading and unloading equipment and sneak in. sometimes one person would go in and get stamped and we'd lick our hands and try to get it to transfer. The Mab had a pinball machine and we'd stand around playing pinball sometimes between bands. I remember seeing 45 Grave the night before Halloween in 84, I think it was. I'd eaten a pot brownie so was kind of really not with it. Afflicted used to play there a lot. The skins loved the Afflicted because they had a song dedicated to them "If you're young and wired and tired of the disco, shave your head and come to San Francisco." Sometimes after a show I'd go with some of these punk kids and sleep at a squat. Some abandonned house or building...smelled like piss and puke, but mostly like piss. When I'd get tired of that I'd use that BART ticket to get back to Fremont. It was Green which meant the kid who traded it with me stole it from a handicapped person. I'd have to be sly and make sure the BART workers didnt notice that it was green.