Sat Jul 21 15:39:13 UTC 2018

Oh boy! So last night I made a phlog entry that I'm overwriting
today. I was trying to rush and that resulted in my abrupt, "What
the hell?" post.

Last night was a real trip. So here's the story.

===================================================================

After the talks I'm trying to decide what to do. I'm jacked up on
Club Mate and I'm feeling kind of sensitive to sounds and lights.
Typically this is an indicator that a migraine or strong headache
could be induced, so I regrettably could not go down to the
experimental chip-tune concert. Instead I went ahead and typed out
my phlog entry about day one at HOPE.  With that complete it was
around ten pm and I started trying to find a way to stream from my
trusty T500 laptop. I have not had any success getting JACK to
work, which really shortens the list of software that will work.
I found a few tar balls, that I am going to try and get working
after I make this post.

I checked the train and bus schedule app I've been using, and it
indicated I would be needing to take a bus. Oh No! the weekend
schedule caught me. This means that I'll be going to a strange
place, with bad GPS, and it's late at night.  I exited the proper
station on the train, and found myself in the western most part of
Brooklyn. I am staying in Bushwick which is in the middle and is
about 40-ish minutes away by bus.  This is where GPS comes in.

I walked to the first bus stop in front of an Old Navy. There's a
cool breeze but as the minutes tick by I realize I may be getting
caught by the same cursed weekend plan that caught me before.  The
schedule on the pole assured me a bus would be there. At 11:30 I
began to worry, at 11:40 I started walking in the direction that
I thought I should go. In retrospect I should have used my compass,
but I kept trying to make GPS work.  The result is that I did about
a mile loop going the wrong direction.

I'm tired but alert thanks to my trusty Mate side kick. I kept
seeing people out having a good Friday, so I didn't feel unsafe.
That is until I realized I was no longer where restaurants and
people were. Everything was closing. That oh no feeling was coming
back. This time it was oh no I'm going to sleep on the streets of
Brooklyn. I looked at calling a taxi or ride share, but the cost
was thirty or more dollars according to ride guru.  I looked up
the address of a stop on the map, and headed out. I saw a bus coming
and said hooray! I hopped on, and my gamble did not pay off. The
bus took me about half a mile the wrong way. I got off feeling a
bit dejected. All along the street buses were stopped and turned
off. The city was going to sleep but I was awake!

If you've stuck with me this far, thank you.

I went ahead and looked up another stop location and I headed off
into the darkened streets.  After about ten minutes of walking
toward my destination the lights started to come back on, and the
police presence started to increase.  I was looking for Jay street.
I'd been hunting for it. I came out to a cross street and saw a
brightly lit street corner. I started getting excited. Lights mean
transit center if everything else is closed. Sure enough there was
a a gathering of weary folks all trying to get home.  I check my
watch, ten minutes to go.

Arriving at my stop was one of the greatest reliefs I've had in a
while. It was just shy of 3 am when I finally got to lay down. Of
course I was brought right back to consciousness at sunrise, 5:38am,
and then thanks to a car horn, 7:14am.

Ultimately it's 12:00 noon local time and I've just gotten settled
in for Hope Day 2! I'm excited, but hope I get to sleep earlier
tonight :D

-mnw