I woke up this morning hung over from a night out with a friend who was deploying to Iraq this week. I got a Facebook invite from Jodie a person who works for the Force Recon Association asking me if I wanted to volunteer to help homeless veterans. Initially I said fuck yeah because I always wanted to meet the person who fucked all my friends wives whilst on deployment. So when SHE showed up I was amazed to find that Jodie was a girl and all my friends wives were apparently Bi-curious but hey its PRIDE weekend in San Diego. She picked me up and we went on a trip downtown and initially got lost in east village, Logon Barrio and Skid Row. After seeing the rainbow of people and poverty it instantly put me out of my comfort zone. Although I wanted to abort the mission the thing that made me embrace the cause was that the Christ that I claim to follow would have already been there spreading hope and love in the place I would typically have avoided. After being lost by her XX chromosomes lack of direction we finally found ourselves where we needed to be. We checked in at the volunteer section and were ushered to work the baggage section. Which to the uniformed was were the homeless vets checked their belongings so they could go to the different booths to get haircuts, showers, meals and treatment so they could rehabilitate their lives. I met some of the volunteers who were working the event all weekend and I was given a quick in-brief and passed the torch #TheSharpy to ensure that people received their worldey possessions before going back into society. When I arrived the pace was slow and it seemed more like a networking event with representatives from #TeamRubican and other charities of people trying to make a difference. I was working the front table and people would give me a ticket so I could pass the info on to other volunteers so we could retrieve their bags. Initially the day was slow but as the rain clouds began to gather the “March of the Homeless” became a title wave of people. Which was a lot less cute than the “March of the Penguins”. I had to fall back and help with the onslaught of people trying to get their back packs, shopping carts and bikes. Its always sunny in San Diego but today a monsoon hit and in honesty I couldn’t have been more thankful because it helped wash away the stench of reality that hit my nostrils and soul. The next few hours were a bler of hunting for bags for people who literally had nothing. Having them describe their possessions made me put my own in perspective. The variance of the veterans appeared full spectrum because I saw men and women who appeared put together and others whom I saw more teeth on an apple trying to claim nothing more than a back pack with only sheets and blankets. I don’t want to wax philosophically about how they came to that point in life but I do want to bring awareness to the fact there is a world that exists within my city that is out of my concept of reality. Some were grateful others were crippled by the thought of not finding their things which would mean that they were with nothing (Don’t worry we found their things it just took time.) I walked away from this event soaked to the bone and with a new found perspective of the struggles that exist and could exist in my own life. Although I may live a life of perceived opulence i recognize the value on what I hold truly means nothing compared to someone who can buy the world. What I learned today is that the human problems that exist on the planet transcend socioeconomic boundaries and in the end helping those who perceivably have nothing showed me all that I have. I finished the day wish a shower and a pub crawl because Im hopelessly lost in my own disfunction with a new friend and I didn’t want to soberly face my own reality.

The adventure begins the way every adventure starts with my friends. “After a long hard night of partying I licked the plate and opened a beer.” Hambone(aka Slice) came to and we had already decided today would be the day we set sail but we were in need of a vessel. So the first rule of any pirate is commandeer a vessel. So we went over to our friends house in Golden Hill who told me I could have a raft for this little adventure and it was located on the porch. Only 1 problem the front door was locked and no one was home. next thing you know I’m removing the screen from a window and jumping right thru. Over all time on target was less than 3 min and the only reason it took that long was the raft had been returned to the shed (because I came a couple days late for the raft.) After the target was acquired I went to make my escape out the window and Slice had put the screen back up and was standing look out at the end of the drive way. Nothing like starting your day with a professional B&E. It also shows you the guise of safety most people live in because a metal door and a pit bull may deter most at the front door but slipping in thru the side with a dog treat is the combination to most security systems.

Now that we had a boat we needed an engine we debated weather to go to Walgreens or Target but we didn’t want to be deterred from our objective so we agreed “if Odin wills it.” and he did for when we got to OB we saw this cute beachey rocker chick and we asked were we could get some paddles. Since she lead us in the direction of a locally owned business we decided to support the local economy and not raid it. So now we had our vessel and our engine time to build the boat and set sail. 1 problem this was an inflatable raft and if we wanted to spend our day blowing something it wasn’t going to be a raft from REI. After asking a few people in the parking lot we struck gold and it was time to build the boat. Then it was high boat carry to the river christen the USS Sea-Word #Cword and set sail. For those not aquatinted with the San Diego river it starts at the Ocean and pushes thru mission valley. We weren’t shore how far we were going to take it before we ran ashore but in our minds next stop Arizona and if we ran out of supplies aka beer along the way we would go ashore and raid local business and escape back to the low-seas.

For the most part the the voyage really took place in our minds as we talked about life and the secrets of the universe (with a dick joke sporadically thrown in there from time to time). Then we started to get into Mission Valley (which I would have love to have scene before all the condos and shopping malls.) were every so often we would have to push ashore and launch reconnaissance for where we could relaunch the Sea-Word for we fell upon a man made dam and of course it was time to take a shot of Jack.

Just as we were about to shove off again a camper came on our pos and we had a 5 min conversation about life and collecting cans. If you notice I said camper and not homeless for that is what she self identified as and I would say in life how people define themselves is who they are. The really cool thing about our exchange is we were just people not homeless or privileged its funny how much different homeless people act when they think your in the club. They are friendly they talk and engage they aren’t the crazy awkward people you always see. (Try and spend 1 day on the street and look the part and the people who look and act weird is everyone else.)  So after spending 5min hearing about her life we never talked about struggles just our own perspective reality. She told us how much she makes in a day collecting cans and how she is happy as long as she has her cigarettes. That tripped me out that she works however many hours a day just to earn a pack of smokes. In that moment it occurred to me that we all do the same thing but instead of cigs its a car, house or whatever other vice we fancy but the human emotions and the human interaction is essentially the same wether your “camping” in mission valley or balling in La Jolla.   

Anyway after we said our goodbyes we set sail again and eventually we hit Arizona which oddly enough looked like hotel circle in mission valley. So we punched our way thru the wilderness and called Carlos for a ride. All in all it was a fun adventure and we tried to get every experience we could out of it and I know what your thinking why didn’t you get a blow job from that can lady at least for the story and the answer is “There are some stories even I just don’t want.”

Fair-Winds and Following Seas,

Beaux