Chapter 1

A Chapter by guynamedjoe1

Just trying out google docs to see if it works. This is a little irritating because I can’t have a standalone program on the desktop. I have to use an online app requiring an internet connection. It almost seems simpler the way it was before. I guess backups are easier. This reminds me of the first computer I had was a Librex from around 1990. Powered by a 386/20 Mhz processor it was considered mid to low end for its time. It ran on Windows 3.11 for Workgroups and I think had an old copy of Office on it. Although it might have been one of the rivals that I can’t remember the name of. It worked well enough although it didn't have a spell check or any sort of grammar correction.

My second computer was a Packard Bell desktop with a Pentium 75Mhz processor and Windows 95. It worked well had it jammed full of new games and would crash the system constantly. While being tired of waiting for the tech to show I started trying to fix it myself. This only worked half the time and the other half I’d be stuck with only a DOS prompt to navigate. I could get the old Apogee games to load but nothing else. It took forever to learn how to restore it from the backup disk provided with the computer. I finally got the hang of it and would restore the computer at least once a month after a failed driver install or adjustment that proved catastrophic for the very unstable original Windows 95 installation.

The company that computer was built by is still around although only sold in Europe and the Middle East. It is now a subsidiary of the company that built the computer I’m using now, Acer. This is my second time having experience with Acer as while in Vegas I worked for a computer electronics store called Circuit City which carried quite a few of their products. I remember selling and installing them all over the valley of Las Vegas. This was in between drinking binges on the strip that led to my downfall in the state. This was all during my party phase that dried up when I was about 30.

Back to Packard Bell I ended up getting a second one for my birthday or christmas as a child. I really used the second one heavily and it was when I probably became labeled as a computer nerd. All sorts of modifications were done to it to get the frame rates up in video games like Quake and Need for Speed. I ended up buying a custom built pc that turned into the tank that started my career in IT. It was later overclocked with an aftermarket video card making it a beast at online games. Most notably Quake but unfortunately those days are long since passed as I can no longer play video games due to my age. I find this restriction laughable and am currently looking for a work around on it. I got an online Golf game to work on this Chromebook but unfortunately it doesn’t have the selection of games that a Windows PC does.

The Saga Continues

Trying to think of things to say for TikTok videos and am having trouble coming up with content. I have been walking around randomly with a camera just rambling into it whenever a thought comes in but after making like 200 clips I need to start coming up with new material. It’s holding pretty well the way it is but all the clips have to be over a minute to make money and in vertical orientation.

Some ideas I’m having are how the diet process works with Ferrari vs Chevrolet. If I look at Ferraris my appetite is different then if I look at Chevrolets. They have some system in place for them to make sure everyone stays attractive while driving them. Chevrolet is more of

a big gut heavyweight car whereas Ferrari’s fitness routine is lean and agile. Guess that’s why Ferraris cost so much to begin with.

I have some mechanical ability but it’s mostly in IT. The only cars I’ve ever worked on are a few old Subarus, Toyotas and Fords. Intake system, lowering springs and stereo equipment in the Subarus. Serpentine belts and fluid changes in the Toyotas. In the Fords I’ve done a valve cover seal, spark plugs, fluid changes, transmission filter replacement and suspension work. This is back when I had a car. As I no longer have one. The last vehicle I had was a Ford e350 van that got towed out of a parking lot leaving me stranded on the street. I never did get that back. I’m beginning to believe despite being able to get more repaired on the Fords I should just stick to Chevrolet and not mess with them anymore. There’s some Ford family mechanism that completely conflicts with my entire existence. I don’t know if it was sleeping around and partying too much. It also could be because I’m completely distant from my relatives. Also because I’m part middle eastern and part of my family is in Confederate central Pennsylvania that also creates an issue. I’ve never had any luck putting my family back together. My parents created some void in it that so far appears to be unrepairable. I’ve tried five Fords and driven around all over the place getting details on my legacy to no avail. It just doesn’t fall back into place correctly. The attempts have also made me bankrupt numerous times.

If I could afford a Ferrari I’d go with that but even the cheapest junker Ferrari is $60,000 and that’s for a 308 GTS. It’s also a pretty slow car by today's standards. Even a Toyota Camry is faster. The benefit to one is that it's very simple and easy to understand whereas the new ones are much more complicated. Although they do now make obscene horsepower. In the 700-800 range for example whereas the old 308 is only in the mid 200s. Because I’m becoming somewhat successful on social media, maintaining my diet is getting important. This has put a strain on the cigarette mechanism I’m using to stay in shape. That Ferrari would alleviate a lot of the pressure on both my lungs and on my health in general. As for the foreseeable future it’s just a fantasy that’s fun to think about but impossible to achieve. I’m already a member of Ferrari chat which is a large online forum specializing in Ferraris but like everything it’s difficult getting my foot in the door even to just be a low end tech, entry level sales or detailer. Sure is a fun car company and I know everyone on TikTok would love seeing them.

As for Chevrolet I’ve owned 2 in the past; a 2002 2500HD Duramax truck and a 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Both of these were while living in Las Vegas so I don’t know if that makes them tainted or not. There seems to be a lot of stigma around that town and anything that’s in there. I can barely think of them now without the whole Vegas thing starting up. They both had issues. The Duramax kept blowing injectors or something causing it to smoke out of the exhaust. The Z06 had ignition issues, computer issues and went through one whole engine because of faulty valve springs. They were unbelievable when they were running correctly though. Best cars to drive from what I’ve owned. Although I’ve only sat in a Ferrari, never driven one that may change if I ever get the keys to one.

The only reason the Ferrari started in the first place was when I was stranded in Beverly Hills. I was just watching the cars go by and every other one was a Ferrari. They really stand out even when there’s that many. I’ve had some bikes in the past that could probably keep up with them. One being a 2002 Kawasaki ZX6R with 122 whp and a 2011 Yamaha R1 with maybe 160whp. The R1 would’ve given them a run for their money.

TikTok stories are getting difficult to tell. I’ll have everything preplotted out then when I go out on the sidewalk I’ll forget the entire thing and have to adlib something. I’ve only been doing the first try first take on all the clips so whatever the speech I give is just done on the spot. Up until this point nothing is prehersed or prewritten. That’s got me thinking if I write these stories down before going out there that will create better content but would be much more staged. As it goes now I’m just putting the camera in my face, saying whatever's on my mind and uploading it.

Looking for more stories or content. Up until this point it’s just been videos of whatever I’m thinking and the concept began when I was sitting on the side of the road with a cardboard sign thinking maybe I can hustle on Tiktok. That was 1.5 years ago and I’ve been trying to do at least a video a day although there were some interruptions in that. I can keep going this way but either run the risk of becoming repetitive or stale.

Before being in Texas I was at Titusville in Florida. Well more specifically Melbourne that’s where I uploaded my first successful video to TikTok and then emailed my mom who caved and paid for a hotel room. Shortly after I took a Greyhound bus to Austin where I currently am. Been in the same room for a year and a half. No car and used to have a bus ticket although that expired so I have no way to get around town. I earned some money from Tiktok and used it to buy a laptop, vape and 2 cartons of cigarettes. Trying to get more successful videos on there but am sticking to the same formula I started with.

I’m tempted to go back to Titusville although it was difficult on the first pass. I was stuck homeless the entire time and that was a year and a half. Sleeping under overhangs and in front of stores. I had multiple tents throughout the time that I would make secret little hidden houses within the brush. Some were near the interstate where the money was and some were hidden in the vacant swamp away from all people. This was during covid so I was just avoiding people the entire time. Simply begging on the side of the road with cardboard for a few dollars then hiding in the swamp for sometimes a week at a time with no electricity and only a wind up radio for news. I built some campfires to cook hotdogs with and would watch the rocket launches from just outside the tent. They were really easy to see as Kennedy Space Center was 15 or so miles from where my tent was. I could hear the roar of the engines starting up then hop out of the tent and be able to clearly see the rocket go up. It was a sight to be seen and I never got tired of watching them.

It was a pretty big process building one of those camps. I had two to choose from by the end of the stay there. The one away from people I at its peak had three tents set up. It was like a palace out there. All surrounding a central seating area. One three person tent, a four person and for a week I had a six person until it broke and caved in. The wildlife was abundant and fun to watch. During the day at least. There were lizards and snakes during the day. At night it got a little more hairy. There were possums, racoons and armadillos everywhere. You could walk for ten feet and trip over one. The most aggressive of all of them were the armadillos for some reason at least where I was. They would charge the side of the tent in the middle of the night and make all sorts of sounds in the brush. It was very difficult to sleep with this going on. I don’t know if they were being territorial or just dumb but atleast during one encounter I looked out the side of the tent to see an armadillo that had run itself directly up to the side of the tent. The only weapon I had was a machete and probably could have killed one pretty easily but never did. Apparently if you handle them you can catch leprosy. The possums also looked like an easy game and much more edible. Would be very easy to trap them and live the rest of your life out there. There were so many. The raccoons were around but I never had much close interaction with them except for at one gas station one was digging in the trash while I was sitting 3 feet away. I just shooed him off pretty effortlessly. After having that much interaction with them sitting on the ground for that long most of the phobia of wildlife disappeared at least for stuff that small. When I was in Alaska it was a different story. Everything was terrifying and much bigger than I was. I had a trailer up there though so I wasn’t as exposed.

While in Florida I walked to Orlando and then on to Disney World/Universal Studios. It was a good 100 miles I think. When I set out I was attempting to walk all the way from the east coast of Florida to the west. From Titusville to Tampa but made it about half way across the state entirely on foot and had to turn back. There was a lot of swamp to cross and I couldn’t get across. I ended up spending some time at Disney Springs. I camped in the brush nearby and would walk into Disney Springs and look for cigarettes. That was where I saw the biggest bobcat I’ve ever seen in my life. I was just off the main road near a pond hidden in the trees when a bobcat the size of a mountain lion in Nevada walked right up to me. I jumped up as quickly as I could and he kept walking by. I only saw him that one time and left soon after.

I’m originally from Winnemucca Nevada at least that’s where I was born. We had a property out in the mountains with a little jeep trail to get to it. It was off grid and remote to say the least. We bounced between there and Tolsona Alaska until I was 4 and then I lived in Winnemucca until I was 11 when I got into music and went to a private school in Paradise Valley Arizona. Moved a few times but mostly circled the central Arizona area. That was most of my childhood. I finally moved to Vegas when I was 23 from Phoenix and lived there until I was like 31. That’s when the massive traveling started where I just went everywhere. My dad was a pilot so chunks of my legacy were everywhere. Montana, Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, Idaho and California all had pieces of it. It took years to get all that put together so I could be a functioning person. Mostly I had to redo everything so it didn’t require a bush plane to operate. Everything involving him had airplanes in it and I’ve never had any success with them. Cars and motorcycles have always been more fun. I’m 41 now and still undoing the last of that baggage.