Movement and Assessment

11:25AM





for the most part I will keep a running update on today. Feels like one of those days. I went back home. Got a litte more organized and went to the Transition House. Transition House and T House are interchangeable. I will spell it out if I am not lazy. I gave them a sheet to sign. My biweekly meeting sheet. I had Marcus fill it out for me. I went into the back to the computer lab. It was up. I was excited. I quickly pulled out my camera and took still shots of the video that I took of the skaters at the Pershing Square Ice Skating Rink.


I had Downtown News on the mine. I saw a billboard of them. They evidently are sponsors of the ring.


Amazing how all types of experiences come into insight about things. That came from the sport marketing background. If you recall, I worked for the firm that represented Michael Jordan.





I took a couple of shots of the billboard. I was going to post it. I kept thinking of Carol Schatz. I was going to send her a copy of my resume. I am surprised that I am so gung ho about moving forward. I am not trying to hide on the internet. I do not want my blog to be like my guard shack. At one point, I used it as a bunker, a


sanctuary from the world at large.





The server went down. I was not happy. I had my chance to post some more pictures. Write a brief aricle.


Gain some experience. I had a chance to send my resume to Carol. Further promote my name in the downtown business community. However, my plans were derailed by a damn server.





I grabbed my paper and went back to my room, thwarted but not defeated. I saw OGman, the subject of my first published article on the internet. It was about three on three basketball on Blogdowntown.


Reached my building again. Talked to the case manager for a second and headed back here to Chrysalis.


The first thing I did was make copies of Wikipedia explanations of "server". The word server is used interchangeably. I wanted an official definition. I wanted to be productive in furthering my internet education. (place is closing. dam.)



2:15 PM.



I made it here to the library. lets rewind for a second. a brief one.



I could not get anything done. Ok. l That is brief enough and though enough without the boring details.



Bottom line is there were no computers available until now.

I am amazed that a few months ago, I wondered about meeting Carol Schatz, Tom Gilmore, Herb Smith, Andy Bayles, Paul Solomon, Jan Perry and more.



Now I am communicating with some of them, meeting some of them and I am grateful that they have given me access to them and let me know it in one form or another.



I am sending out resumes. I may not get a response from some people. It does not matter. what matters is that I am breaking throuh those self defeating barriers that came with lack of confidence and

"event shock".



I must say I would not have made it this far were it not for the help of many people. That is why I want to report on the people of Downtown Los Angeles. I must always report on the people of downtown. I started with Skid Row. Eric Richardson was right. "Walter, it starts with Skid Row. " I did not know how right he was at that moment. I realized it when I wrote my first public writing on his blog.



My Skid Row work has just begun. I want to branch out but there are interviews that I can do. I must interview Andy Bayles and Herb Smith. I have been told they are dedicated, outstanding men. One has communicated with me and both have read,or at least visited my blog. I am honored.



I ride in a patrol car and see things from the eyes and ears of police officers. It is a rare insight into what they experience, they being the police division in one of the most challenging and difficult areas to patrol in the country. I am lucky to have this experience. I am lucky to be able to report on these experiences.



That is why I think about Downtown News, Tom Gilmore, Paul Solomon, Herb Smith, Andy Bayles et al.

People like Officer Kevin Royce, Deputy Attorney Jose Egurbide, Nurse Debbie, Program Director Rory

Cornwell, Assitant Manager Lawrence Greene and all of the residents I have met made me ready. They pushed me to get back to my A game. I dont even know what it is because I played the game loaded. I do not have that extra weight to carry. I can focus on the game, not the game, in between turns at bat(the pipe).

--------------------------------

I have to laugh about something. You will like this. I was aggravated about not getting the scoop on a story.

I told Don Garza and Ed Fuentes about something one day while we were eating dinner in Little tokyo. They both looked at eachother. "Did you here about that , ED?" Don said. Ed shook his head no. They thought it was big information. I had been sitting on the information for weeks. I did not think too much of it. Hell, I thought everybody knew. It was about 'Open Ground."



Then, Don Garza, the Towncrier, calls me up and teases me how Downtown News scooped the story about

Open Ground. "Scoop. Scooooop?" I declared. "I knew about it for weeks. " I was incensed.



"Yeah, but they wrote about it. You did not. They interviewed Jose." I was pissed off. I was pissed off at jose.

Then I said to myself, "Why am I pissed off at him?" The answer was simple. I was pissed off at him because I wanted to do the easy thing, put the blame on some one else.



Then I saw Jose when I was with Garza, they both teased me about it. Of course I had to still blame Jose so

I let him have it. "Why in God's name did you interview with them? You should have interviewed with me."



"Walter, I have been tellling you about this for weeks." he said.



"Hell, Jose, I thought that was confidential. If I had known that, I would h ave printed it. From now on, I will ask instead of assume"



"Yeah, walter" Jose and Garza blurted out. "Open up your eyes and ears" They laughed at me. I would have laughed too. In fact, I was, inside but I had to feign being upset. l dont know why because nobody gave a dam if I was upset anyway. lol. I knew that.



Better believe this. It won't happen again.



Between 18 and 32, I was known for two things, fun and information. If you wanted to have fun, you call walter. If you want to know what is really going on , call Walter. I am beginning to have fun again. It started when I started training for the triathlon and studied all of the time. There was a bit of a distraction, the last few month s but I am slowly getting back on track. I will work on developing the reputation, "if you want to know what's happening in Downtown, call Walter. " Of course, I am being brought up to speed by some very

knowledgeable people. Without them, the human capital necessary to be the broker of information would take a long time to acquire. But I will get there.



There was a time when I was in Philadelphia. My phone bill was at least 1000 dollars a month, every month for years. I was away from home. I called people everywhere to keep in touch and to find out what was happening. People began to move around and to lose contact with people. They would call me from all over the world and ask me what was going on. My phone bills dropped. Then it hit me. I had put in alot of front end investment to gather information about people and places. I put in the time and spent the money.



It was suddenly yielding me returns. I was receiving phone calls from people who needed information and they would call me to find things out. In the process, I would get more. My phone bills were low. Hmmmm.



The same thing is happening here. What stage I am at, I do not know. I know I am closer than I was a few months ago to making things happen. I know I am accessing things.



I know I am compiling a database on downtown, people, places and real estate. I love real estate.



They said in Broadcast News handbook by Associated Press, that the person with the largest roll a desk gets the story. Well I was known to have the largest roll a desk. I had 5 huge ones on my desk. It was legendary.

It is a natural for me because I love people. I aim to get back to that. You are witnessing that everyday.



That is how I help Skid Row. I must build my rolladesk, in kind. I must meet people. Ask Them questions.

Get information, deliver information. Whether a real estate broker or writer, it is all the same.

That is why I give you this on the go update everyday. Sometimes it is about what I am doing. Sometimes it is about what I thinking, feeling, planning. wanting. It is energy in motion. That is the most important thing I could tell you about Skid Row. The best way to explain Skid Row is to explain myself as I experience it. I change.
I change every second. Skid Row changes every half second. You must stay in motion on Skid Row.
If you dont, you will no doubt get caught up in the muck that quickly gathers around things that stand still.
It could be the drug traffic. It could be the women who try to survive by selling sex. It could be the women that men chase to avoid chasing their goals. Some have lost sight of those goals so they use women as a drug.
I keep away from the women down here. You worry about them, you will be so far behind in goal accomplishment you might as well give up.

Don't get me wrong , though. I am ready for love. I trained myself to be ready for it. I learned about being a good listener while training for the triathlon. I learned about being patient while caring for my mother and I became better at both of those things while being down here. You will become a better person down here if you let yourself. You become more sensitive, more tolerant. More accepting. No matter how good of a person you are will become better just by seeing the suffering, experiencing it.

I see it. I write about certain things. I am beginning to feel myself become more descriptive in my daily accounts. It is because I am beginning to get things done and I do not clog the mind. I am sending out resumes.
beginning to file things in categories to access information. In short I am developing a system,. I worked for THE "Information" company. I see how valuable that training is now.

I am here at Chrysalis. I received an email from my brother in law. It is the first email he has ever sent me. it is in response to something I asked my sister about jazz.

Interesting. I used to send emails all of the time. Since being in Skid Row it is the first time the emails I have sent have been largely in Los Angeles. Very interesting. All of my emails were to people in far away places.
Now they are local. But as they are local, a pattern is beginning. a momentum is developing. I am putting things in motion.

Jose just emailed me. He thinks I have made a major step. He doesnt know I shared with you the story of how I blue a scoop to Downtown News. lol.

Things are happening so fast, I need to kick back and organize and study tonight.

By the way. checkout this website. Majorperformances.org. They do things downtown. My brother in law works for them. I hope he does not mind that I shared that. I wont give his name. He might not like being associated with me. Actually, he is a great guy. I told him a long time ago I was glad he was my brother in law.
Maybe, one day he will feel the same now that my life is changing. time to go. This place is closing down.