Pt.4b Happy days

So now I am a Maint. tech for an apartment complex, 22.5 acres 517 units 51 buildings. This place was 15 years old and just starting to fall apart. There were a lot of drugs and drinking in those days. And I had three good friends that Connie and I spent most of our time with, One is no longer with us he took his own life in February of 83. but lets not get ahead of our self here. So I was working and getting a discount on the little one bedroom apartment, Connie had move to working for a company that made robes. Now Houston had a high crime rate and the apartments did not escape the wrath, and in the day time we were the security force. And on more than one occasion I was called upon to chase down burglars. So one day I got a call about some one braking in to an apartment that was close to mine, I grabbed another tech and we split up he went up the stairs in the front and I went up the back that way we had them trapped...... well just as I reached the top of the stairs my partner came flying out the back door seen me and lowered his .38 stub nose pistol at me I froze in my tracks. He seen that it was me and raised the gun which did nothing to help him with the slur of finely chosen words I called him which ended with this phase (and I want you to remember this also) I told him that I would get even with him for this. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow but I would get even with him for this. The burglar had gone just so you know.

Now I had a resident that was a friend not a close friend but a friend. He asked me that if he bought a ceiling fan if I would install it for him, for a fee. And I told him I would just let me know when he was ready. I often did little things like this for people for extra cash, or some times drugs. So the next day the guy had the ceiling fan and was ready for me to install it. It took me about 45 minutes to install one back then. And when I finished he gave me $10 and my choice of 3 NASA space wrenches.... Now these weren't just wrenches that said NASA on them, these were wrenches that were made to go to space. they were crescent wrenches that had no wheel that you turned it was a button that you would slide. I miss that wrench to this day. But as we were there just talking he showed me this old cap and ball pistol he had, it was real old. He said he had caps for it but not the balls (which are the bullets) I got this idea in my head right away..... I asked if I could barrow it for Halloween, I was was going as the hanging judge and it would make a good prop. he agreed and gave me a few caps also.

Now the company my girl friend worked for made judges robes, so she brought one home for me to use as part of my costume. I added a cowboy hat and tied a hanging noose and along with the pistol we headed to the Halloween party that was at my bosses place all of our friends were there including the man that will soon become a major friend but I will save that for later. And the guy that was responsible for scaring 10 years off my life by pulling a gun on me. He was dressed as a die. You know he was in a big box painted black with white spots on it. So now it was time to spring my big surprise...I grabbed my boss and took him in the back and told him of my plan, he thought it was a great idea and offered to run interference for me. So he walked out into the room straight at Mr. dice boy as he was getting close with me at his heels I pulled the cap and ball gun out and cocked it. just before my boss got to dice boy he turned and walk to his left leaving nothing between me and the dice boy. I lowered the gun to his face called his name and just as his eye's focused on the gun I pulled the trigger BANG!. He fell in side the box and the whole room went crazy with laughter. He stuck his head out side the box to see me with the biggest smile and I said to him "I told you I was going to get you and I did". And yes I loved every second of it.

So that December the rock band the Who were coming to play, That was Connie's favorite band and we just had to go see them. and I'm really glad we did it was a great concert. I seen a lot of concerts while I was in Houston. But this was a good one, 3 of our best friends went with us we all sat together and we got so high we smoked a lot of pot in those days and I mean everyday and when we went to concerts we smoked even more but this was the Who and we had to have something special for that so we picked up some coke for the concert.

We had a great time and when we got home and every one left we continued with the good times.

Then some time in January she started feeling funny and went to the doctor and they ran some tests. She waited by the phone for the results ... and waited and waited. Then the phone rang and she lit a smoke and answered the call, she was listening and I was watching ...and then she put the smoke out when it was only half gone and I knew I was in trouble. She hung up the phone and started crying?

She looked up at me and said she was pregnant, Well this I had figured out all ready but I was puzzled at the crying? She had thought she was with child 2 other times and when she found out she wasn't she cried, So now that she was why was she crying?... I still haven't got this one.

Tomorrow will be pt 4 C of happy days "the bundle of joy"

Pt. 4 Happy days

Before I dive in I want to share what went through my head all day.

Here I am telling complete strangers and a small group of friends things that my own family still is not a where of. I mean they know about my drug use but not to the extent that they will after reading this. plus there is a lot of what is in here I had purposely not told them for there benefit. I was ready at one point to delete this story and go one with what I have planed for this blog. But I came to the conclusion that I said I would tell this and I am a man of my word to the best of my ability. And again I am still going to be leaving some details out, but all that is in is the truth. So on word we go! ( and yes I wanted to use "word")



So I am in a small town in Oregon named Coos bay. I have just returned from an across the country hitch hike. Where I was looking for adventure and work. Now I didn't really get in to the looking for work part of the story to much but I did check out the work in a lot of the towns I went in to. I only found 2 that really fit the bill. Jacksonville Fl. and Houston Texas. And I already had a friend and a place to stay in Houston. So I made the most of my time while in Coos bay, through a friend I met while watching a baseball game in a park I found a job. It was a pretty simple but well paying job. All I was trying to do was raise enough money to get down to Houston, and hold me over tell I got work. This job was going to take about 3 days and I would get paid $250 and back then that was good money for a 20 year old. So what I was doing was remodeling a bathroom , Installing an old stile Cameoed with a raised tank and pull string flush, redo the tile in the tub with a white with black trim. It turned out so well I got a $150 bonus.



In all though I was at my mom and dads for about 2 months. But I then packed up and once again hit the road hitch hiking, but with one place in mind.... I just took a small detour on the way. Well not a detour just an extended stay over on a certain beach in Cali. It wasn't a long stay I mean I wasn't there long enough to leave the beach the whole time I was there, so it couldn't be to bad right? I was on that beach partying drugs booze and women for 6nights and 7 days it was the best time I have ever had on a beach. But I was on a mission and I knew the grunion would not run for ever. So on the seventh day I split.



Four days later I was in Houston, and back at my new friends house.
While getting settled I painted the outside of his house. Any of you who are familiar with Houston Will know how life was for two white guys living in the middle of the third ward of Houston, it would of helped knowing at least some Spanish but no a word did I speak. The only good thing was that we were they only house on the block that wasn't related to the rest and as long as we were in good with the family next door we were good for the whole street.

So I started pounding the pavement to look for work. I had a City map, and a bus ticket and schedule. I was prepaired to spend the day looking for work. The paper was full off jobs and I was sure to find something in the first month. Or so I thought, I must of went to two or three places... no it was two and they both wanted to hire me. They actually were bidding on me and when I thought the place I really wanted to work had gone as far as they would I took the job. I was now a Mail clerk for a Oil & Gas company.

I liked the work okay And the guy I worked with was funny as hell in tell he started hitting on me. Which he soon found out that when I said to knock it the fuck off that is what I meant. but once I pined him to the wall a told him just what would happen and how fast I would do it he thought better of it and the next week quit. anyway, one day while making my rounds with the mail I seen a beautiful young lady working the front desk. She had never been there before, and before long I was making small talk with her and we were hitting it off well. Then one day she took a piece of mail to someone for me and I commented that I owed her one, she replied how about lunch. And that was it. we started dating and spending more and more time together. She would come over and spend the weekends and we would get high and eat Doritos and cookies and cream ice cream, while listening to Rush's Tom Sawyer over and over again, she loved that song.

A few months Later we moved in to an apartment together, and were happy.
I remember we hadn't been living there to long when the phone rang and it was some lady wanting to speak to Connie (that was my girl friends name) I handed her the phone, and I wish there would of been a camera on me to capture the look on my face.... She went off on this very fluent rampage of Spanish like you would not believe. I had no idea she could speak Spanish at all.... it was priceless.

Do to my own doing I left my job at the oil and gas co. I will put up with a lot but when you refuse to discipline because of some ones skin color I draw the line I have always thought everyone as an equal and I'm an ass hole to boot so I walked. I had made friends with two guys that lived and worked in the Apartments and they were going to get me an interview for a job they had open..... I never got that enter view, I was just getting dressed to go to the enterview when the supervisor (who was one of the two friends ) knocked on the door. He asked if I was going to go to the interview are not, I looked at my watch and I still had an hour. I said I was getting ready to go now. He replied "the interview is over change your cloths we need to get to work". And so I did.

Tomorrow pt. 4b Happy days

foot note: sorry about this when I planed on doing this story I thought I would be done by now, I'm about half way so please hang in there I will finish it soon.

The adventure... Pt. 3 b

Okay lets see where was I.... oh yes Key west Fl. I had just traded "sea weed" for good old grass. I had a little money in my pocket and didn't want to be in Miami any longer than I had to...... Nasty taste in my mouth over that place.

But I had to go through there to get out, and as luck would have it I got dropped off in downtown Miami. It was time for me to check in with home. So I call my mom and dad to let them know I was alive, and to see what the news was from there. My mother asked if I could come home because my oldest sister was going to be coming over from Manila and she was with child. I said I would and left from that phone call to head home.

I was out of Fl. that night and was dropped of in some small town in Ga. I hadn't even lost site of the car that had just dropped me off when a van pulled over and picked me up. He was about 5 years older than me seemed nice enough and was going to Texas.... nice long ride. I asked if he minded I get some sleep and he replied you only have to sleep if you want to, and of course I understood what he was saying instantly. I told him I had been up for a while and needed to get a couple hours sleep, then we would get in to what he had. I went out like a light, and woke up some 3 hours or so later. We turned off at the first town and got something to eat and a few drinks for the road. When we got going again I asked him about what he had. He answered what do you want, my kind of guy. He had it all - if it took you up, he had it - but the one he had that I liked the most was the black beauty's. He didn't have the same ol ones I had, he had some 888's I fell in love with these things, 1 of these and your hair would crawl for 12 hours. And you could forget about sleep for at least 18 hours no worries about food either that was the last thing on your mind.

So we talked and rocked out all the way to Houston which is where he was going to turn right and head North. I remembered that I had the guys number that had given me a ride to La. and he said to call when I came through. So I called and he came out and picked me up, this guy kept to his word 100%. He took me back to his house we ate and talked till late into the night. He showed me where my room was going to be and then, I crashed. I woke the next day to the smell of eggs being cooked. He put on a feed bag like I hadn't eaten in a week. Then he said he had to go to school and said it was cool if I hung around the house. I asked him what classes he was taking and he just laughed. He said he taught classes. He taught the theory of music.

We became good friends and when I was ready to go 3 days later he told me to come back - there was lots of work here and that I was welcome to stay at his place until I got one of my own. I thanked him and told him I would, just not sure when. And headed out for cali. once again. It was an un-eventful trip all the way to Coos bay the last ride I was picked up by a closeted gay guy. For a moment I thought it was going to get ugly but he finally shut his mouth and dropped me off just outside Coos bay. I called mom and dads and my older brother was there and he came and picked me up.

Tomorrow pt. 4 Happy days.

Life story pt. 3 The Adventure

Part 3 I will be telling you bout the little adventure that lead to the happiest day in my life.

There was no work here in Oregon (kind of like it is now) and i really wanted to find something that would keep me in money and out of jail. I had done pretty good at staying out of jail so far. I had only been caught once with drugs, and i still am not sure what happened in that case. The charges were all dropped. They had a strong case against me, over 2 oz. of pot 3 grams of hash and a gram of honey oil (that was in my pocket). and i walked?

So anyway, i thought I would kill 2 birds with one stone. i would see the country and find a place to work. so i packed up a back pack and stuck out my thumb and headed south on I 5. I went to L.A. and turned left on I 10.

This is where it gets foggy for me. i have hitch hiked so many times to so many places that i get confused about which trip is which. but I do remember that I got my first ticket for hitch hiking in a dot on the map city in east Cali.
$7.50 I had been stuck in the same spot for 18 hours and it is still a record for me. then to have to pay that because I walked 50 feet up the ramp so some one could see me pissed me the fuck off. but telling that to the cop did get me a ride to the next town...lol

I went pretty fast through most of Texas, when I got just on the east side of Houston I got a ride from this guy that was going to La. I will never forget this guy, he was and is one of the neatest people i have ever met. we talked all the way to where he was going to play the piano in some competition. he gave me his phone # and his address and said i could stop over at his place on my return trip and get cleaned up wash some cloths and even check out the jobs there. i thanked him but really never thought that much about it.

I zipped and I mean non stop to Jacksonville, turned right and went Miami. i remember i got in Miami just as it was getting dark. there was a stand where a man was selling burritos and he was shutting down for the night. he seen me with my back pack and I think he thought I was broke and starving. i was starving but I had money. he offered me the remaining 4 burrito's he had and said he would just have to toss them out. this guy had some good burrito's. I ate them all i don't remember how long it had been sense i ate but I was eating black beauty's like candy so who knows.

I was going to sleep on the beach that night and as i was just getting close there was flashing red and blue lights behind me. Now just put this picture in your head. you have been up for days your in a strange city and have about 30 black beauty's in you pack a long with a few knifes and a pair of nun-chucks. plus I had not taken any pills for a while because i wanted to get some sleep. So i turned and put my best foot forward and asked if I could help. What I seen was the best looking cop I still to this day have ever seen. She asked where I was going, and i told her I was going to crash on the beach. She said that, that wouldn't be a good idea, for it wasn't safe. Then asked if i had any money, I pulled the $2 I always kept in my pocket out and showed her that there was in fact 2 (that is what you had to have or you would be a vagrant and subject to arrest.) She just smiled and told me to get in the back of her car and she would take me to a place that was safe and she could keep an eye on me. Well she took me to N. Hollywood and showed me a spot under three palm trees where i would be out of sight and safe.... she was wrong.
In the middle of the night the wind picked up and it started to rock the palm trees ...... do you know what grows in palm trees? I felt like Gilligan, coconuts dropping out of the trees like they were on a mission. (if my sister is reading this she might remember the little one i brought back when she came over from Manila yep that was from that night). And I never did see her (the cop) again. The next day i was walking around town in Miami just looking at all the crap they have going on, all the shops windows were bared I had never seen that before. i was crossing a street in the middle of the day and there was a African American man walking towards me and just after he passed by me a man in a suit that was following him pulled out a gun and shot him. I thought i was dead, then i thought i was going to be next. I have never ran so fast in my life, and I had a 90lb back pack on. I ran all the way on to the beach. I changed my cloths and did all i could to look like some one else and not the guy that seen him shoot that guy. i was pretty shook up for a while. When I did finely get the nerve to go back into the city i headed straight in to little Africa that is what i found out later what that part of town was called. I cut though an ally and that was a bad idea. I felt some one grab my back pack and he flung me around and up against a wall and laid the barrel of a gun along side my nose. And then asked the stupidest question I have ever heard. I mean come the fuck on, I have a big back pack I'm wearing dirty cloths and need a shower like real bad I look like and am a bum. And this ass hole asked me for money... this guy is real smart. So I did what every person should do when this happens i reached in to my pocket and gave him that $2 i kept in there for the cops. he looked at it and i will never forget this part as long as i live. He said 2 bucks that's all you have got, I told him that i was hitch hiking across the states and was broke what did he expect me to be rich dressed the way i was?. he was pissed but he fucking gave me back that $2 and as he was walking off i called him a name i will not repeat on here. he heard me and turned and asked what i said, i told him nothing and he walked off. If he would of had me take my shoe off he would of found the $250.00 or so bucks i had stashed there.... I loved it and I still smile every time i think about that.

i got a hotel room for what i thought was going to be just one night but that bed felt so good i stayed 2. I was eating more and popping less pills be cause I wanted to use that bed. but as the money started to go i knew i needed to do something to get more I was a long way away from home. So I did what every young man would do i went to key west! party capital of the state. I got there and found a party right off, in fact I think the whole time i was there I was at a party. I remember waking up on the third or forth day I was there and finding money all over the place nothing big just $5 here $1 there and some change but I had like $75 in no time then I noticed a bunch of people picking stuff out of the surf. At first i thought it was more money, but i found out it was something better. It was pot, some one must of been bringing it in and ran in to the coast guard and dumped it over board. and it must of been a lot. i my self picked up about a pound. then started talking to some of the others that were picking it up. they explained that you have to soak it in fresh water then dry it out other wise it would stink. i gave them what i had for some other weed they had that i could just leave with i had no time for that, i lost out on the deal but it was free anyway.


Okay that's enough for this one, i will continue with this tomorrow. so look for pt.3B next.

Life story pt. 2 Then the trouble started

Jr. high, The time when we start to try all the new things. So I started trying. And I found myself smoking and not just cigs either I was smoking pot as much if not more than cigs. I didn't fall in to a bad group I was in one long before I came to the Jr. high. We just cared less once we got there. In the 7th grade I was asked to go out for football, The coach said I had hands like glue... but I would have to stop smoking. I told him no. Then I was asked to go out for track I was pretty good at the 100 yard low hurdle's I broke the school record and held it for 3 hours.... in tell a friend of mine beat me out by.04 seconds. But again I said no. smoking was my first thought, I didn't want to quit.

As i was getting in to the 9th grade I started doing other drugs. I'm sure a lot of you tried drugs growing up and remember cross tops. I loved them and I mean I really loved them. Then there were all the other uppers, black beauty's Christmas trees yellow jackets and the such...... I tried them all.

It started to effect my home life as a teenager we all go through growing pain and doing a lot of drugs does not help matters much. So I started running away from home... for years and years I always blamed my family for this, but I know now it was me and the drugs. I lived with friends for about a year then moved in with my Aunt she was always like a mother to me and she was my mothers sister and best friend she left us in June this year and I miss her a lot but I have only fond memories of her.

I decided that I was to smart for school and told my Aunt that I was not going to return .... she thought about that for maybe 1 second and said your not going to school your not staying here.... and again I made the wrong choice. I instead chose to join Job corps. And that was and is the worst choice I ever made in my life.

I arrived at the Job corps center in Oct. of 76, I was 16 and knew more about the world than anyone else...... NOT. I found out that this wasn't going to be a place to learn and be taught a trade, it was going to be a place where you were taught a trade and cheated out of an education. Oh and lets not forget the drugs, lots and lots of drugs. They did not turn a blind eye to the drugs they tried to control it but we were better at hiding them than they were at finding them. we had a system of warning everyone in the dorm that they were coming and in the 6 months I was there only one time did anyone get caught in our dorm.... the other dorm was not so lucky.

When I had done the 6 months that is required to get your savings I left, I was worse off for the wear and was really thinking of turning my life around and for 3 years I just floated by, from one job to the next and started selling the drugs I was doing. I made a lot of money and was spending it just as fast. Then came my big adventure.... And that will be part 3.

The life story of ken part one (the early years)

I called this part the early years because that is where I am going to start. I said on my other blog that I may leave somethings out but all that I put in will be true. So I'm starting off at the beginning. I think this will take up to 4 post to do and maybe more. I may throw in something else in between them but like the title says "What ever I want" and that is just how it will be. this is not going to be a tip toe blog. this will be a hold on to your pants type of blog. You or I will never know what is coming in tell its here! Now on with the post.

I was born in May 1960 in the state capital of Oregon, Salem. My first memory is of the same day as the picture on this post. I'm the little one. That is the day after the Columbus day storm.

We were hit with 120 mile an hour winds, trees and house blew apart. And I don't remember it at all. but 46 years later I still remember playing in a fort in the middle of the street the next day.

I only went to school my first year while living in down town Salem. In the summer of 67 my parents bought a house outside the city limits. It was a big house to me. It had been moved to the spot it stood from just down the road. It was now in the middle of a Field. It had 2 rooms down stairs with one bath room a living room kitchen and dinning room. the upstairs was just one big room. That summer is full of memory's and all good ones. we made games to entertain us, One I think of often was the city we made on the back of a twister game. we would use or hot wheels on that thing and it seemed we played for hours upon hours.

We would help with the remodel when ever we could. there was so much that need to be done. Every door way but one was an arch and when we were done every one but one was square. we put 4 bedrooms a sewing room and a bathroom upstairs. We needed the room there were Mom and Dad, my two sisters and my two brothers and I. We also needed to fence the place put a yard or 3 in. and build a barn. I don't think it was all done that first year but I know we worked on it for a long time.

So we got some cows and some chickens, pigs and all the fun little critters that come with a farm. Rabbits, ducks, turkeys, crows, rats, pigeons, hawks, owls, raccoons and we must not forget the skunks. We had them all and we had a ball.

THEN I STARTED JR. HIGH......... Look for that to be the next part"Then the trouble started"