To the Itinerant Born

No great surprise, sometimes I prefer to avoid dealing with people.

Hm.

Here's a tangent.. how I became the Itinerant Sort.

The high school I went to in Jamaica, Kingston College, is a prestigous one scholastically and athletically.

One problem. It was overcrowded. We took in every qualified scholastic and athletic scholarship that couldnt go elsewhere among the top-tier schools. So much so, that we had staggered shifts, morning and evening schools, alternating in years.

In the 3rd and 5th Forms, (the equivalent of 9th and 11th grades in the US) - I was in the night shifts.


I ENJOYED staying up til 3am. Cuz I could.

Since then, my internal clock has permanently shifted. I prefer waking up at 11am, going to sleep at 2am. I prefer working the night shifts, morning shifts require too much damned coffee.

I prefer to go HOME at the crack of dawn.

The side benefit to that is that the streets are usually empty on a midnight stroll, or a 6 am stroll. I like wandering alone. I like working till early in the morn.

If I could, Id shop at midnight or 1am.

Cuz then there arent as many people around.

Having to fit to other folks schedules irritate the living shit out of me, one reason Im always chronically late to dates and appointments. It follows that people who want me to fit to their schedules ALSO irritate the living shit out of me.

This is why I slept under the stars in the cold last night.

After Clients Misbehaving Badly, the last thing I wanted to do was having to conform to my host's sleep schedule. (One of the drawbacks of couch surfing...)

Not last night. I wanted my freedom. So, I froze my ass off in the "mild" Bay Area weather under the stars.

Does it suck? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Yes.

In New York, I used to have my Coffee and Donuts at 5:30 am. I did so this morn.

It felt good.

I did my laundry at 7am. Did it feel good? Yes.

The streets were free of people.

It was blissful.

I hid out in the Berkeley Espresso and lied to the people who wanted me on their schedule today.

They irritate the fuck out of me.

I sat back and chatted and grooved to my girl until she fell asleep. (Her schedule is also strange due to her career.) She made my day as usual.

After she fell asleep, I stayed in the corner of the coffee shop, kept the conversations terse and short and lied to people to get them off my back.

So, there you go - thats why Im Itinerant.

I prefer to be on my own schedule.