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by Joe B.
While looking a the last two hour Xena[Warrior Princess]
the emergency broadcast broke into the show explaining
that a major 7.9 earthquake off the coast of Peru, Chile,
and Bolivia killing many people and destroying buildings
is heading to toward
San Francisco
after hitting Los Angeles taking an hour to
get here at 2:39 am Sunday.
The show resumes as I watch it thinking of what
a
Tsumami looks like. Aside from a disaster show where
I saw people actually looking at one up close getting swept
into the sea as it hit them with terrifying force.
"Now that was a stupid thing to do" is my thinking when
it suddenly came to me, "I could check it out forgetting
what I just said about people doing the exact same thing.
When Xena ended I set my alarm for 1 am watching
"Saturday Night Live" with two Hilarious skits on the Bush Presidency
and later if Nader was President as pink pigs flew, devils playing with
snowballs with Nader shaking hands with them.
I awake before the 1 am alarm.
quickly washing up, get dressed, wore two shirts, a black sweatshirt
with a zippered front pouch inside is a notepad, pen, and taperecorder.
Its not cold but breezy, on the way I hear sirens, see police cars
people gather outside a bar as two more sit on the pavement
while three police write notes.
A purple van rode by inside are two pretty women,
both are well formed black woman. They call out "We're Prostitutes."
My peripheral vision saw them but being
so intent on not missing a rare natural event I say
"I have something else to see." I thought immediately what
they’d think, another gay guy walking up Polk Street.
I hadn’t walked up Polk Street to Fisherman’s Wharf
in years but I still walk all over the city so I’m
not out of shape.
Endurance seems to be my natural Wild Card power
however intelligence or plain mother wit
may not have been hardwired into my wetware.
The closer I get to the 900 beach and The Natural Historical Park
and Maritime Marine Museum I’m thinking what have I done?
"Going to the site of a Pacific Tsunami, in dawn’s dark,
without friends or a floatation device is nuts.
I go to check the water by the lit lamps I do not see much beach sand.
The wait is long when arriving at 2 am on a quiet
Fisherman’s Wharf and a few people walking the Wharf or
in the curved apartment building looking out at the waters.
When 2:39 am arrived there is a sigh of relief
from me as I now know if the
Tsunami had been a been heading at me I’d wouldn’t
be able to out run and having no bus fare only adds to my inspired idiocy.
I’m walking back home craning my neck just in case I might have to run away.
By 3:19 am. safe at home the minor non adventure over
I sleep thinking how stupid-curious I am and if we as a global civilization
can balance these and other drives
we as a species might survive our searchings and wonderlust to learn
from nature maybe all those horrible deaths will have meaning.
And as for myself on Sunday Gay Pride Day.
I am at my office sending a quick Darwin Award Story
to Art Bell because I must laugh at my gene defect and yet.
If there was a circular rip in time’s continuum that appeared in
front of me I’d probably jump in for the adventure of it
but that's just me.
I know we all do dumb things, but I
actually heard the warning and still went out to see what a Tsunami really looks like.
My adventure done,
I’ll go home and fix up my one room apartment.
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