Into the infinite

The Occupations

First its the usual spot Union square. Too many of our previous and entangible comrades decided it was a fine spot to preach sleep and eat. Which was absolutely fine and dandy for them. But what comes with these people are the media. The cameras. People from the godforsaken H Post. This also brings an abundance of the nypd every single night trying to once again evict us from a public park. You would think the city itself would have passed something on by now giving the entire movement or rather protesters a reason or time in jail for protesting or encamping on "city property". Other than seeing Michael Bloomberg for a mere five minutes at zuccotti and rand paul nut jobs trying to get us to vote we had no political backing whatsoever. Even rappers showed up initially and donated money or gave us support. Anyway let me get my head out of my ass for a second there. The media responded immediately with local news and every stupid yuppie blogger you could imagine. We tried to do kitchen again. And of course besides the usual social political marking of which yuppie kid got to run what we still had the kitchen in brooklyn despite the rumors. We also still had Jays shit van. So besides a wonderful selfless woman named Lisa making meals up in harlem and delivering them for us we used the kitchen in brooklyn about twice to three times a week now. We also had donations from chain eateries nearby usually the near expired sandwiches but hey its nutrients and its like a 60-40 chance you might get sick. Also we are just ignuitive bums. This is the best we have in the city besides digging in the trash. People are wasteful. Rich people and tourists in a hurry are prime contributors.  We simply take leftovers in a less than tasteful fashion. We had only two days a week to work in this soup kitchen in east brooklyn four maybe 5 hours at a time. Sleep became something precious and something for the most part only to be had at 3-4 hours at a time. This was something myself and others endured for years. Again the police or property owner would probably wake you and hopefully just ask you to move. Peoples moods define other peoples fates and its a very devastating thing sometimes. You just adapt and learn to survive. It just never seemed like surviving with Louis.  It was an adventure. Every single day. Even growing up in the city I found and saw places I have never experienced before. Sometimes it got scary and I recall seeing fear even in his eyes. People do some horrible things when they think no one is around or watching them. But as much as I held onto us and embraced the storm that is the city he very much felt the same way. We tried to do normal couple things sometimes. We would have someone watch our backpacks while we went to a movie or dinner or a shit bar. It never mattered. Anyone could be bribed with a few bucks and some beer. And well the beautiful thing about nyc was you could pretty much walk anywhere you need to. It made my heart swell when he wanted to learn more about the neighborhood I came from. The charleston cyn lounge and the levee were all my favorite spots and I happily shared my weird world by the water in brooklyn with him.  Most places to hang out if they weren't free or cheap it wasn't worth it. Most museums although far uptown were also easy to explore and spend hours at. We always ended everyday exhausted kissing underneath something about to do it again in public. People constantly judging and marking unsolicated remarks at you especially as a girl makes you feel so terrible inside.  When it was just us breaking away and being alone in a very crowded city in these little corners we found meant everything to me. It kept me feeling sane still me. Not a homeless dirty begging for change bum. The world seemed not so terrible and I was falling deeper in love. The east river for the next two years of my life was the scenary and my sanctuary. We decided maybe it would best to actually sleep down here. Go back downtown. Maybe we won't be dealt with the same and its so vacant. Others talked about going back down where it all started as well. But the park seemed so dangerous. People have made attempts in small doses to sleep there and the results were security then the pd. Fuck that. Many started sleeping adjacent towards wall street itself. The spot in question as adjacent to the stock exchange. Not only was this the greatest chance to actively tell these people what we want but this has all the opportunity for chaos. This is how to antagonize properly without making a huge ruckess. Once again the usual suspects toting beanies and their mac laptops set up shop and now it becomes a much bigger deal. This was our first repeat occupation. It seemed unanimous this wouldn't last very long or pick up speed like before. However this was beyond noticable. And the folks whom work and congregate here will be at the very least unhappy with our remaining here still. We and by we I mean myself and Louis always packed and left everyday. We had too many incidents and random missing items to test that furthermore. Also it was a good system that kept us believe it or not from being lazy. Still everyone from the squat banded together. After all we are family. Even Lee's grumpy ass hung out with us and reminisced even then about that goddamn apartment. Outside of the banks and pharmacies in the area we would walk around endlessly checking out places we never gave a second thought to. We frequented J&R music and he would sit in the guitar section always drawing a crowd. Even in those twenty minute intervals watching him play I know it meant everything to him. The employees enjoyed it as well because of his particular taste in guitars. Even the guitar center on 14th all knew him and the way he played. We got milkshakes nearby and smoked by the water eating cheese and crackers like usual. It was always a habit to return to our spot at nightfall just in case shit were to go down. Crossing jane street these two guys were eyeing me and Louis. Nothing unusual about sneering brokers. But these guys weren't sneering in suits they said hey and asked if we were doing anything later. Louis taken aback asked why and the bearded broker replied with "Hey man wicked party at my place tonight meet me down at the block in a few hours and lets chill." Louis squeezed my hand "Maybe dude we'll see thanks". So we waited a few hours and being that nothing seemed occurring police wise we stood by the building beardy indicated. "You know if your not comfortable we don't have to do this baby." I laughed and said "Nah I'm good plus you could easily take him." He kissed my forehead and laughed. And as I live and breathe this snarky ass kid walks up and starts talking to me and Louis. He explained how he saw us talking to the brokers earlier and it seemed like bad news. He then proceeded to call us fakes. His name was Chase. And he was totally from fucking new jersey. Louis took a small knife out from his pocket and said "I think we will be fine man thanks." They both laughed and made jokes me still standing there like what the hell man.  Beardy struts up with a dark skinned woman and two other guys. "You guys ready?" Louis still holding my hand went into this random brokers apartment literally across the street from the stock exchange. As weird as the situation was everyone was pretty cool. Brokers are also at the end of the day people too. They were just far more stressed out with their jobs. We got some grilling about the occupation but we mostly spent our time there drinking black label listening to old records snow included. He had an incredible view of the stock exchange. I  think when we left the apartment laughing with this guy at 4am back to our spot was when a few truely began to dislike me. I could care less. There were a few people I have always trusted and kept onto that but there were more others just fending for themselves.  There were also times when this was pure animalistic shit. You have no idea how desperate and how far one human being will actually go to survive. You can transform tragedy to triumph in the blink of an eye but you better count your blessings fast. It'll be gone before you know it. And thats how we spent each and every moment which each other hand in hand just living. I never had such a loving partner someone who always made sure I was fed clothed and warm. No matter how much I resisted he still would always try to help. Louis is and always will be a beautiful gemstone that found its place in my heart.  He made me less cynical and for the first time in a very long time I wasn't afraid to smile. Sometimes Louis would leave for an hour and come back with a long dress over his shoulder he clearly stole for me. I never owned anything in my life from Neiman Marcus. Insisted I change in the nearest starbucks so he could walk around the city to quote him "show me off". I felt like a person not a bum for a few hours. Like there was maybe a chance we could get out of this all of this alive.