wild waters
took the family down to wild waters today. it turned out to be a nice adventure for us. it rained pretty hard in the middle of the day and we all had to get out of the water and wait. i’d guess it was an hour and a half or two hours before they let everyone back in the water and on the slides. most people had left but somehow we managed to wait it out. to keep them entertained, i let my kids beat up on me for one hour, and then we got some ice cream and ended up in the gift shop. i could have avoided the gift shop if it weren’t for that rain…
the hurricane was the best slide. you had to ride a tube for that one. the wave pool was nice too, though, and the kiddie section was amazing. i could definitely get behind opening a water park in gainesville. of course, it would cost about a million dollars i don’t have. i’d have a tube ride (like one we went on in california one time called the lazy river) where you could float through the whole park on a tube, get off on little islands and play in forts with water guns, or get off at slides or take the lazy river to the zip line… there’d be a real sketchy rope bridge too, that you could try and get accross but it’d be okay if you fell in because the water wouldn’t be far below and it’d be deep enough. of course no insurance company would ever touch it, this satchel’s major water town deluxe.
the picture above is of the van before it got as ragged as it is now. over the years of kids playing in it, all the windows don’t work, the shifter broke off, the doors don’t close good. the curtains had to go… boy, it seems like yesterday when i was driving that baby to work every night.
i’m trying to collect the signs the homeless people hold when they stand by the traffic lights. i pay $5 each for them, which may sound like a lot to you, but just think how much it is to them. not to mention that once you buy their sign they have to stop and go make another (or get a drink and make another…) i’ve only got 2 so far. i’d like to hang 5 or 10 of them in the employee art show next month. if anyone reading this wants to help me, please buy a sign and drop it off for me.
a few years ago you didn’t see this type of thing but on the expressway off ramp in big cities sometimes, now they are everywhere. the other day while i waited at university and waldo road, 3 of the 4 lights had signers. i didn’t stop to buy them all, i was with the family.
part of my idea is to buy up their signs and put them together. i mean, you can’t not be aware of them but to hang them up in a restaurant as art takes the awareness a step further.
my vision was to get a small jar of paint and a few pieces of cardboard and a brush and hand them out to these folks and tell them that maybe if they had something to give out, people would give in to them more freely. i know i’ll give $5 for a sign, but i give nothing for just standing in the heat looking desperate. if they sold tiny paintings, maybe they could get $2 for each one and maybe people would start to collect them from different people, and maybe they could make money this way. how cool would it be to stop at the light and get a cheap painting instead of feeling guilty? they all must have some expression in them like everyone does.
anyway, i haven’t done it yet, get it together to even set up one bum. i’m busy. i have lightnin’ salvage flooding in the rains, i have the restaurant always needing my attention. ukelele night is tomorrow. there’s a house i’m trying to renovate while i deal with a vandal neighbor. the kids are always wanting to do fun stuff. my daughter’s having a birthday party soon…. i could keep writing out my excuses all night.
i talked to one signer, he said he’d do it. but i never got back to it yet. sometimes when i’m running around and my cell phone is vibrating my brain, and i’m swiping my credit card again, and i’m trying to keep my calm in the midst of some problems, it all seems like a dumb idea, trying to start a revolution of signers turning into folk artists…
it’s late and i’ve got a loooong list to hit the groound with tomorrow. good night.
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