Goad1 Feb 2005

I tried really hard to be a bum on the street several years ago, to get that whole authenticity thing going. I sold or put in storage everything I owned and hit the streets with a backpack, some photocopies of my pomes, and 40 Cdn dollars in my pocket.

Unfortunately I failed miserably, as over the next 11 months I earned around $14,000 U.S. dollars with my crappy pomes -- which, since I paid no rent during that time (I was continually offerred places to stay, or camped) and paid no taxes, was a reasonably decent amount of money with which to enjoy what was essentially a year-long vacation. Most embarrassing moment? I was on Telegraph avenue all decked out like a hippy selling photocopied pomes tackily signed with metallic gold ink (it increased how much money people "donated" for some stupid reason)and up walks a woman I went to university with...she was doing her doctorate at Berkeley. lol. She definitely seemed to buy into my bum on the streets disguise.