petitioning: there are 7 petitions left. we have them on the board in this order: k-12, stem cell, indian gaming, indian gaming #2, local control over your taxes, worker's comp, dna. each one is a ballot initiative that, if it gets enough signatures, will appear on the november ballot. signing it doesn't mean you're for or against, just that you think it's worthy of a vote. this is the closest thing anyone has to direct democracy, though it's tarnished by money and corruption and shady petitioners.

the setup: we sit at a table in front of safeway with 4 or 5 boards and call out to people. i've resorted to: "hey, wanna sign?" and sometimes, "come on, it's easy and free!" if they stop, you explain each petition to them in a variety of ways depending on whether they seem smart or dumb, liberal or conservative, have kids, are native american, hate taxes, care about education, etc etc.

here are all the petitions:

k-12: this one is trying to make preschool free for all families! it also helps fund k-12 education. "how is it paid for?" the money comes from an increase in commercial property taxes but it protects small business owners by exempting them from personal property taxes.

stem cell: this one is to create an institute to fund stem cell research in california. none of the money would go towards human cloning. stem cells are from donated umbilical blood, not from abortions. stem cell research helps find cures for diabetes, parkinsons, alzhiemers, etc. "where does the money come from?" (this is my favorite part). bonds. a 3 billion dollar bond. it would be paid back with money from the patents made at the institute.

indian gaming: this is the fun part. we have two opposing petitions. the first one was written by card houses. it says that indian casinos would be taxed 25% of their slot machine revenues (they are not currently taxed at all), and if they don't agree to that, slot machines would become legal on non-indian land, and THOSE would be taxed 25%. the second petition was written by the indians in response to the first one. it says that indians would pay normal taxes on their slot machines (much less than 25%) in exchange for keeping their exclusive gaming rights. if the person looks smart, you explain all that and let them sign the one they believe in. if they don't seem too smart or they seem like they'll sign anything, you say, "this one is to tax casinos to help the budget crisis" and for the next one, "this one is to make sure casinos stay on indian land" (if they seem anti-gambling) or "this is to make sure indians keep their exclusive gaming rights in california" (if they seem pro-indian). SO many people sign them both, it's hilarious...

taxes: this one is to keep local control over your tax dollars. there's more but it's boring (i don't say that).

worker's comp: this is arnold's worker's comp bill, you might have seen it on the news. he's trying to fix the worker's comp system, make it more efficient and prevent fraud. (actually, this initiative sucks, it forbids workers from getting a second opinion or choosing their own doctor, and much more shitty stuff, in order to lower premiums for employers. if they don't want to sign it i don't push it. i say, "i don't like that one either")

dna: this one is to create a dna database of felons.. to help solve crimes IN THE FUTURE.

so those are the petitions. there used to be 3 more but since they ended i don't feel like writing about them now. here's what's scary: the number one response we have to the k-12 education petition is some variation of: "well, i don't have kids (so that doesn't concern me/ i don't care about that one/ that one doesn't affect me)". WHAT THE FUCK? sadly, the majority of people only sign petitions that DIRECTLY affect them. sometimes even if they had kids, but the kids are grown up, they no longer care about ANYONE else who might have kids. donna and i always want to respond, "yeah, and neither does anyone else." what ever happened to the common good?

if someone signs all the petitions, they're worth $20.50. it's fairly easy to make $100 an hour without really trying. unfortunately, that requires actually going to work.

all the petitions end on april 16th. that means no more money. and we spent 2 weeks not working, for a variety of reasons... couldn't find a spot.. doing too many drugs... wanted to go to the coast (again) / san francisco (again) / the big telescope on the mountain... got in fights with each other... you know how it goes. so for the last days of the petitions we had planned to work long days, every day, and save up money.

lake is really stressed out, and yesterday he kind of lost it, and started telling donna all these scary things like "this is why becky is a selfish bitch who is only after my demise and humiliation."

i had no idea he felt that way.. and he always stores it up and then explodes. (the funny thing is, just last week he told me he loved me... ). donna and i discussed the situation at length and i really just wanted to leave, so i did. i called my friend dan and we made a plan for me to visit him in chico while lake cools off. donna and i made it back to the motel before the others, i quickly packed some things in a small suitcase, and we took off running across the alameda, because we thought they were about to get home (they weren't). i felt like a fugitive, and i was.

it was midnight. the trains weren't running, and greyhound was closed, so i took the 22 to palo alto and slept on a bench for a while, until i got too cold. then i wandered around suburban hell until 5 am, when i took caltrain to san francisco. the next bus to chico isn't until 3 pm, so i left my suitcase at the station and i'm spending the day wandering around.. can't really complain. i feel strangely numb about everything. the first time lake went insane on me, i almost killed myself. this time... it doesn't even feel like it's happening. donna thought maybe if i left he would realize he was being a little insane, but so far he's only become more vicious towards me.

i don't know what we're going to do. i love him, no matter how much he refuses to believe me.