The Sweet Sleep of Population Control

Looking at photos and videos of the streets of Kensington is surreal. For blocks it looks like some kind of human zoo that's populated by zombies. They could make another movie in the series called "Streets of the Dead," and they wouldn't have to hire any extras or use any makeup or tell anyone to act like a zombie. If you don't believe me, check out a few vids on YouTube. For those times when you feel like a useless POS, it's excellent therapy. You ain't got nothing on those folks.

 This person seems to be catching a nice little nap, but it looks like those pigeons are waiting for him to croak so they can eat him. It looks like he's already turning blue, but hopefully that's a glove. What sort of life expectancy would someone like this have? Six months to a year at best? The streets of Kensington seem like an experiment in natural selection. It's population control. 

 What blows my mind and makes me feel uncomfortable is seeing people nod-off, lean over and go to sleep standing up. It's like a magic trick or something. They're defying gravity. They can't even properly fall down when they pass out. They should have a free Chiropractic clinic every few blocks. It makes me feel all achy-breaky to see those people sleeping like that. 

 Before Fentanyl came along the thing was heroin of course, but then they began to cut the heroin with cheaper Fent. During the plannedemic, the supply-chain shortages affected even the drug trade, so they pretty much went to straight Fentanyl. 

 The zombies didn't seem to mind, but now they're cutting the damn Fentanyl with something called "tranq," which is a nasty, nasty substance. It's called the "zombie drug," and since these people are already zombies to begin with, they're doubly-fucked. They don't stand a chance, long-term anyway. Zombies will be zombies I guess.

 Years ago I watched a doc, at least as much of it as I could stand. It was about a young couple whose lives basically revolved around getting high. A camera crew followed them around for a day, to show how they survived and got money for dope and whatnot. They ate out of trash cans, did their business and even took "baths" in Portapottys. They panhandled, washed windows and sometimes did other things to get money that they didn't want to mention. I'm pretty sure it was in Portland, but the story is the same everywhere.

 They did their thing, finding some fresh-ish pastries from a bakery dumpster, freshening up in a Portapotty, panhandling and such and by the afternoon they had enough money to score. They visited their dealer and they were happy as clams. They shot-up in another Portapotty, which is all well and good I guess, but they started to nod immediately, and they were out cold within a few minutes and slept for hours.

 When they woke up they'd slept-off their high, and had to go through the process all over again. It'd have been one thing if they'd been able to walk around and check out the city and at least enjoy their buzz for a little while, but they passed out right away. All that trouble just to nod-off...I don't get it. I'm guessing by now they either seriously cleaned up their act, or they've achieved room temperature. Cheers, or adios, as the case may be.

 It may sound like I don't feel for these people but I very much do, and if I could afford it I'd help them out. I'd partner-up with the My Pillow guy and start an organization called "For the Love of God Sleep Horizontally Foundation" or the "Blankey Project" or something like that.

 Once a week or so I'd go up there and hand out pillows and blankets. If I saw people sleeping standing up, I'd gently lower them to the ground, give them a My Pillow and a blanket and tuck a McDonald's voucher into their pockets. I'm not a heartless bastard, and I don't like to see people sleep vertically. I bet they'd trade me some tranq for a good night's sleep. Poor zombies. RIP y'all.