Top of the World

For some reason I have always had a fascination with tall buildings and big bridges.  I have always loved cities and the vibe that comes from them.  I have gotten to see most of the large cities in this country.  I went to many of them because the Grateful Dead was playing there.  Sometimes, I just went to them because I wanted to see them.  I love to travel.  My favorite cities are New York and San Francisco.  I like Chicago.  Los Angeles has grown on me since I have lived in California.   I used to visit South Florida often.  Miami is a beautiful city.  Seattle is a pretty cool city.  I of course have a special place in my heart for my home town of Cincinnati.  And being away from it has changed my view of that city – in a good way.

When it came down to it, San Francisco or New York was where I really wanted to be.  I ended up in San Francisco.  The weather is much better here than in New York.  I also love the mountains and bay here.  Perhaps it is the people and the liberal attitude that I love the most about this city.  I still wouldn’t mind living in New York someday, though.  I imagine we’ll end up back in Cincinnati someday – hopefully downtown. There is just something about the infrastructure, architecture, makeup and the vibe of cities that I love.  I love being in big crowds of people.  I love riding subway trains.  I even like the craziness a city offers.

When I was young, I couldn’t wait to go to the top of the Empire State Building and The World Trade Center.  I was fortunate to get to do so.  I loved going to Soldier Field, Madison Square Garden and RFK Stadium to see the Dead.  I thought the east coast was much better than the west coast. 

I didn’t think I would ever want to live in California.  In 1995, I was going to propose to Susan at the top of the Toronto Skydome, the tallest structure in the world at that time, but Jerry Garcia died and the show we had tickets to in Toronto was, of course, canceled. 

After that, I set my sights on New York City - Time Square to be exact.  I had heard that you could rent 30 seconds of time on the jumbotron and I was going to propose by way of video message.  I found out that they quit doing that not long before I had planned to do so.  I still thought New York would be a great place to propose.  It was, of course, going to be a surprise.  I have a history of overdoing things in life; Susan, however, was worth it.

Back then, Delta Airlines had this program called Delta escapes and you could fly to your choice of 8 or 9 cities for about 4 days over a weekend for anywhere from $49.00 to $199.00 round trip.   The cities were selected by Delta one week in advance.  I was planning on going to New York when a friend who was living in Montana at the time called me and said he was going to San Francisco for the weekend.  It just so happened that San Francisco was a Delta Escapes city that weekend and I thought, “I’m sure there is a great place in San Francisco to propose”.  Plus, she won’t suspect anything if we are meeting Scott.  Oh yeah, Susan had told me she would never fly.  I gave her the tickets and told her they were an early Christmas present since it was the month of December.  She was very excited to go to San Francisco – not so excited to fly.

We stayed in Chinatown that trip.  I ended up proposing to her at the top of nearby Telegraph Hill.  Telegraph Hill is one of the highest points in the city and has beautiful 360 degree views of the city.  From the top of that hill one can see downtown with a great view of the Trans American Pyramid, the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.  It is also the hill upon which Coit Tower is built.  It is located in the North Beach neighborhood.  North Beach is San Francisco’s Little Italy.  Being one of the highest points in the city, we had to walk up some steep hills.  I was walking fast as usual, perhaps even faster than usual since I was a little anxious about the proposal.  Susan asked me, “What’s wrong with you?  Slow down.  Do you have a rocket up your butt?”  It was very romantic.  In the end, she said “yes”.  We walked down the hill and ate at Sam’s Pizza.   That area has a special place in my heart. 

Jerry was gone, but, we saw Bob Weir and Ratdog at the Warfield Theater that first trip.  We now live about two blocks from The Warfield.  We got engaged in San Francisco.  Part of our honeymoon was spent in San Francisco.  We also stayed in Napa Valley, Pismo Beach, Long Beach and San Diego.  It was a nice trip down the California Coast.  We really fell in love with California, especially San Francisco.  We visited about ten times before we finally moved here.  Every time we visited, I loved going across the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was so amazing and beautiful.  I loved going over to the Marin Headlands and seeing the view overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco  and the San Francisco Bay.  It’s the view on the album cover, Dead Set - the one with the skeletons sitting in the Marin Headlands.

Dead Set

Back then, I could have never in my wildest dreams imagined what was in store for me in San Francisco.  I have no idea how many nights I spent out by the Golden Gate Bridge.  I never dreamed I would spend any.  I spent many.  The area west of the bridge on either side of the waterway known as the Golden Gate is very remote.   It is where the San Francisco Bay opens up to the Pacific Ocean.  It consists of beaches, cliffs, Eucalyptus forests, caves, tunnels, trails, wild animals and gun batteries built over the last century or more to protect our country against attack.  I spent many nights in these caves, gun batteries and tunnels or deep within the thick brush in these areas.  It was a perfect place to escape from people and use drugs.  I saw so many things out there that I can’t explain.  Years ago, I decided the New World Order was controlling the weather, creating landslides and could cause earthquakes to create Tsunamis.  I used to watch “the boats” that lined up along the coast do their “experiments”.  I was of course insane, but some really weird things occurred while I was out there.  One night I was in a slow moving landslide that started just after I watched sparks fly down the coast.  That night, the city appeared to be gone, to me.  I could not see the lights of it.  I thought there had been a huge earthquake.  I wondered if Susan was okay.  Then, I thought that that maybe I was dead.  It was a strange night.  There were many strange nights out there.  I have written about them in the past and I may write about them in the future.



Me in the Marin Headland a few years ago.  I use this photo on my business card as part of my logo these days.



Gun Battery in the Marin Headlands

The one thing that was always there was The Golden Gate Bridge - the bridge that I had watched countless documentaries about.  It is a bridge that loved ones bought me books about.  It is the bridge that my dreams were based upon.  People thought that bridge couldn’t be built.  Eleven men died building that bridge.  That bridge seems to have taken on life of its own.  Over a thousand people have chosen to end their lives on the Golden Gate Bridge.  In my darkest times, I thought I might end my life in the woods out by that bridge.  I wasn’t planning on jumping.  For my own sick reasons I’d rather not discuss, I thought I would cut my wrists to end it all.  I sometimes even carried razor blades in my backpack.  The truth is, I knew I could never go through with it.  It was just too final.  I didn’t want to hurt Susan like that either.  Still, I sometimes feared that I might somehow go through with it if I was really out of my mind.

The Golden Gate Bridge was supposed to represent beautiful things to me.  It made me think of all that this city was supposed to be to me.  It made me think about how I got my dream job out here.  It made me think of how I was living in this beautiful place.  It made me think of Susan.  I saw dozens of shooting stars while out there.  My wish was always the same.  “God, please let me quit using this drug.  Please let me live a normal life with my wife”, who I always cared about – even when I was out there for days at a time losing my mind.  I use to see couples walking down the beach holding hands.  This made me so sad.  I cried so many times out there.  I wasn’t here to live that sick and insane life.  I could not get out of the insanity however.  I could not stop using.  It’s hard to explain why, but once I am in the grips of my addiction it is hard to escape.

I spent most of my time out there a couple of years ago.  More recently, I rarely had the energy to make it that far.  I found myself under docks, in railroad tunnels and in alleyways - anywhere to get away from people.    My using takes me to dark and disgusting places. I even used in port-o-lets sometimes.   I would sometimes use at home, but I didn’t want to do this either.  On one hand I wanted to be home where Susan was, on the other, I didn’t want to be around her when I was that fucked up.  Sometimes, she kicked me out.  She was trying to protect me from myself.  On the rare occasion that I had enough money, I would rent a room in a cheap piss-in-the-sink hotel for a night.  These places can be pretty disgusting and scary.  A couple of times, I had people I didn’t know just walk right in on me in the middle of the night.  These rooms are very basic.  They have an old dirty bed and a sink.  One time there was actually a painting on the wall of one of my rooms.  It was a painting of telegraph hill.  However, it was from a time before the city was here.  It was just an empty hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay.  The city was gone again.

I left the ICU a little over 3 months ago and insanely enough, used drugs again.  I don’t really remember being in or leaving the ICU.  I have vague memories of standing with a walker at the hospital, eyeballing the exit.  I have vague memories of a good friend coming over to our house to help Susan convince me to not use again.  I have vague memories of Susan chasing me down to Sixth Street at 5:00 in the morning.  She told drug dealers, “Don’t sell him drugs, he just got out of the ICU!”  She asked cops to arrest me.  She told prostitutes, “I didn’t ask you for your advice” when they criticized her for trying to have me arrested.  She was trying to save my life since the doctors told her I could die if I used again.  My clearest memories began in a familiar place – in the woods out by the Golden Gate Bridge.  I could barely walk.  It was there that I looked down at myself and saw all the tape on my arms and body from all the monitoring equipment and I.V.’s they had me hooked up to at the hospital.  It was there where I called Susan a couple of times and began negotiating my return to recovery.  She told me I could not come home until I got help.  She had spent a week by my side in the ICU and could not take my using anymore.  She had locked me out again.  It was for my own good.  It was for her wellbeing as well.  She did meet me at the BART station and bought me some Gatorade and food to help prevent my sodium levels from dropping again.  I wandered around this city and started getting help.  I stumbled into multiple rehabs, free clinics and friends in recovery’s homes.  After this, Susan let me back in and helped me, which is what she was always willing to do.  Perhaps I’ll tell the ICU story in more detail someday, but I guess I covered a lot of my departure from it.

I have been clean ever since.  It is a short time, but I do believe in my heart it will stick this time.  I will have to work at my recovery every day. I now have the willingness.   Since I have been clean, I have done some amazing things. As I wrote about in a previous blog, I toured the new bay bridge that is under construction.  We went out on a boat underneath it and then we went out on the bridge itself.

New Bay Bridge Construction

Susan and I on the new Bay Bridge deck.

I have made so many new friends. This is something I have not really done for years because of my addiction. I do have some street artists’ friends, but I abandon them too when I am using.  My recovery friends really mean a lot to me.  I have spent some quality time with them in my recovery.  Some of them I met in my previous attempts at getting clean, but never got really that close to them.  They always told me to “keep coming back.”  They were there for me in those hard early days.  I have become much closer to them.

I have also met some new friends in recovery.  In my rehab, I have spent a lot of time getting to know fellow addicts who do not have a lot clean time like me.  We are getting clean together.  One of my new friends invited us to his mother’s home on Telegraph Hill to watch the Blue Angels perform this past weekend.  I have always wanted to get some shots of the Blue Angels from this vantage point with the Trans American Pyramid, the Bay Bridge and Coit Tower in the shot.  I got some nice ones of all three. 

The Bay Bridge

Coit Tower

Trans American  Pyramid

It was nice to have my head together when the Blue Angels were in town.  I always get better photos when my head is together.  I also got to sell my photos for the first time while they were in town.  My first day back to work was on Saturday.  In the past, I would gear up for selling.  I would print a lot of Blue Angel photos, go to the lottery held the day before to get a space on Beach Street, where I intended to sell, and then relapse that night.   I have had a pattern of self destruction in the past.  This time, I did all those things and kept it together.  The lottery for Justin Herman Plaza, the plaza I wanted to sell this time, is held on the same day at 6:00AM.  Right as I turned off my car to go to the lottery I heard the verse from that Alanis Morrisette song, “You won the lottery…”  I thought that might be a good sign.  There were probably 150 people there for about 100 spaces. There was a wine tasting event scheduled that day that used 20 spaces in Justin Herman Plaza, reducing the usual 120 spaces available down to 100 spaces.  Because of this, I thought I might not get to sell on my first day back to work and completely prepared myself for that possibility.  I actually kind of expected it.   I drew number 14.  I got a good space.  I only sold a couple of blue angle pictures, which is less than most Saturdays, but it was a great day overall.  It was just nice to be back at work.  I even got some nice shots of the Blue Angels from the area while Susan watched my booth. 

Ferry Building and Bay Bridge from Justin Herman Plaza

My booth set up Saturday

Just being back to work is nice.  I am only working (out there selling my photos) part time – three days a week for now.  I now have a good recovery foundation.  In the past, I was always in such a rush to get back to work and would end up neglecting my recovery and then relapsing.  My addiction is pretty serious.  It has been really hard for me to stay clean.  I still struggle today, but I work pretty hard to stay clean.  The rewards are coming.

The best part is spending time with Susan.  I really appreciate that time more than anything else.  I was clean and had my head together for her birthday and our anniversary.  I would encourage anyone who takes the little things for granted in life – not to.  I have in the past.  I try not to, now.  I am trying to remain grateful every day.  Having yet another chance at life has given me this willingness to stay clean and a lot of gratitude.

I have talked in previous blogs about one particular really cool event that was coming up in my life.  It happened.  I said that the photographs would say it all.  They won’t.  They won’t because I had to sign a waiver agreeing that I would not use them commercially or post them anywhere on-line, including facebook.  Last Tuesday Susan and I got to ride a little elevator to a height of probably 720 feet to a little room where we climbed another 20 feet up a ladder to an even smaller room which had yet another ladder that was about 6 feet high.  Once we climbed that ladder we found ourselves standing 746 feet above the water way known as the Golden Gate.  We were standing on the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Since I could not post the photos, I thought I would try to create an image with words.  (I probably over-did it). 

I was really looking forward to sharing those photos, but I will, of course, honor their request not to post them.  Susan has some good connections these days.  However, she was not able to get permission for me to use the photos.  I was hoping I could sell them, but I can’t.  It is not even about selling them for me.  It is more about sharing that vantage point and our experience through my photographs.  I was able to email them to family and friends.  The photos are pretty telling of the experience, however, they still cannot fully capture what it was like to be up there.  Living it was pretty amazing for me.  It was truly one of the best highs I have ever had.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime event for me.  I truly felt like I was standing on top of the world. 

  It was a beautiful day.  It was a little hazy, but the visibility was still very good.  It was windy and pretty cold up there, but that was expected.  If you stood on the right side of the tower, out of the wind, it was very pleasant.  The views were absolutely beautiful. 

There is a very narrow walkway on the outside of the towers.  The walkway is nothing more than a metal grate allowing you to see 746 feet straight down to the water.  I am okay with heights, but being out there certainly had my stomach tingling.  I was proud of Susan.  Normally, she won’t even walk all the way across the bridge on the street level and considered not going up to the top at all.  I think she knew what an opportunity it was and when the opportunity arrived, she not only went up to the top, but also walked a little ways out onto the really narrow grated walkway around the towers and beneath the main cable.

The grated walkway from below

None of it would have been possible if I were using.

Life may not always have such amazing events in the future, but I know it will continue to get better.  I don’t mean to describe my insanity in this blog too often, but it has been my reality.  A reality I must never forget.  When I consider using, I must play the tape all the way through to remember where using takes me.  It is said that with addiction, you pick up where you left off.  I have relapsed enough times to know this to be true.  I left off in the ICU, so I don’t have much further to go.

I also like to remind myself of the gifts of recovery.  I get to do some amazing things when I am clean.  While going to amazing vantage points and taking photos is great, just living life is nice, too.  I like it when Susan and I walk Phil or take a bike ride.  I like making us dinner.  I like waking up clean.  I have tried to say a prayer, asking for guidance and giving thanks each morning.  I also do this at night before I go to bed.  I look forward to living my life clean.  I hope this blog becomes about that and only that.  I never want this blog to become the rollercoaster of my life as it was in the past.  I quit writing this blog for over a year.  Perhaps I will fill in some of the blanks in the future; perhaps not.  There’s not much to say about those days.  They were pretty pathetic.  Still, those days had their moments because I can look back and see that I was on my path toward getting clean.  Still, I’d rather be where I am today.  I guess I’m starting to babble so it must be time to end this blog.

It seems this blog is read mostly by my friends and family.  But, I have picked up a lot of new readers since switching this blog to BlogSpot and connecting it to FaceBook.  I was hesitant to do this.  But, I received some really nice support from people who started reading this blog.  Thank you.  It means a lot to me.  I was a little nervous about sharing all of this insanity to a new group of people. 

Anyway, what I am trying to say is the waiver I signed allows me to email my Golden Gate Bridge photos and use them for non-commercial purposes.   I have a pretty large email list of friends and family that I send photos to on a fairly regular basis.  I sent them the photos from atop the bridge.  If you are reading this and would like to see some of the photos, feel free to contact me via email and I will forward that email to you.  My email is dbeaty127@yahoo.com.  If you found this blog and we are not friends yet, let’s be.  But, please do not post them anywhere!