My name's Akino. I've been an addict for a very long time. Uh, let's see. 36 years. Off and on. Was married, divorced,was an underground engineer. Was buried alive three times. And that's made me a little screwed up in my head. I have been inside [prison] for homicide a couple of times. I'm not the friendliest guy in the world. Inside. Outside, I'm a nice guy. [laughs]. Inside, not a nice guy. Well, you gotta survive. I paid my debts to society. I was very young when I did it.

I've been on the street since I was thirteen. I came [to Canada] at nine. I was on the street at thirteen. I grew up in Texas. Different way of life. Okay. This way of life is kindergarten [compared to] where I'm from. This is kindergarten. I've been to Vancouver, and it makes this place look like kindergarten. I mean, I've seen some pretty rough… like, over the years, I've seen just about everything you could possibly think, see, imagine. Rape to murder. I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't think you want me to lie to you.

I’ve ODed like 65 times in this place right here. The last six times have been bad. Really bad. I was unconscious for ten hours. So, I slowed down. I don't use that stuff anymore. It's not worth it. You learn that and it loses its luster. Life is more important than shooting up. Plus, it interferes with my occupation: collecting and sorting out problems.

I sleep four hours every two days. I don't sleep well for a reason. I don't like to dream. Dreams aren't fun. Horrifying. Especially when I dream about what has happened, you know, like being buried and stuff like that. And getting shot and just all kinds of things I've seen over the years, you know?

I have mental anxiety disorder, general anxiety disorder. I have PTSD, I have acute depression. I have spinal digitizers. I have cancer, and I also have a tumor on my heart. I'm dying slowly. Quicker than most. Basically, it's heart disease. And I still smoke. Some things you just can't quit. If I quit cigarettes, I'd go out of my mind. I wish I could quit dope as easy as I quit drinking. I just can't do it. I haven't drank in 35 years. But dope [I did] five minutes ago. It's just a habit.

My father tried to commit suicide when I was ten. He asked me to get his pills out of the fridge. So, I have that dream in my head too. I gave him the pills, he took them, and I went and told my mom. 300 [Percocet] and a bottle of ginger ale. And my dad tried to kill me, choke me. I've had a rough, rough life. Shot twice. Point blank range.

Well, you ever have a dream where you're falling? And they say if you hit the ground, you're dead. That's not true. Because I've dreamt that I’ve fallen in holes and they fill up with me in them and I'm still here. I got buried under the streetcar tracks. That's a real heavy dream. I wake up in a cold sweat with that one. [It is] exactly what I experienced. I remember every minute. I was underground digging a tunnel for rail cars. And the guy let the street cars go by. Both at the same time. Not too bright. And I was the only one down there. And the vibration collapsed the tunnel. They pulled me out inverted. Legs snapped. I hung from a tripod. That's a fun dream. I’ve dreamt that one lots of times.

That's why I don't go to sleep much. My doctor has me on special pills for sleep. I take muscle relaxants to go to sleep. Lots of medication. I did a dumb move and ate a hundred Tylenol and fell asleep. When I woke up a third of my blood supply was in my stomach and I almost died. That's a nice dream. Waking up walking in the hallway, all white like a ghost. That's terrifying.

I dream about my parents and what they've done to me. I was raped as a child. Molested as a child. [I was] nine years old. I don't dream about that very often, but that's one of worst dreams I had. I don't share that very often. But I’ve come to grips with it. Never told my parents until I was almost 30. Well, I told my dad. I didn’t speak to my mom after I was 21.

I share my dreams with my friends that are here [at Moss Park]. This place here is very important. The people that work here are very, very nice people. And I take it upon myself to look after them. There's a nurse here who's like my mom. She’s a sweetheart. She came to the hospital with me when I was very, very sick and almost died a couple of times of pneumonia. That I've had 13 times. I'm not a well man.

I love this place. I'm glad it's not being shut down yet. But we gotta keep it on an even keel. No messing around. That's kind of why they like having me around. I’m kind of like judge and jury. People just don't screw around when I'm here because I don't tolerate it. Why wreck for all of us? Where are you gonna go when there's nowhere else to go? Who’s gonna save your life? They've saved my life one too many times. So, I owe them a lot