Homeless like me (continued)
Well, I talked to my friend Trey online, he's a friend I've had since the first grade. A few moments later after I left the library, my other friend Steve called me and offered me a place to stay. A few days later I moved to Tucson. Of all of the things that have happened to me in the last few weeks/months that bothered me a lot was having to get rid of my cat Abby.
Abby was a special cat. I've had many cats during my lifetime--Abby would talk to you. This is the literal truth when I say the cat followed me home for over a block and a half. I heard a meow one day walking home from the store and I saw this little grey ball of fluff. I said,"Hello kitty." She meowed back at me. I picked her up for a bit of a scratch and then ut her down. I said, "Goodbye, kitty." The next thing I know, she was following me down over the street. When I turned into my driveway, she ran up the stairs and sat down and waited for me at the door. Thus our relationship was born. I know that this is a strange statement after losing my parents in the last decade and what bothered me most was having to give away my cat, but it's the truth.
Ok, I'm on the bus to Tucson. It left Vegas at 7 p.m. that night and arrived at Tucson the next morning at 8 a.m. The stops were Kingman, Flagstaff, Prescott, Phoenix, then Tucson. We basically went the length of the state.
Steve, God bless him and keep him, hasn't had to look for work since high school. He had owned his own buisiness for the last twenty years. Of all of our classmates, I feel he is the most successful,even moreso than the allums of my highschool that went to college. Someone who starts his buisness with just a carport and twenty years later has a four bay garage and a house with a pool is a success in my book.
Steve had me job searching for an hour or two a day and fill out aps on buisnesses that he knew were hiring. The only problem was that for every position open, there was many, many people applying. Till recently, I didn't know any tricks that may make my ap stand out from the crowd. Then the next few hours I'd spend at the shop with him and then we'd go back to the house after 5.
I'm not going to put the blame of not having a job since April on Steve. I made some bad choices too. My friend Trey gave me $100 and I chose to spend it on my cellphone and smokes and a little bit on beer. I felt 'human' for the first time in a long time. I should have taken the dollars and bought a monthly bus pass and then went out searching on my own.
The good part is that I'm 90+% smoke free. I still enjoy the flavor of a smoke and I have to watch myself once I go to work not to go back to a pack+ a day. It's a spendy habit.
Trey, God bless him too, did some internet research for me. He found the job training program that I just completed, I start looking for work tomorrow. The only problem is that you need to be homeless to qualify for it and stay in a shelter...So I was basically pushed in that direction.
As I stated above, I was staying with Steve a few nights a week at his house and then the rest of the time in the office at his garage. Hygene was a bit difficult at the shop. No matter how well you take a sponge bath, you don't get as clean as a shower or a bath. When Steve and Melissa were fighting, I stayed for days at the shop. It was lonely. I had foodstamps so I ate well. Most of the time I had busfare anda library was 3 miles away so I can check out books and stuff. I wasn't bored crazy a lot of the time.
The beginning of the end, if you will, was when I lost my foodstamp card. Supposedly it would take 5-10 buisness days to come. Well it didn't show up. Then Steve suggested about this Jackson program. I figure what the hell, try it.
I got a bed in the Primavera Men's Shelter. They have very strict rules to get a bed. You must call prompty at 9 a.m. Not 8:59 or 9:01 but 9.
I got a bed and spent a week at the Primavera Men's Shelter. My first night was on a Thursday. On Friday, I went to get a t.b. test and got it read on Monday(to be continued next week)
Abby was a special cat. I've had many cats during my lifetime--Abby would talk to you. This is the literal truth when I say the cat followed me home for over a block and a half. I heard a meow one day walking home from the store and I saw this little grey ball of fluff. I said,"Hello kitty." She meowed back at me. I picked her up for a bit of a scratch and then ut her down. I said, "Goodbye, kitty." The next thing I know, she was following me down over the street. When I turned into my driveway, she ran up the stairs and sat down and waited for me at the door. Thus our relationship was born. I know that this is a strange statement after losing my parents in the last decade and what bothered me most was having to give away my cat, but it's the truth.
Ok, I'm on the bus to Tucson. It left Vegas at 7 p.m. that night and arrived at Tucson the next morning at 8 a.m. The stops were Kingman, Flagstaff, Prescott, Phoenix, then Tucson. We basically went the length of the state.
Steve, God bless him and keep him, hasn't had to look for work since high school. He had owned his own buisiness for the last twenty years. Of all of our classmates, I feel he is the most successful,even moreso than the allums of my highschool that went to college. Someone who starts his buisness with just a carport and twenty years later has a four bay garage and a house with a pool is a success in my book.
Steve had me job searching for an hour or two a day and fill out aps on buisnesses that he knew were hiring. The only problem was that for every position open, there was many, many people applying. Till recently, I didn't know any tricks that may make my ap stand out from the crowd. Then the next few hours I'd spend at the shop with him and then we'd go back to the house after 5.
I'm not going to put the blame of not having a job since April on Steve. I made some bad choices too. My friend Trey gave me $100 and I chose to spend it on my cellphone and smokes and a little bit on beer. I felt 'human' for the first time in a long time. I should have taken the dollars and bought a monthly bus pass and then went out searching on my own.
The good part is that I'm 90+% smoke free. I still enjoy the flavor of a smoke and I have to watch myself once I go to work not to go back to a pack+ a day. It's a spendy habit.
Trey, God bless him too, did some internet research for me. He found the job training program that I just completed, I start looking for work tomorrow. The only problem is that you need to be homeless to qualify for it and stay in a shelter...So I was basically pushed in that direction.
As I stated above, I was staying with Steve a few nights a week at his house and then the rest of the time in the office at his garage. Hygene was a bit difficult at the shop. No matter how well you take a sponge bath, you don't get as clean as a shower or a bath. When Steve and Melissa were fighting, I stayed for days at the shop. It was lonely. I had foodstamps so I ate well. Most of the time I had busfare anda library was 3 miles away so I can check out books and stuff. I wasn't bored crazy a lot of the time.
The beginning of the end, if you will, was when I lost my foodstamp card. Supposedly it would take 5-10 buisness days to come. Well it didn't show up. Then Steve suggested about this Jackson program. I figure what the hell, try it.
I got a bed in the Primavera Men's Shelter. They have very strict rules to get a bed. You must call prompty at 9 a.m. Not 8:59 or 9:01 but 9.
I got a bed and spent a week at the Primavera Men's Shelter. My first night was on a Thursday. On Friday, I went to get a t.b. test and got it read on Monday(to be continued next week)