Why Monday Sucks

Slept behind the building again, on the hard concrete. It was chilly, but at least it hasn't rained lately. That skank Chris has moved in to the Possum Hilton. He even found a piece of board to cover up the broken window, so he's nice and cozy. It does my heart good to see him so comfortable.

Had a beef stew MRE last night for dinner, along with half a bottle of chardonnay, so it wasn't too bad. I watched a movie(which finished off my battery). This morning, I had the strawberry milk shake that came in the MRE, for breakfast. Not bad. I passed Travis, on his way back from taking Fernando to work, but I don't know if he saw me or not. I am at CC's, like every morning, having an iced coffee and a bagel.

I have today off. I hate days off (unless it is on a Thursday, when I can chill in a hotel room). There is nothing to do, and I have no place to go. I wind up here, for several hours, but there is no place to just chill. I would really like to take a nap right now, but I don't have any place to take a nap. I would like to watch TV right now, but I don't have a place to watch TV, unless I go some place with TVs, like Zippy's, and then I have to watch what is on their TVs, which is usually fucking ESPN, and I get really tired of fucking ESPN. How the hell can anyone watch so much sports?

Really! I am interested in sports somewhat. I like to watch football and baseball and tennis. But how can you be so obsessed with sports that you have to know all the stats of all the players and all the coaches and the favorite vacation spots of the team and the names of the owners' pet llamas? Come on! Is this a straight guy thing and I just don't get it? Do I really want to get it? It all seems like an incredible waste of time and effort. I guess it's better than smoking crack.

I just hope Chester comes through and I can get an apartment soon. It will be so nice just to relax and do nothing, in comfort and safety. It will be nice to actually buy food and cook it, something I haven't done in a long time. It will be nice to sleep in a real bed, every night, with real sheets: not just a sleeping bag on the ground. It will be nice to be inside. Right now, it's like a dream.

I will have to get some furniture, of course. I don't even have a bed any more. All my furniture went when I had to move out of the apartment in Tigerland. I hope Jeremy rots in hell, the little creep. Leaving me stuck with all the bills was one thing, but charging his cell phone to my account after he left (which destroyed my bank account) was really low. Haven't heard anything from Jeremy ... maybe he's dead!

It will take a while to accumulate furniture. I'll start off with just the basics: like a bed, a table, something to store clothes in and some shelves for books, CDs and DVDs (which I have a lot of). It will be so nice to have my few remaining possessions with me, instead of in a storage shed out on Coursey Blvd. It will be nice to have fresh fruit and vegetables, too. I miss fresh vegetables.

Oh, well. So much for the dream: it's back to reality today.

Boring-ass Sunday

Had a shitty day at work yesterday. For some reason, both w. and J. (Front-end Managers) were totally on the rag about everything: J. mostly about people punching in and out on time and taking breaks and other BS, ad nauseam. Slept very poorly (on Serrano's stage), because Chris the Squatter has taken up permanent residence in the Possum Hilton, and I can't get him to leave. Fernando said that he would "get him out", which would be great. When I left his morning (after spending the night in the open, behind a building) the skank was still asleep there.

Went to CC's, where I am now, and had coffee and a bagel. Got instructions from 2K on how to fix Civ IV, and re-installed it, but I haven't tried to play it again, yet. Hope it works. I work at noon, in about an hour.

While I was sitting here, one of the local bums, and obnoxious little one-eyed prick named Juan, came into CC's. I never though of him as a coffee drinker. He didn't buy anything, just disappeared. A while later, I went to the bathroom, and, on the floor next to the toilet was an almost-empty half-pint of Heaven Hill whiskey (Juan's favorite libation, which he generally purchases at Albertson's liquor store with hands full of change and filthy, wadded-up bills). Go figure. The guy is stashing his booze in the toilet at CC's and hitting it back there. What a skank! He was banned from the store because he threatened one of the managers. He is a nasty little guy. He stinks. He walks with a cane.

I was feeling very depressed yesterday. When I got off, I went by Travis' apartment, and we sat around for a while and got high. I took a shower before I left, because I have to work at noon, so no laundry and lunch for me today. I work until 9, and then I don't really have anywhere to go, since Chris is still occupying the PH. Fucker. I will be glad to leave all this crap behind me. Anyway, I didn't get raped and/or murdered last night, which is a good thing, I guess. I'm off tomorrow, so I guess I will spend most of the day investigating places to rent and looking for accommodation, against the day (hopefully soon) when I can afford to secure such.

That's about all for now. Doesn't seem to be a very exciting day. Wish I had some place to go when I get off. Wish Chris would go back to where he came from. Wish this was all a bad dream, and I would wake up in a real bed ...

Squatter!

Met up with Travis and Fernando and we went to the laundromat and the ate Pizza at Mellow Mushroom, which is just around the corner from Cyclone Laundry. Then, I went back to their apartment and had a shower before I went to work. Worked until 12 AM. When I left, that guy Chris, who has moved into the PH, was still there. That didn't look good. Had a woman steal a CoinStar receipt from me, for $66.90. She was so slick, I didn't even see it. Wound up $47 short, but I am sure they found it today or something, as there is no way I would be that short on my register.

Unfortunately when I got back to the PH, that fucking squatter Chris was still there, in my fucking sleeping bag! I woke him up and asked him what the fuck he was doing in my bag, and he said he was cold. I told him I didn't care how cold he was, that wasn't my problem, so he got out of my bag. I told him he would have to find another place to sleep, and he said there was plenty of room for two people (there isn't, and he is nasty). He said he wasn't leaving.

I didn't feel like arguing, so I got my stuff together and left. I told him he had better not be there when I get back tonight. I hate to be ugly, but he just moved himself in where I have been staying, and that leaves me without a place to stay. If there is a "homeless etiquette", I am not familiar with it, but I want him out. I don't intend to be there any longer than I have to, and then he can have the place to himself. I don't know if I would actually get physical with him over it: I hope he just takes a hint and leaves. Anyway, I spent the night in the back corner of the stage over by Serrano's. Oh, yeah: and the motherfucker ate my dinner! I had an MRE for my dinner last night, and that piece of shit ate it! He even had his own food (some cookies and some chips), but he ate mine! Fucking thief!

I am not scheduled to work again this week, but I hope they call me and want me to come in, as I was only scheduled 22 hours, and that is not near enough. I am short on commissioner for the election, and I called the election department. Hopefully, they will call me back soon. We will definitely need everyone this time. Saw Peggy Bueche yesterday, and she and the elderly couple that I had last time will be there, but the other woman dropped out. Have to be up for 4:45 AM, so I hope that scumbag Chris is gone by the time I get back there tonight. I hate to be ugly to anyone, especially since I understand how it feels not to have any place to go, but I have to survive.

So, I am at CC's, like every day, blogging and surfing the net, trying to find some kind of place to stay or roommate wanted post somewhere. They have started playing Christmas music already. I think this is going to be a pretty poor Christmas for yours truly, but then, the last one kind of sucked, too. At least I had Dad to share Christmas and Thanksgiving with last year: looks like I will be all alone this year.

There is a feeling of being all alone about this experience. That is the main reason I would rather be at work, or with friends. I feel so terribly alone, like I can't depend on anybody for help. Pretty much everything I do I have to do alone. There are only a few people who care at all what happens to me, and I am not getting much help. Granted, there are some friends who have helped me, but there are others who could and aren't. I am too polite to ask for help: I figure that they know my situation and would help me if they could, but they don't. It's enough to make you very depressed. Sometimes, I feel completely helpless, and almost lose all hope. I have come very close to losing all hope, several times. I am really down, right now. I'm going to go by work later, to check and see if they need me later this week, and pick up an MRE to eat tomorrow at the polls.

Hope I have a place to sleep tonight.

Unexpected Company

Got off work around 9:30 and went back to the PH. Travis and Fernando were at the game, which LSU ended up winning 28-10. Bought a couple of cheap movies at work, and watched part of one, the remake of Mysterious Island, with Patrick Stewart, and ate part of an MRE, then went to sleep, around 11:00. Around 1:30 or so, Travis came and woke me up. Fernando was asleep, and he wasn't sleepy, so I went over there and we just sat up and talked for a while. Went back to sleep about 3:30. Since the clocks were set back last night, I figured I could get some extra sleep, but no suck luck.

About 6:30, I was waked up by this black guy who came in. He was carrying food he had bought at the Circle K on the corner. His name is Chris, and he has spent the night at the PH before. He asked if he could share the place for the night, and I said I didn't care (after all, it's not my place). He told me that we "had to set some ground rules", because he wasn't "into that homosexual shit", and then told me he was going to lie down. I just rolled up my sleeping bag and told him he could have the place for the morning, that I usually left early, anyway. Just as I left, he told me he had an idea that could make us both rich. I said, "great" and left.

Passed by Highland Coffees, but they weren't open yet, so I went over to CC's, which opens at 7:00. I was puzzled that they weren't open, and then I remembered that the clocks had been set back, and it wasn't 7:00 yet. So, I went by the store for a little while and read Rolling Stone, an article about David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide a while back. I haven't read any of his work, but I guess I will, now: I always try to read dead people. Then, I went back to CC's, where I ordered coffee and a bagel, since it looks like I won't be getting any more sleep this morning.

This guy Chris presents a problem which I had anticipated the possibility of before. I always figured that somebody else knew about the place, and kind of half-expected to run into another homeless person, sooner or later. This is the most comfortable place I have found, and I don't really want to be forced to find another place. This could be a problem. I don't really want to share my little patch of heaven with someone else. I stashed my sleeping bag there: I hope he doesn't decide to appropriate it. Oh, well: I guess I will find out tonight. I hope he finds somewhere else to go.

So, I guess I will hang out here and write and blog for a while, at least until Travis and Fernando get up, when I can go by there and take a shower, and we can maybe go get some lunch. Tomorrow, I will try to find something better. One of my co-workers gave me a number to call for United Way. She does volunteer work for them and said that they provide housing for people. Maybe I can find temporary housing through them. I am tired of the PH, anyway: I just don't like not having that option, in case I can't find anything else.

God: does my life suck, or what?

MREs and Nuremberg

Last night at the Possum Hilton wasn't too bad; even though it was cold and uncomfortable (as always), at least, courtesy of my friend Kyle, I had a hot meal. Kyle had a case or two of MREs left over from Gustav, which he had offered to give me. I worked until midnight last night, and he gave them to me. Of course, I couldn't carry a whole case with me, but I snaked two of them and put the rest on top of the lockers upstairs. What I will do is grab one or two when I need them and take them with me.

For those of you who have never experienced an MRE (in South Louisiana, after Katrina, Hugo, Gustav and Ike, we are all too familiar with them)or, "Meal, Ready to Eat", they are self-contained meals, featuring an entree, a dessert, a snack and usually some fruit or beans, along with cold and hot drink mixes, matches and toilet paper (of sort). The package contains a chemical self-heater, which is activated by water, and will get your entree and coffee quite hot. I had ravioli, a brownie and pineapple. I stashed another MRE (believe it or not, "omelet") at the PH, for later.

I went by work before noon and cashed my check and got a bottle of chardonnay. I have a reservation at La Quinta for three o'clock, and I am off until three tomorrow, so I will get a shower (probably two) get to watch TV and (hopefully) spend some time online. I will also eat over at Mestizo's, which is a Mexican Restaurant next door, with great margaritas. That is my plan for "hotel day". I texted Travis and asked if he and Fernando wanted to join me for dinner, but they are going to the State Fair, instead. Of course, it is back to the PH again tomorrow night, but I do have an MRE and a movie I can watch. At least, for tonight, I have reasonable shelter.

A friend told me to call United Way; that they might be able to recommend resources to me, as far as shelter. I am still trying to track down the heretofore elusive (and possibly mythical) $75-per-week rooming house "near the Capitol" that I was told about. Baton Rouge does not seem to have any rooming houses or resident hotels that I have been able to locate (except for the Alamo Plaza, which is a notorious crack venue). I am going to spend some time tomorrow in search of residence, even if I have to physically ride around downtown and look.

When I got to work, I was confronted by a member of management who wanted to know exactly why I closed last night I said, "Because I was told to. I was asked if I could stay until midnight, and I said 'yes', and I did." It seems somebody noticed that I had 6 hours of overtime and had apoplexy. I was only following orders. I just realized: that excuse didn't exactly work at Nuremberg ...

Anyway, I get hotel night tonight. Yay. I will spend a lot of time online tonight researching ways out of my current predicament. That is what I am doing now, besides writing this blog. I will check out Craig's List and any other sites I can find. I have been doing this almost daily, besides looking in the classified section of the paper. There has to be a way out of this ... I just have to keep looking.