"My Car"

It's been a really grueling time with no car, but I do have a tidbit of good news. A well to do local philanthropist is going to pay for the car repairs...........................I will give you a more detailed update on everything by Saturday of next week. (As you can see, I don't display much emotion on my blogsite, just the facts, nuttin but the facts) That reminds me of a song:

AIN'T NUTTIN GOIN ON BUT DA RENT,,,,,,,,,,,IF YOU WANT TO BE WITH ME...................DA DA DA DA DEE DEE DEE

REMEMBER THAT SONG?

"The last 12 days or so"

At night I stay at an elderly man's house in mt. washington. during the day i go back to la pew because that's where my landline is and "frank" has no landline and i have no cell phone.

i got approved for the apt. in carroll county and i'm allowed to move in there next week...............

but of course there is a catch

my car just broke down on sunday and i have only raised the first 200 needed of the 700 dollar car repair. one can't live in carroll county without a car

"My search for alternative housing"

Many of the people who make intial offers don't follow thru. Or sometimes I can't take it because it's not the right fit. Certainly there is a better chance of finding something safer now that I have a car, but the real safe neighborhoods, in some cases rural, require me to have an emergency car fund or credit card in case I need a repair. Staying at la pew is absolutely not an option and in the last few weeks I've given away alot in preparation to leave.

4/14 an offer to share a room in reading, no rent

about 5/1 I consider just living in a tent and going from music festival to music festival and realize that I don't sleep well in a tent

-an offer to share a room in brooklyn park (balto city which i'm desperate to get out of)

-an offer in d.c. for me own room if i keep the place clean. when i called back to set up the interview the # was a bum lead. this one was one of my more promising leads in that the homeowner really impressed me initially

-an offer for my own room in Jacksonville in a house. but the homeowner warned me"I'm really loud when I'm having sex"

5/3 ish

-an offer in manchester pennsylvania for my own room. "I'm a hippie" the homeowner tells me. (I discovered that his idea of "hippie" is that he has long hair) I asked him if he smokes in the house. "that's my prerogative" he replies.

-an offer for my own free apt. in balto city or in pa. strings attached

-an offer for my own room in spring garden, pa

an offer for my own room in a modular home in yrok township. We set up interview. No show.

an offer for my own room in Media, PA. I'd have 2 roomates. The homeowner made a point to repeat 4x that one of my roomates is bi, and said that "if you go that way, she will hit on you" and she is "loud"

-a maybe in Annapolis, MD. own room.

-an offer inLansdowne, my own room. But when I asked if we could change the time, he said maybe he'd show up, maybe not. so this one didn't come thru. this one was one of my faves as a temporary fix on a week to week basis, because going on housing interviews to PA is costly for me and I worry about the car breaking down. I do like some aspects of being in PA in summer because it might not be as oppressively hot as bmore is.

-an offer to crash on the sofa of a friend in mt. wash. this is my safest option but i know i won't sleep on a sofa.

I've been on a wait list for a subsidized apt in carroll county. they called me with a bit of a "teasing" phone call yesterday. They said: "You are 5th on the wait list. If the other four don't respond we will offer you the apt. by friday"

(I'm betting this is creme de la creme of section 8 apts. and goodness knows I'd be safer. I'd love to get to a climate with no real winter, as I really can't stand being cold; but no one is forcing me to make a long term commitment wherever I go, I just know I can't live with this kind of day to day danger anymore)

"Slide, slide slippety slide"

On my way to the library I heard this lyric: "Slide, slide slippety slide, when you're livin' in the city it's do or die"

Certainly I can come up with a few interpretations of that. I reckon it means:

"kill or be killed"

or for me it would mean "get out or die"

On this note, here is an up date on events both in my bldg, and in my neighborhood. Ever since I moved in 4 years ago, (to La pew) I noticed that the intruders usually leave a significant amount of evidence of their presence. For example, they shed hair. I found a large clump of afro hair in my bedroom. I've found a few drops of blood on the lid of my multivitamin bottle, and some blood drops on my pillowcase. On Sunday, when I forgot to hide my toothbrush they contaminated it again. They put some kind of unrecognizable gunk on my razor.

Today I noticed that they changed the placement of my blinds. In the last few days they've put chips in my car windshield, and poured some kind of permanent glue on it.

In the parking lot (this happens periodically) a group of men pull their car up next to me and just watch me, or move it a few feet then slam on the brakes, do the same thing again. The driver waved at me and then they all laugh.

This is real scary after dark. Today, I went to get on the elevator when person A was getting off. When he saw I was getting on he turned and acted confused as if he'd gotten off at the wrong floor, and then went to follow me onto the elevator. He asked" where is the property management office"

(he knows damn well where it is)

I told him, then walked to the stair case. Many men, especially the maint. man try to follow me onto the elevator. Unless I know the people and trust them, I just walk to the staircase at that point.

Next posting (today) my housing search.

There's a notice on the public buses that says:

"REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY"

As far as I'm concerned, it's all suspicious"

"The latest at La Pew"

Yesterday I was out for only 45 minutes. It's nearly impossible to tell immediately what's been stolen if anything. But this morning I went to search for my new jeans and they were gone. When I returned to the place yesterday they ripped a photo off of the wall as well as something else I had posted. I wondered when I entered my place if someone was going to be in there. I'm parking pretty far from my apt.

I'm going to be conducting some interviews this week for another place for myself; I'd be most likely doing the housemate thing.

"A Simple peoples, a peaceful place"

Three months ago my friend introduced me to a place called "The Pennyslvania Dutch Market" Perhaps you've heard the ads on the radio. That has got to be one of the neatest most peaceful places I've been to in Baltimore. These Amish families are driven from their homes in Lancaster to the market 3 days a week. It's like an indoor farmers market but with much much more.

Quilts, beds, homemade furniture, homemade greeting cards, jewelery, delicious homemade foods of all variety. you name it. And there is no such thing as a rude clerk. I've always had a little bit of envy of these folks. This simple life that they live seems so joyous and healthy. Now of course I know it's not perfect. For example if a person lives in the community and decides to join the English I think in some cases they are disowned. But I understand that there is a time frame where a young person is allowed to make their own decision about that without ostracization from the community. And I'm sure there are some tough rules regarding dating as well which could be a challenge.

The fresh air, growing your own food, always having community around, not having to commute in a pollution spewing auto.........................................."The grass is always greener"

"Recycling is too complicated"

I've most certainly written about this before but it was before I had a blogsite. When I lost my Mercury in July 2006 I had to stop recycling. Now when I had the car I just drove all of my recycling to Whole Foods in Mt. Wash because I didn't feel safe at the Sisson St. Recycle Center. Now there is no pick up at my bldg.

Of course now I have a car but I wouldn't have driven to any recycling centers in the bitter cold weather. About a month a go I tried to drop my recycling off at Whole Foods they no longer accept it. Today, I tried to drop it off on Warren Road but that center was closed for the day. I decided to bite the bullet and drive to Sisson St.

An attendant yelled at me when I drove in. "Miss, what'ya have?"

Everything I replied.

You can only drop off brown. Everything goes in one place. (These might not have been her exact words so I made her repeat herself because I didn't understand her) She said the same thing again and I wondered does she mean they only take brown tin cans?

So, I asked someone else, and she said the attendant might mean that everything I have goes in the brown dumpster. Well, that doesn't make sense I think to myself. Plus, the brown dumpster is labeled "paper."

I said to her, "I see you're only putting cardboard in the brown dumpster", I said. She replied: "I want to make it easier on the staff!"

What?! I think. I just have to do whatever and hope it's right. So I was the only person who put all of my recyclables in the brown dumpster but there were no other dumpsters labeled Aluminum, glass, etc. so what am I supposed to do? Believe what I read or believe what I've been told which wasn't even coherent.

Needless to say, I don't expect to return to the Sisson St. recycling center.

"Social Action at the Homeless Shelter"

I've just begun getting involved with a very liberal church in Baltimore County. The other day they did a social action at a homeless shelter that lasted about 2 hours. It was a wonderfully successful event with magic, music, improv and ice cream.

I created a volunteer job for my self playing with the children who couldn't concentrate on the formal activities. It was very rewarding. Great to be able to use my gifts with children, give the parents a break and model positive techniques for managing children. Many parents if they aren't taught better techniques spend alot of time yelling and reprimanding..........................but here was an opportunity for me to model techniques that I learned such as:

"If you act excited about an activity so will they"

"Johnny, you can play with that toy for 10 minutes, and then we're going to give Sarah a turn"

Mark I love the way you just shared your toy good job"

"Sally, it hurts Mary when you slap like that, can you please use gentle touch, like this?"

There were approximately 50 beds in one room. Those are even more deplorable conditions perhaps then what I live with. Some of the children were able to have fun and experience joy during play or special actvities. But there were 3 or 4 kids , (one 8 years old and 3 or 4 of the kids were 2 or under) who had a real aura of sadness about them. No matter what I did I couldn't bring those children to smile. Kids are smart, aren't they? They know when something is really wrong, and child homelessness is really wrong.

I had a college work study job in 1990 where I was weekend house manager at the battered women's shelter. It was one of the most rewarding jobs I've ever had.