Homeless - 40

Hi,

Hope you are doing well with much laughter and with a joyful tune in your heart or whatever anatomical part that you hold dear. Have you completed your preparations for the Thanksgiving Day feast? Did you venture into the deadly wild, stalking your prey without any technological advantages, wrestling that vicious bird to the ground in an epic death match, depriving it of its' life with your own bare hands or did you wimp out like the rest of us and drag a carcass home from the grocery store? I always did...

I think I did a good job waxing the truck some time back. At a couple of places where I park during the day, the birds pay a visit, landing near the driver's side and loiter about for a bit. Occasionally, one of them will land on the hood of the truck on the driver's side at the windshield wiper and look at me as if saying C'mon, get up off some of them crackers. A few days ago, one lit on that spot and took a step forward toward me and slipped and busted his ass on the slick surface. He promptly got up, ruffled his feathers and looked both ways as if checking to see if any of his flock companions saw that and then flew off. The ragging he must have received.

I filled out job applications at a couple of liquor stores this past Saturday. I talked with one of the hiring supervisors for a few minutes and he told me that the company has received several applications from people in the IT industry. Guess a lot of that is going around these days. Maybe one of these is the magic BB. Utilizing a suggestion from a benefactor, I touched base with a couple of places where I filled out a job application previously and talked with the managers, letting them know of my goals (kinda) and that I would be a contributing employee for a significant amount of time if hired. I had the impression that they would revisit their previous assumptions and decisions. Hopefully, those subsequent conversations will bear fruit and soon. It is starting to get kinda cold in these parts - it ain't as much fun to step outside for a smoke as much anymore. Meteorological sensor assets indicate that many of us will be feeling it across the nation for the next several days. I'm thinking that one of the first things that I'll do with the first check is rejoin an athletic club that I was a member of several years ago. In addition to the exercise opportunities, there are whirlpools, spas, lap pool, dry and wet saunas and hot shower options! That would be a pleasant change of pace. At the places that I frequent these days where my legal status to be there is highly questionable, I always have to have a line of bullshit ready in case I'm ever called on it. It'd be great to actually belong at a place for only $30 a month without having to look over my shoulder.

One of my evening parking places is no more due to the reopening of a popular restaurant. It had suffered fire damage of a questionable nature nearly two years ago and was being investigated for a time. I don't know what became of it but the patrons have returned in full force which means that there are too many people around for my comfort level. I found another one a couple of kilometers away near one of the library branches that I frequent that has adequate shade in a shopping center. It has worked out well so far but today I seemed to be the focus of some unwanted attention. One distraction was an older gentleman wanting to buy BT. He approached me before at another location and my response was the same - 'Nope'. I asked him what he would do with it because he appeared to me as a homebody (late 70's), not exactly an active sort. He replied that he wanted the truck for his 35 year old daughter who is a big fan of trucks for some reason. The next distraction was an older grey haired woman walking by a bit later and said something I couldn't understand due to her thick accent. It turned out that she wanted to give me 'a reading', which I assumed was something like telling my fortune, for $5 - at this point, I'll just see how things work out, thank you. I declined and she lowered her price to $3 which I again declined, citing financial hardship and she moved on. Lastly, a couple of guys in shirts and ties came by wanting to save my soul from the eternal ravages of Satan's 24 hour all-purpose spa and launched into their song and dance. I interrupted, telling them I appreciated their concern but I'm not wired that way and wished them a pleasant evening. Not taking the hint or maybe more concerned with the quality of their own everlasting participation in the afterlife, the other one tacked to the topic of a more fulfilling life upon this Earth and I again interrupted saying that their effort on this subject would be spent better with someone else and again wished them a pleasant evening and they left. Jeeezzz...I just wanted a quiet place to do a crossword or read or write. Hope this was a unique experience because it is a decent spot for my purposes...and I abhor violence...most of the time.


Let's talk of food and the quality and expense thereof. Before my entrance into this lifestyle, I've read/heard of the questionable value of a low cost diet and the concern that many segments of our society have about the national infrastructure, and its' management, that is tasked with supplying the citizens with quality foodstuffs; primarily, why it costs more to eat healthy and cheaper to eat fast food and/or junk food. Originally, I started out eating fruits, vegetables and salads as wanted or needed but as money got tighter, I discovered that I could spend far less at a fast food place and that meal would last me longer. For example, I could spend nearly a buck on an apple in the morning and by lunch, I needed something else to gnaw on. But if I spent 34 cents on a large donut and a free cup of coffee instead, that morning meal(?) would last me considerably longer. Five ounces of a skimpy salad cost nearly $4 but for $1, you can get a no-frills burger or two tacos and the list goes on. From my experience, it does cost more to eat healthy. Reported research has proven that there is a direct correlation between poor diet and cardiovascular diseases but if you are of limited means, you don't have any choice...which will further strain the health care system such as it is. And now, through clever marketing and stellar ethical corporate character, many of the developing nations are experiencing increases in cardiovascular ills. Pull right up and fill your draught animal up with water and for you, a 2 lb. triple cheeseburger with a bushel of French fries and a gallon of soda! It's almost as if the infrastructures of the food, health care and drug industries are working in tandem to drain the common man as much money as possible before 'contract termination'. Naw...can't be...must be my imagination...right?

On a side note - I read about a doctor in Kansas who strayed from the usual medical practice of prescribing medications to her diabetic patients. Instead, she advocated exercise and eating healthy - no fast foods, low carbs, less red meat. Within a short time, the majority of her diabetic patients were able to discontinue medications. Needless to say, her deviation from socially sanctioned treatment was frowned upon by her medical peers and I imagine the drug industry wasn't thrilled either.

From such heady paranoia, let's return to the more immediate arena of securing nourishment when you are of limited means. I mentioned before that some stores regularly put out samples to entice customers for further ingestion of massive quantities. In my experience, the majority of them present such artery cloggers as fried bacon, assorted cookies, beef, sometimes fried fish or shrimp, pieces of cake, bread and butter, chips and salsa, etc. Yes, when your empty stomach is banging against your spine, not unlike Bill and Monica, you don't give a rat's ass about the fat content, you desperately desire food molecules for immediate processing. However, I did find a store in my area that presents a much more healthful fare - strawberries, cherry tomatoes, pineapple, grapes of assorted kinds, blueberries, cantaloupes as well as chunks of chicken and turkey from the deli counter. You would not believe the quantity of meat that a toothpick can contain in the hands of a determined, seasoned master. I visit this store a couple of times a week, taking a shopping cart and putting a few items in it, wander by the sampling areas and ingest (chewing and swallowing viciously), pocket some items if possible (cherry tomatoes, cookies), put the grocery items back on the shelf while chewing, return the shopping cart to the staging area and walk out with a stomach processing healthy food molecules while saving a $1...which will go to fuel for BT or will be saved toward a pack of cheap smokes or a really, really cheap lap dance.

I read in the paper where those evil narcs seized nearly a million dollars of Jack Daniel's that was in the possession of an individual who was selling it without a license and were proceeding to dispose of it according to the agency's protocols - pouring it down the drain. The wail of anguish and despair that you might have noticed while executing your daily schedule last week originated in the Far North Dallas from me. I admit to a fondness for the sweet, sensuous, delicious bite of bourbon with a light splash of Coke on ice; a fondness that I haven't experienced in quite some time to be sure. But pour it down the drain!?! I mean, it's going to end up in the municipal sewer system eventually but can that gift from the gods be allowed to experience a more pleasant and beneficial route before returning to the comforting bosom of Mother Earth, to fulfill the task for which it was created? Someone needs to launch a public outcry, start a humanitarian effort, set up an adoption process or stage a drinking rally or something else equally symbolic to show that the public cares. Oh, the humanity...sigh...

It is my wish that you have a pleasant Thanksgiving, that you indulge in those sumptuous foodstuffs, that diets or work or ills or whatever take a day off. You made it this far, you earned it.



David



P.S.

A pox upon the evil narcs...