3/14/2018- Homeless stuff, now back to work

I spent the last couple afternoons working on getting my community service transferred here so I can put in my hours.  The clock was ticking and I finally got halfway stable, so I could deal with this.  I managed to get arrested for trespassing last fall while buying a pack of donuts in a grocery store during business hours.  Really.  It's the kind of thing that can only happen to homeless people. 

In the course of re-scheduling the hours I need to put in, I had to tell the ladies there where I live.  I also told them I had created my own job, as an artist, since this had happened.  That was a tough sell, since it's not every day they hear a story like that. 

Everyone thinks that if you're homeless that it's mandatory to go stay at a shelter.  But going to a shelter is pretty much like going to jail, by choice.  If you have no ambition, and don't mind hearing five guys snore in the same room, having sketchy guys wake up at 4am to steal your socks, and being woke up at 5:30 am for no good reason, then shelters are fine.  But I was able to get going in the local art scene and get a ton of work lined up precisely because I DIDN'T stay in the shelter.  But that's a hard sell to people who know nothing about homelessness.  In any case, they ladies I dealt with yesterday were really helpful, and I'm glad I got things squared away so I can put in the work time.  Thanks ladies.

So now, I have a 4 to 5 solid weeks of artwork to do.  It doesn't pay a lot for the hours, but it's all paying work.  I also have to clock in 50 hours of community service AND pay a $250 fine soon.  So I'm gonna be a busy guy for a while.  And, of course, doing all this stuff sets back the date when I can finally get some kind of place to live by a month or more.  But that's life.

Also, since I had to tell ladies associated with law enforcement where my campsite is, I knew that anything was possible when I got back to it last night.  Someone found it, looked through my stuff, and were hanging out not far away when I headed in to go to sleep.  I heard a lot of people trampling around outside my tent, and they didn't seem to happy, but I'm still here today.  So... back to work.