Homelessness not so much fun

OK, I'm going to try this again.  I blogged yesterday, but nobody would know, because when I found it again, it was a column about an inch wide, and I don't know if the whole thing was even there.  But, I have more than one email account, and I just found that I had a Blogger account under a different email than the one I tried with Blogspot yesterday, so here goes.


I've been searching for a place to live, that I can afford on my social security, with very little supplemental income.  That's because my main job that supplements my social security is a school-related job (teaching chess after school), and when school is out for the summer, my income takes a nosedive.  I'm in that period right now.  On Tuesday, I did some diligent searching  for a new home.  What do I have to show for it?  I came home with a parking ticket for $63!!!  Now, there's something that someone who is homeless, with a car that desperately needs repairs, REALLY needs -- another bill to pay!  I want to fight it, and I think I might have a good chance to win, but I'm wondering if it is really worth my time and the gas money to drive to court wherever I would have to go.  So, I might just pay it.


Good news, though!  Today, I think I finally found a new place to live.  The manager will do whatever he has to do to check on me, and then he will call me in the morning.  It's a small studio, but it's in a place that has a pool, and it's only about two miles from my church, and it will be my own place again, after 3 years of living with relatives or friends, or as a live-in nanny in someone else's home (albeit, they were really wonderful someones).  It will be so nice to not always be thinking about whether I might be disturbing another person by something I do or don't do.


I don't have much furniture to put into the apartment yet, but that could be a good thing, because it won't be crowded.  I'll also have a lot of bare floor space to bring my things, a few boxes at a time, from my storage, to go through my accumulated stuff and glean it down to what I really need or have a true sentimental reason to keep, not just an attachment that brings a false sense of security.  I do not want to let my "stuff" get out of hand in my new home.  I do know that one way to prevent that is to make sure I always have friends coming over periodically, so I have to keep things organized, so we can comfortably sit and visit -- that is, when I have something to sit on!


I'm looking forward to the adventure of setting up my new little home and making the most of the little bit of space I will have.  And I intend to take advantage of having a swimming pool.  It's a small one, so if I say (sometime in the middle of summer) that I have just come in from swimming 30 laps in the pool, don't be too impressed; it's only about 15 feet long.


Speaking of exercise, today was my 14th day in a row developing my new habit of taking a walk every morning.  So far, I don't require a particular distance, and I have been staying with different friends in different locations, so haven't walked the same paths much, but I am building consistency.  That was the requirement I placed on myself:  Do it every day, in the morning. When I first started, I was also trying to go for a walk in the afternoon, but with moving around, that has dropped off, but I intend to add that back after I get moved into my new place.


It's getting late, and I'm concerned that this may be boring and of no interest to anyone but myself, so I'm going to sign off and go to bed now.  Tomorrow, I get to find out if my homelessness truly is about to end.