"Moving Day..................."

Good Morning;

Well.... just when I start to get the urge to write again.... I lose the access to a working laptop on a daily basis. Don't give up and leave loyal readers, I'll still be here, just on an even more irregular schedule.

I'm leaving the apt. tomorrow at 8:00 for my appt. with my HCH mental health caseworker, then I'll be at Jenn's out in the country until Monday.

THAT! is when the real fun begins, looking for a place to stay on a night to night basis.

Later..........................Dave

"Too Good To Be True................."

Good Afternoon;

Well....I should have known things would fuck up at the last moment, why should this time be different.
JUST got the message that I am out of here THIS Thursday the 31st after all. After having been told that it would be at least another week and planning accordingly, or NOT, as in getting someone to pick up the extra possessions I have acquired and now have to get back to Jenn's tomorrow. After a psych evaluation then coming back and doing my laundry and all the sheets and towels and cleaning the whole apt. in a rush.

Shit....Shit...Shit.

Then I've got to figure out where to spend Thursday night.......and the rest of the freaking week, month, and year.

Later....................................Dave

"The Butterfly Effect........."

Good Afternoon:

Well.....here is a link from Joel John Roberts on the Poverty Insights website:

http://www.povertyinsights.org/2013/01/29/you-never-know-one-act-of-kindness-could-change-the-world/

I've been on both sides of this equation and can speak for it's provenance.
Both on and off the streets and also in and out of addiction, even a single word
can be the difference of life or death, whether to give it one more try, hold out one more hour, or even minute, to make that phone call.  To reach out....or take the offered hand.
To walk away or walk forward.

Later..................................Dave

"...'Wait......It's The Governor' .............. 'Shut Up And Eat It' ..........'Been There - Done That,...And I'm Still Overawed!'...."

Good Morning;

Well I got word yesterday morning that I'm getting a last minute reprieve from having to hit the street on Thursday morning. It seems that Peter (the tenant I'm cat/apt. sitting for), was just a little overly optimistic about being able to come home and manage on his own. I'm not sure for how much longer I'll be here, but Lauren, (his daughter, who is one of my daughter's closest friends, and the connection to how I got here---[for those of you who tuned in late......lol]..), says the usual procedure is to notify the family of the patient one week before discharge so any preparations can be made, so I guess I'm on a week to week standby.

I guess you can imagine the gauntlet my emotions are running through just now, kicking the crap out of my already not so stable psyche. And the weather rollercoaster that we are experiencing this winter is not helping either, with the volatility it adds to an already uncertain situation.

More as it develops.

Rachel has been here since Sunday, for what I thought would be the last opportunity in a long time to spend some time together. It, as usual, has been a wonderful time. Even when we do nothing special just the chance to cook for her and experiment with new recipes and watch her reactions is great. I am lucky enough to have ingrained in her early the 'phood philosophy' of ...
"You Don't Have To Eat It, But You Do Have To Try It!" ...
Now I did the same thing with Jenn, and both of them developed an appreciation and a delight of food and creativity and the infinite variety of cuisines available to explore.

As opposed to Ed & Devin, the grandmonsters,  to whom chicken nuggets, hot dogs, & p, b, & j are like the familiar coastal waters to ancient sailors, and most everything else equates to the 'Here Be Dragons' warnings of unexplored seas on their maps....lol!

I had trained my step kids in a similar manner, to the point that one of their favorite meals became a family meme, the always interesting, rarely the same twice....
"Shut Up And Eat It" 

 
Just finished watching;

"The Man With The Golden Arm"
(video of INTENSE!! Theatrical trailer at link above)
Hard to believe this was 1955 when it was released, it's a powerful example of a man in the death grip embrace of heroin and the needle. Anyone who's been there can attest to the reality of the scenes of him going 'cold turkey' kicking dope. Even folks who have absolutely no clue to the irremovably entwined seduction and destruction of heroin will feel the pain and agony of an addict's love-hate relationship with both the drug and himself.
Frank Sinatra should have won the Oscar he was nominated for in his portrayal of 'Frankie Machine'.
(Although the winner that year, Ernest Borgnine, in his portrayal of 'Marty', in the movie of the same title, gave an equally moving performance.)

Later................................................Dave

Good Afternoon;

Well..............the misery continues, Day 3!

And for the First time in 2013, I'd like toi go on record, and officially re-state my position:

COLD.
WEATHER.
SUCKS.
!!!
File the information in the following link from the Baltimore City Health Department somewhere safe and accessible. It is the announcement of the first

Code Blue Alert of Extreme & Dangerously Cold Temperatures

of 2013, but more importantly it is also a listing of the locations, addresses, capacities, and hours of operation of, and admission to the various 

Code Blue Emergency Shelters

in Baltimore City:
http://baltimorehealth.org/2013_1_22_Code_Blue_PR%20-%20FINAL.pdf


Even though, YOU, Loyal Reader will hopefully never personally need to access this information, it could save the life of someone you know and love, or even a chance met stranger... whom you chose to acknowledge as a fellow human being in distress not just a faceless cipher.
Thanks;

Later......................................................Dave

" Ch...Ch...Ch...Chia! .........."

Good Morning;

So..... I borrowed the picture in the link below from the
"I Fucking Love Science" Facebook page, (I don't know where Elise got it, so I can't credit anyone else...), and re-titled it:

"The Environmental Effects of Writers Block"

Later...........................Dave

"Close Encounters Of The Law Enforcement Kind......OR........'Good Cop - Bad Cop'........"

Good Evening;
Well, ...I've got to hand it to Evan Serpick, the Editor at the Baltimore City Paper.
He does one hell of a job skimming the dross from the material I occasionally send him that are 'less than print ready' The one at the link below would have been fine as a blog entry, where my rambling, lengthiness, and at times out of continuity flow of ideas are not competing for precious page space, but  was a poor fit in the paper. The depressive writing slump I'm in has affected my editing also, if not my ability...my desire......lol.
Anyway, nice and tight, with the plethora of examples trimmed away, here is....;
Good Cop-Bad Cop - Columns - Baltimore City Paper

Later......................Dave

"Housing First...In Howard County............."

Good Morning;

A link to a story in "The Business Monthly" newspaper's online edition;

http://www.bizmonthly.com/homeless-apartment-complex-howard-project-set-for-laurel/

And just a note.. the owner of the mobile home park was selling the property anyway to developers
of one type or another, so the renters of the lots the trailers were on were leaving the site no matter who bought it, it just happened to be the County.

Later..............................Dave

"Countdown To Moving Day.................."

Good Afternoon

Well....... I got the word yesterday, 2 weeks more here at the apt./cat sitting gig and the father of my daughter's friend will be coming home from the nursing home/rehabilitation facility he had been in since getting out of the hospital after surgery back in early October.

Still no idea where I am going to "live" (comparable to the "Shed" of blessed memory, may it rot in pieces......lol) as of this moment. My son-in-law Tom stopped pat today to drop off a pair of boots I left up at Jenn's last week when I went up to watch the grandkids, and offered a few nights up there at their place to act as a buffer between here and ?????, and to be able to sort and collect and pack the things I'll be carrying around again if I do not find a 'real' place by then.

You know, I used to love stress!! I reveled in it,

 and even courted situations in which to experience it.

Not Any More!

Between the above, ...the fact that I have no health care right now and have had 2 separate incidents in the past 8 days that really should be addressed by a doctor, I'm out of all my meds, I can't get any other information from D.S.S. about my M.A. other than 'pending', and my nerves being so shot that when I got a voice mail today from someone at Social Security Disability asking simply to "please call me" I had a panic attack that ruined a perfectly delicious but not yet fully digested breakfast and then left me me with an hour's worth of dry heaves....., and various other situations and reactions that are integrally related....I'm not as fond of stress as I used to be!!

Anyway, in an unrelated matter, here is a link to a story from Poverty Insights:

http://www.povertyinsights.org/2013/01/14/are-you-really-homeless-if-a-hurricane-destroys-your-house/


Later...........................................................Dave

"Winter Vocation Involuntary Writing Vacation................"

Good Morning;

So.....I know, it's been 2 weeks since I've posted, and longer than that since I've put up anything really worthwhile that was original content.
I apologize for that, but I've just been in a kind of depressive slump that has also locked down the Creative Muses in the mother of all writer's blocks, a 'cellblock of writer's block',  the Guantanamo Bay of Writer's Blocks!

Since, as it is said... "This Too Shall Pass" .... I beg your indulgence and ask you to keep checking back. There WILL be more, new posts, hopefully sometime very soon.

This cat/apt. sitting gig is coming to it's end soon and I'm stressing out in oh so many ways, because I've got nothing but the street again looming over me. No other prospects are currently on the horizon in the way of shelter.

Anyway, thanks for keeping on checking in, and....

Later....................................................Dave

"Slings And Arrows.................................."

Good Evening;

http://www.artofeurope.com/shakespeare/sha8.htm


Later.............Dave

"Music Soothes, -------------------------------"............"

Good Evening:

Happy New Year

http://youtu.be/dkP3KAgyqMw
"The Beast In Me"
Written by Nick Lowe
Performed by Johnny Cash

The beast in me
Is caged by frail and fragile bars
Restless by day
And by night rants and rages at the stars
God help the beast in me

The beast in me
Has had to learn to live with pain
And how to shelter from the rain
And in the twinkling of an eye
Might have to be restrained
God help the beast in me

Sometimes it tries to kid me
That it's just a teddy bear
And even somehow manage to vanish in the air
And that is when I must beware
Of the beast in me that everybody knows
They've seen him out dressed in my clothes
Patently unclear
If it's New York or New Year
God help the beast in me

The beast in me


Later........................Dave

"Lights In The Sky Give A Little Lift To A Lonely Life......"

Good Morning;

Well....welcome to 2013 loyal readers!
2012 was a very confusing year, to say the least.
If I was to describe it in only one word....exhausting.
I'm tired and sore in mind and body.

I watched the City's wonderful fireworks display, and the ones put on from half of Canton too,
Across the street there was a group on the deck launching Japanese lanterns with candles inside, just like the ones from "Tangled" :
(Click On This Link Below)
I See The Light

They ended up with a line of a couple dozen spaced throughout the night sky for miles, to the limits of visibility of distance and height...it was so cool! And then...they started appearing from all points of the compass, because the live coverage of the Inner Harbor fireworks featured a shot and mentioned it on the air. Paper bags, plastic bags, lanterns, and balloons. There were 3 larger red and green lit one that must of been launched somewhere waaaaayyy west of the City, because by the time they started to transit downtown just North of the harbor, they were really high and still climbing!
Rachel had been over since Thursday and I took her home earlier tonight because she wanted to spend New Years Eve with her mother and sisters... but I wish she could have been here for this.   :-(

There was an especially nice mixed group from two decks over, they had some nice ordnance!, an ice sculpture drink dispenser and a big 7 foot  outdoor propane heater, and open bar). We oohed and aahhed and laughed and toasted the New Year...and various other things...repeatedly.....lol! They invited me to climb over and join them, buuuttttttttttt.... my blues wanted to be sung solo and.... all the ladies, young and old seemed to be attached to someone else, so I politely declined,  and now I'm going to bed.

I'll be back in the next day or so... but for now;

Happy New Years!!
May yours be safe, productive, and fulfilling, in all possible ways.

Later.................................................Dave