Well I had a great time at Marathon Seafood Festival. The ending wasn't expected though. I brought my good friend, Murphy, to the festival. Let's just say Murphy is, well... a "special" person and I mean that in the nicest way possible. I dubbed the trip, "Murphy In Marathon". I was LMFAO the whole MFin time. Murphy even got up to cut a rug..um ...cut some grass?....you see the festival was outside at the Marathon Community Park and yes there is grass in front of the stage where the band plays, let's just say, to make it easier for some of you idiots, Murphy was D-A-N-C-I-N-G and he can barely walk, as he says, "I'm a crippled Vietnam vet". His words, not mine. He's kind of hard to explain and they definitely broke the mold after they made Murphy. He's a one of a kind character. Anyway, on Sunday and the last day of the festival, Murphy had a plate of seafood and guess what Murphy did when he saw the food? This is not a trick question but if you're having trouble finding the answer, email me and you just might win a trip to Stupidville. I can't make any promises but you just MIGHT get lucky and since St Patty's Day is around the corner, if you're Irish and you feel lucky, I will throw in a second chance to win, you know WHY? because I'm a nice guy...Until you piss me off, then I turn green and it's not envy, it's more like the shade of the Incredible Hulk. Actually, I just reread what I just typed and I guess it's kind of a trick question, there's actually 2 answers as to the question, What did Murphy do when he saw the food? Well, he started throwing food at me! So I threw food back!! What else was I supposed to do, I have to defend myself, right? He got me good on the left leg of my shorts when he dumped some cocktail sauce on my already dirty shorts. I think I got him good with a hush puppy and told all my friends around that Murphy barks a lot but he don't bite. He reminds me of some kind of pet animal and Murphy was my show and tell moment in Marathon. He even asked me, "Is these your peoples?" That's how's he talks. A little different than Forrest Gump but what the hell do you want from a guy who claims he from a country called Texas and that's where he left all his ex's and now he's mine own personal pain in the asses <----------- That's what I call a Murphyism. He likes to add S's at the end of his sentenceses <-------- Pop Quiz ..what is that underlined italicized word called
boys and girls? I knew you could do it, the answer is above is. ....Alrighty then, shall we move on to the part where I get pissed off and storm out of the festival and leave Murphy at the festival and not looking back. You could assume that I got mad at Murphy but you would be wrong. But when we, meaning me and Murphy, was having our food fight fun, wearing more than we put down our throatsess.... A piece of one of our arsenals apparently hit this female patron or bitch as I affectionately nicknamed her and gave her a piece of my mind after the deputy came over and told us to cool out because the BITCH had to run to Mr. Policeman and tell on the two bad boys that a piece of food debris got on her. The cop was cool though, he said we didn't have to leave but would appreciate it if we would he wanted us to clean up our mess. After the cop left, something went off in my head. I was fumigating. I haven't gotten that pissed off since I can't remember when. I even did my Incredible Hulk impression I used to do back in the old school dayzses. And I basically cussed this BITCH out left and right, upside down and backwards with her husband,boyfriend whatever he was sitting next to her. I can't remember verbatim what was exactly said but it was something like, "YOU STUPID PUSSY CRYBABY BITCH ASS, I WILL STOMP YOU IN THE GROUND, YOU'RE FUCKING WITH THE WRONG MOTHERFUCKER. I actually almost scared myself. They didn't say a word and I stomped off the playing field and left Murphy there and got on the bus back to Key West. I was pretty much pissed off because I am tired of people crying about and snitchin about mother fuckin stupid shit. She didn't have to call the cops over a piece of food getting on her, it's not like she was hit with a lobster. Duck or get out of the way, me and Murphy were just having fun, trying not to hurt anyone, that almost sounds like a song lyric, but I can't remember, oh hold on, yes I do it's Billy Joel's, "You May Be Right". ....Speaking of song lyrics, after that fiasco, I was inspired to write some lyrics. The inspiration actually comes from a culmination of things,... ready, o.k., here we go......this one's called "Idiots and Assholes"
I WANT TO THANK
ALL OF THE IDIOTS
AND NEVER FORGET
THE ASSHOLES
FOR THE ALLEGATIONS
ASSUMPTIONS
AND ACCUSATIONS
BECAUSE OF YOU
I COULD NEVER GO ON
WITHOUT YOU
I WOULD
NEVER BE STRONG
I COULD NEVER WRITE A SONG
ABOUT YOU
MOTHERFUCKIN
ASSHOLES AND IDIOTS
WHY DON'T YOU STUPID BITCHES
GO HOME
SO I CAN GO
ON WITH THE SHOW
THANK YOU
FROM
THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART
NOW YOU CAN
KISS MY ASS
EVERYBODY SING
YEAH YEAH YEAH
MAKE THE WHOLE WORLD SING
AGAINST THE
FUTURE GENERATION
OF
IDIOTS AND ASSHOLES
THAT'S ALL THE TIME
I HAVE
FOR YOU
DUMB MOTHERFUCKERS
Written by: Kevin Dale Sanders - March 12, 2012
Update: On M.I.A. Murphy In Action - Murphy made it back to Key West. He was last seen by Mr. Charlie Coffey and Coffey told me, he saw Murphy in the bushes, as I passed him and his wife walking down the street....singing do wah diddy diddy dumb ditty do
( This is true story shit, I can't make this shit up!! )
( BONUS LYRICS ) *
3 -6 - 12
SLEPT UNDERNEATH
A PALM TREE
JUST ANOTHER DAY
IN PARADISE
I THOUGHT IT
WAS CHRISTMAS
BUT THAT WAS
YESTERDAY
I THOUGHT I HAD PRESENCE
BUT I KNEW
THAT WAS TODAY
BECAUSE I GET
A GIFT EVERYDAY
NO MATTER
WHICH WAY
I LOOK OR TURN
I'VE BEEN BLESSED
BEYOND YOUR CONCERN
3-8-12
PEOPLE LOOK AT ME
LIKE I'M CRAZY
OR A SUPERSTAR
I GUESS IT'S
ALL THE SAME
THE DIFFERENCE
BOGGLES MY MIND
IT FREAKS ME OUT
WITHOUT A CLUE
ABOUT WHAT TO DO
SOME SECRET STREET PLAN
THEY ONLY KNOW
THE HIGHWAY IS
EMPTY
I WISH I KNEW
SEEMS LIKE
THEY WANT TO SOLVE
A PROBLEM
I NEVER HAD
WORLDWIDE
INFORMATION
IN THE
LOCAL PAPER
...MORE TO COME LIMITED TIME ON THE COMPUTER @ LIBRARY
BYE, BYE
Author of the memoir, "Where Did My Life Go?"
My FREE short story Memoir Available Worldwide on Amazon and iBooks (Click the Picture Above)
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Key West Citizen Write Up
I want to thank Key West Citizen writer, John Desantis for writing about me in the newspaper on Monday, March 5th. I thought it was a thoughtfully, thoroughly well written article about me doing my job at Liberty Tax Service. The only crtique that might be misconstrued by readers is that it mentions my mother as being a registered nurse which was totally true except that to me, the article makes it sound like my mother is still alive which is actually not true as she passed away from pancreatic cancer (ironically my brother, 18 years older than I, is an oncologist, cancer doctor for you dumb asses) when I was 15 years old. I used to tell her I loved her bigger than the whole wide world. Sad but true. May GOD rest her soul.....On a brighter note, I would like to say Happy International Women's Day to all the International sisters around the globe. I know who runs this world, it's you!! ... Well, miss prissy pants from the library is kicking me off the computer, I gots to go!!...I'm gonna try and make the Marathon Seafood Festival this weekend!! Like you give a shit! Until next time, bon jour, chow amd wow, how, whatever other way you say "goodbye" to all the girls I love around the world!! Good Day !!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Something Lost, Something Gained
Sorry for the delay....yeah right, like somebody is waiting with baited breath to see what I write next. I'm not that conceded or delusional ...yet. Anyway, one of the main reasons for the long in between pause between this post and the last one I did is because I lost my laptop. And I deserved it. I swore I would never drink Vodka again because I end up "blacking out" or doing something completely out of character and I did. Big Time!. First let me explain that I drank Vodka because that was the only alcohol available and offered to me for free and I had no money and I wanted a buzz. Now in the homeless "bum" world, you have to take what you can get when you have the opportunity. You can't say no, I don't want Vodka, I want beer. If you love to drink and have time on your hands and no money and your bum buddy has a half gallon of Vodka he wants to share with you and has no beer, you take it. Or at least that's what I do and did. But I have to tell you, I suffered the consequences this time.
I had just got a nice bike (to protect the guilty, I will not disclose how I acquired my new 2 wheel horse, only to say that there was not a bicycle lock involved) I liked it so much, I registered my transportation with the Key West Police Department to make sure it wasn't "hot" ;) and it wasn't !!... So the next day my "bum" buddy, O.K.... MURPHY!! had some Vodka and I was bored watching him drink it and I didn't want him to get too drunk because he had a whole half gallon of the demon alcohol and he is a good friend of mine and him being a good friend he offered his friend, me, something to drink because he knows when I look thirsty and he hates to see me dehydrated and all he had was Vodka. So as a true friend and not wanting to refuse my friends' offer and hurt my friends' feelings, I accepted my friends' token of friendship and partook in a friendly drink with my friend, Murphy and we had a party among friends. I mean if you don't have friends or family, who do you have? Anyway....Murphy didn't want to go into KOTS that night but I did. So I proceeded to head towards KOTS on my newly acquired form of A to B transportation and took off. I was peddling along the sea wall, slowly slithering like a snake on 2 wheels. When all of a sudden, I went too far to the left and hit the one foot seawall with my front tire which catapulted me, my bike, my back pack which had my laptop, and my iTouch into the water. By the grace of GOD, I didn't hurt myself. But everything that shouldn't get wet was submerged in about 3 foot of salt water. I tried pulling myself out of the water by grabbing on to the top of the seawall which is about 8 feet but couldn't reach the top to pull myself up. Somebody walking by saw me in the water trying to get up out of the water and extended their hand and pulled me out of the drink. Thank you to whoever you are, I owe you a drink, I give you gratitude now. Thanks!! After that, all I remember is waking up lying on my stomach at a bus stop looking up at a Key West police officer. He pointed out the rules of the bus stop which are clearly posted at each one. Guess which one of the NO rules was up there?.....waiting....ding ding... I think we have a winner Johnny... .yes the correct answer is SLEEPING....Luckily and believe me I don't have much good luck, he told me to take off. Thank you officer. Only problem was, I didn't take off on my newly acquired bicycle or with my backpack or my iPod, just the clothes I had on my back and thank the lord I still had those on. Everything was GONE!!!...............>:o
Now I am not a materialistic person, I understand I can get it all back. EXCEPT for the book I was writing; all of my writing was GONE. I have to start from scratch. I get an itchy feeling everytime I think about it.... That and the fact that I lost my music. Music is my life. It's like my air. I live and breathe for music, NOTHING else matters to me. If it wasn't for music, I wouldn't be alive. I don't want to live in a world without music. I always say, you can take anything you want from me but you can't have my music. So, that is what I lost. Now for what I have gained.
Instead of holding a sign and begging for money like some typical bums. I had a flash of inspiration walking down the street. I saw this guy dressed up in a Statue Of Liberty costume holding a sign. But the signs,signs everywhere signs wasn't asking for money or looking for work. It just said Liberty Tax with an arrow on it. When I lived in Mesa, AZ (the worst place I have ever lived in life btw) I had a room mate at the halfway rehab house I was staying at and he did that very same as this guy on the street was doing. So I knew about the sign waving job before and I was collecting unemployment but they stopped it when the State Of Florida found out I was incarcerated. I appealed the decision. SoI didn't have any income while I was waiting for the court date. So after I saw the guy on the street doing it, I figured that would be the easiest job to get and I might be able to get some cash while I wait for the court date. I walked into Liberty Tax and asked the guy at the front counter if they were looking for anymore sign wavers and the gentelman said, "Yes, as a matter of fact we are!" and had me fill out a short application. I explained to him that I didn't have a phone but I have an email account which I check daily. He told me to check my email the next day and we can take it from there. So I checked it the next day and the email instructed me to show up at Liberty Tax at 7am on Tuesday in which I did and started working and am now gainfully employed there. The gentleman at the front desk was the owner btw and he and his wife are super cool nice people. Murphy and his buddy kept telling me that I need to get a job because my unemployment will run out sooner or later. So I bet Murphys' buddy, Bob Wood, a dollar that I would get a job the next day and sure as shit I did!!! I should of bet more!! btw, Bob Wood, is a former professional bowler who actually beat Earl Anthony back in the 70's and he stayed at KOTS. So I don't care how famous you think you are or how much money you have now, it can all change in a blink of an eye. That's why I can't stand or understand people putting people who are homeless down. I think seeing preople on the street is a painful reminder of what can happen and I personally think it scares the shit out of them. That's just one theory and it's not EVERYBODY who thinks that way but that's just my opinion, which I think I am still entitled to even though I am CURRENTLY residentially challenged or what some might say, a bum on the street, holding a sign...uh.. wait a minute..I'm a bum, homeless person, whatever you want to call me holding a sign, BUT I'm not begging for money, I'm actually making money!! Imagine that.I get paid ever 2 weeks. And yes, I still live at KOTS. The job is a lot of fun as long as I have my headphones on and the music turned up. I actually taught myself how to spin the sign and try to spin it to the music playing on the radio. I work the corner (NO, not like a hooker, get your mind out of the gutter!!) of Rosevelt and Kennedy in Key West. I get the stangest looks, have dogs bark at me and had my picture taken a few times.I have fun with it. Some people have a problem with me out there ie. a business ownwer who came out one day and said, "You're fucking up my business" and I said, "O.K. I'll leave" and I started crying and put my tail between my legs and ran as fast as I could. I was so scared!!! I told my boss everything that happened as he wiped the tears from my eyes and said everything is going to be alright but I'm afraid if we can't stand on the corner there, you no longer have a job, you're fired..I said, still sniffiling, "But, aren't there other corners we can work?" My check giver said, "I'm afraid not, now carry your ass through the door and start pounding the pavement and get a fucking job!" On the bright side, I won my unemployment appeal case, hooray!! I just have to pay back the days I was incarcerated, which was 11.
And for all you dumb asses that took that getting fired bullshit story, hook, line and sinker. You either need to get a fucking job or go fishing!!! Cause I still have a job and I'm going fishing this weekend!! It's payday today and I bought a pair of brand spankin new shoes, let's dance!! This was brought to you courtesy of the public library computer.
I now have a smartphone but the keyboard is too small for my big fingers,HEY LADIES!!! and you can request my number if you want and I will give it to you, ONLY if you are worthy of the digits... and for those of you whose birthdays I missed, fuck you, you didn't invite me to the friggin party...just kidding, kids.. Happy Birthday!! XO
With Love,
It's your friendly, neighborhood, dressing up like a Statue of Liberty, poeticdrummer signing off. Remember to spay or neuter your kids..um I mean pets..............:)
I had just got a nice bike (to protect the guilty, I will not disclose how I acquired my new 2 wheel horse, only to say that there was not a bicycle lock involved) I liked it so much, I registered my transportation with the Key West Police Department to make sure it wasn't "hot" ;) and it wasn't !!... So the next day my "bum" buddy, O.K.... MURPHY!! had some Vodka and I was bored watching him drink it and I didn't want him to get too drunk because he had a whole half gallon of the demon alcohol and he is a good friend of mine and him being a good friend he offered his friend, me, something to drink because he knows when I look thirsty and he hates to see me dehydrated and all he had was Vodka. So as a true friend and not wanting to refuse my friends' offer and hurt my friends' feelings, I accepted my friends' token of friendship and partook in a friendly drink with my friend, Murphy and we had a party among friends. I mean if you don't have friends or family, who do you have? Anyway....Murphy didn't want to go into KOTS that night but I did. So I proceeded to head towards KOTS on my newly acquired form of A to B transportation and took off. I was peddling along the sea wall, slowly slithering like a snake on 2 wheels. When all of a sudden, I went too far to the left and hit the one foot seawall with my front tire which catapulted me, my bike, my back pack which had my laptop, and my iTouch into the water. By the grace of GOD, I didn't hurt myself. But everything that shouldn't get wet was submerged in about 3 foot of salt water. I tried pulling myself out of the water by grabbing on to the top of the seawall which is about 8 feet but couldn't reach the top to pull myself up. Somebody walking by saw me in the water trying to get up out of the water and extended their hand and pulled me out of the drink. Thank you to whoever you are, I owe you a drink, I give you gratitude now. Thanks!! After that, all I remember is waking up lying on my stomach at a bus stop looking up at a Key West police officer. He pointed out the rules of the bus stop which are clearly posted at each one. Guess which one of the NO rules was up there?.....waiting....ding ding... I think we have a winner Johnny... .yes the correct answer is SLEEPING....Luckily and believe me I don't have much good luck, he told me to take off. Thank you officer. Only problem was, I didn't take off on my newly acquired bicycle or with my backpack or my iPod, just the clothes I had on my back and thank the lord I still had those on. Everything was GONE!!!...............>:o
Now I am not a materialistic person, I understand I can get it all back. EXCEPT for the book I was writing; all of my writing was GONE. I have to start from scratch. I get an itchy feeling everytime I think about it.... That and the fact that I lost my music. Music is my life. It's like my air. I live and breathe for music, NOTHING else matters to me. If it wasn't for music, I wouldn't be alive. I don't want to live in a world without music. I always say, you can take anything you want from me but you can't have my music. So, that is what I lost. Now for what I have gained.
Instead of holding a sign and begging for money like some typical bums. I had a flash of inspiration walking down the street. I saw this guy dressed up in a Statue Of Liberty costume holding a sign. But the signs,signs everywhere signs wasn't asking for money or looking for work. It just said Liberty Tax with an arrow on it. When I lived in Mesa, AZ (the worst place I have ever lived in life btw) I had a room mate at the halfway rehab house I was staying at and he did that very same as this guy on the street was doing. So I knew about the sign waving job before and I was collecting unemployment but they stopped it when the State Of Florida found out I was incarcerated. I appealed the decision. SoI didn't have any income while I was waiting for the court date. So after I saw the guy on the street doing it, I figured that would be the easiest job to get and I might be able to get some cash while I wait for the court date. I walked into Liberty Tax and asked the guy at the front counter if they were looking for anymore sign wavers and the gentelman said, "Yes, as a matter of fact we are!" and had me fill out a short application. I explained to him that I didn't have a phone but I have an email account which I check daily. He told me to check my email the next day and we can take it from there. So I checked it the next day and the email instructed me to show up at Liberty Tax at 7am on Tuesday in which I did and started working and am now gainfully employed there. The gentleman at the front desk was the owner btw and he and his wife are super cool nice people. Murphy and his buddy kept telling me that I need to get a job because my unemployment will run out sooner or later. So I bet Murphys' buddy, Bob Wood, a dollar that I would get a job the next day and sure as shit I did!!! I should of bet more!! btw, Bob Wood, is a former professional bowler who actually beat Earl Anthony back in the 70's and he stayed at KOTS. So I don't care how famous you think you are or how much money you have now, it can all change in a blink of an eye. That's why I can't stand or understand people putting people who are homeless down. I think seeing preople on the street is a painful reminder of what can happen and I personally think it scares the shit out of them. That's just one theory and it's not EVERYBODY who thinks that way but that's just my opinion, which I think I am still entitled to even though I am CURRENTLY residentially challenged or what some might say, a bum on the street, holding a sign...uh.. wait a minute..I'm a bum, homeless person, whatever you want to call me holding a sign, BUT I'm not begging for money, I'm actually making money!! Imagine that.I get paid ever 2 weeks. And yes, I still live at KOTS. The job is a lot of fun as long as I have my headphones on and the music turned up. I actually taught myself how to spin the sign and try to spin it to the music playing on the radio. I work the corner (NO, not like a hooker, get your mind out of the gutter!!) of Rosevelt and Kennedy in Key West. I get the stangest looks, have dogs bark at me and had my picture taken a few times.I have fun with it. Some people have a problem with me out there ie. a business ownwer who came out one day and said, "You're fucking up my business" and I said, "O.K. I'll leave" and I started crying and put my tail between my legs and ran as fast as I could. I was so scared!!! I told my boss everything that happened as he wiped the tears from my eyes and said everything is going to be alright but I'm afraid if we can't stand on the corner there, you no longer have a job, you're fired..I said, still sniffiling, "But, aren't there other corners we can work?" My check giver said, "I'm afraid not, now carry your ass through the door and start pounding the pavement and get a fucking job!" On the bright side, I won my unemployment appeal case, hooray!! I just have to pay back the days I was incarcerated, which was 11.
And for all you dumb asses that took that getting fired bullshit story, hook, line and sinker. You either need to get a fucking job or go fishing!!! Cause I still have a job and I'm going fishing this weekend!! It's payday today and I bought a pair of brand spankin new shoes, let's dance!! This was brought to you courtesy of the public library computer.
I now have a smartphone but the keyboard is too small for my big fingers,HEY LADIES!!! and you can request my number if you want and I will give it to you, ONLY if you are worthy of the digits... and for those of you whose birthdays I missed, fuck you, you didn't invite me to the friggin party...just kidding, kids.. Happy Birthday!! XO
With Love,
It's your friendly, neighborhood, dressing up like a Statue of Liberty, poeticdrummer signing off. Remember to spay or neuter your kids..um I mean pets..............:)
Friday, September 23, 2011
Need Vs. Greed
In about 2 hours I will be attending a meeting in Key West to listen to a "homeless expert" speak on how to bring successful solution to the homeless problem in Key West. His name is Robert Marbut, a former White House aide and Texas city councilman. In a quote from the Key West citizen, Thursday, September 22, 2001, Mr. Marbut stated, "I've been to 489 places in 15 states, when I look at that, I'm just shocked at the percent of homeless that Key West has. I don't even know anybody that comes close to it."
According to recent accounts the current estimated homeless population is 3,580(?) in San Antonio, the hometown of the "expert speaker" and 24,000 in Los Angeles.
There are so many "myths, beliefs" whatever you want to call it, from people who have never been homeless before but point out the problem without a solution. Apparently, the speaker today has some solutions that have worked in the past in different cities. And, btw, Key West is a very different city. Unlike any other city I have ever seen and I have traveled throughout the United States and Canada. I've also lived in Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, San Francisco and Hollywood, California and of course, my hometown that I was raised in since I was 6 months old, Marathon, Florida.
I remember moving in with my brother in San Francisco and let me tell you, it was a culture shock! I had never even seen a homeless person before living in Marathon for the first 18 years of my life. I had never seen a skyscraper, city bus or so many people walking in the city streets. It freaked me out. While walking around with my brother and his lover as they showed me around my new city, a guy sitting on the street asked me for a quarter, so being the generous person that I am, I reached into my pocket to find a quarter and I handed to him. My brothers' lover said, "Don't do that, just walk by and ignore those people." That was my first homeless encounter. Who would of thought that 10 years after, I would be just like that man, homeless. I mean I got a job in San Francisco as a walking messenger for the 5th largest law firm in the United States (they represented Chevron) and working there for almost 2 years, my job was replaced by an outside company so the law firm could save money and I was terminated. I was devastated and I loved my job, some fellow employees had been there for over 20 years!! They fired the whole mail room and messenger department which probably had 40 employees. I was doing everything right, I had a job, an apartment all to myself, credit cards, Macy's, Mastercard, Visa, you name it, life was good and I just turned 21. Then that fateful mandatory meeting at 4 o'clock in 1991, a job no longer but my bills were still there. They didn't go away as quickly as my job did. I filed and received unemployment but it wasn't enough to even pay the rent. In 3 months, I was evicted and I was essentially homeless.
I have learned that no matter how good things may seem, they can be taken away in a New York minute, even if you're doing everything you are supposed to do. I have heard quite a few stories from people who have become homeless and the stories vary dramatically. Anywhere from I had a house, 3 kids and a wife and I caught my wife, red handed, cheating on me with my best friend and I took off and left EVERYTHING to my wife to my parents died and left me with NOTHING.
Now, there are all kinds of homeless people from my observation, I will try and breakdown to explain what I see on an everyday basis at KOTS (Key West homeless shelter) and on the street.
This is my observation and even assumption, if you will, this is not scientific proof!
I would say first, there are some KOTS patrons (?) that receive a check from Social Security or Disability every month. I don't know everybody who gets one but from the ones I know, seem to like KOTS and are content with receiving a check and living at KOTS and they show no signs of getting a place of their own. Most drink and blow all of their money within 2 weeks and cry the blues another 2 weeks until they get their check again and then they are on top of the world again.
Second kind of KOTS patron, there are some, very few, that actually don't like staying at KOTS and are actively seeking work and want to get out of the situation they are in. OR some want/need work and sometimes get it, but it's not enough to get a place and/or like staying at KOTS, because they don't have to pay rent.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, are the "wacked out of their mind" people that seriously need mental help. They need to build an asylum or give these people their medication. I'm not trying to judge people, this is merely an observation, a better one than someone who doesn't stay or has never stayed at KOTS.
You need to acknowledge the problem before you can find a solution. Turning your head or ignoring people, acting like there is no problem is the first problem.
I personally can't stand people putting down the homeless, knowing NOTHING about their particular circumstances. That's like me saying, all the people who have expensive brand new cars and homes are snooty, stuck up, greedy and don't care about anyone but themselves. For some, that may hold true, but that's an assumption that would be ignorant on my part.
Some of the comments I read in the "Citizens Voice" column of the Key West Citizen newspaper are attacks on the "bums" saying "Get A Job". Ignorant rants, if you ask me, but who am I, I'm just a homeless person who needs a job. But my rebuttal is, how do you get a job when you need a haircut and you have no phone? Without a dime in your pocket, no income whatsoever. I am forever grateful for the St. Mary's soup kitchen that feeds the needy everyday at 4 o'clock without fail, one of the few things I can count on and my food stamp card. At least I won't go hungry while looking for a job. Thank you to the Salvation Army for providing free clothes, so I can look presentable for a possible interview. It's little things other people who have a home and money take for granted or overlook. It sounds simple but people tend to forget little things, like a razor. The sad part is, I can't even buy a razor, I sometimes get lucky and get one from the food bank but you never know, it's a lucky crap shoot.
As far as crime and safety, I have yet to hear of a homeless mugging or robbing somebody. For the most part, homeless people are harmless except for the occasional asshole that aggressively panhandles. There are exceptions, as with any class of human being, rich or poor. From what I have seen, homeless get busted for trespassing, (there's not many places in Key West that are NOT trespassing)my favorite drinking in public or open container, listed on the sheriff's arrest log as municipal ordinance violation,(some idiots deserve going to jail for 30 days for drinking a beer in public, wide open, they don't try to conceal it in anyway)petite theft from a store, or probation violation. One exception is when a fellow KOTS shelter mate killed my friend, also a KOTS shelter mate, last year with a hammer, there are exceptions, but few. For the most part though, the bum just wants money for beer and cigarettes.
Well, I have to go to this meeting to cure homelessness...can wait to hear what people have to say and hear their solutions...this is better than a movie..pass the popcorn..I will report some of the "bright ideas" to get rid of the homeless problem and of course, express my opinion.
Until then, save the homeless...the population is GROWING in the direction opposite of extinction! P.S. KOTS is filled to capacity every night and it's not even season yet!!! Can't wait til winter...BUUUUURRRRR
Here's a poem I wrote a while back, it seems appropriate now.
NEED VS. GREED
HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED?
WHAT IS THE PRICE OF YOUR GREED?
BLIND EYE, SIDE SWIPE
DON’T CRY A TEARDROP
IN THE END, TOO LATE
FOR SYMPATHY
ANSWER THE FINAL QUESTION
CANNOT MAKE UP THE TEST
YOU FAILED
NOW YOU MUST LIE
IN THE BED YOU MADE
NOBODY ELSE TO BLAME
AFTERLIFE, PIPE DREAM
DO WHAT YOU CAN TODAY
NEVER KNOW WHAT TOMORROW MAY BRING
OR TAKE AWAY
WAKE UP
SMELL THE COLOR OF THE MONEY TREE
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE
SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE
ON A SMALLER SCREEN
BALANCE IN BETWEEN
NEED VERSUS GREED
Ó Kevin Dale Sanders -January 8th, 2007
Well, I just got back from the "homeless" meeting and found 3 of my KOTS shelter mates there and nobody else who were homeless that I know of but all of the homeless help organizations were represented it seemed.
Mr. Marut had some great ideas that have worked in other areas of the United States very well. In fact, he mentioned one city that had virtually cleared the streets of any homeless people, which is astounding. Can it work in Key West? His program implementation centered around having one central place to take care of all the needs of the homeless, like a homeless aid compound, where you sleep, eat and get counseling under one roof. It had a merit kind of system with rewards and consequences that seem like it could work. I was going to ask a couple of questions but the meeting had run it's time limit. I was going to ask, "how do you deal with the people who receive a check every month and are happy being homeless and don't want or need to work?" My second was going to be, this is near and dear to my heart, "What do you do to people that come in drunk?" (I'm a happy drunk by the way that doesn't cause any problems unless you piss me off, of course) And he did mention something about "if you blow or test "dirty", you have consequences" but he didn't elude to what that consequence would be. I was wondering if it was abstinent of alcohol altogether or if you could blow a .04 and not be punished. He also mentioned, and I agree, that putting people in jail for being drunk or trespassing is not going to solve any problem, and I believe, it will and is now a perpetual, vicious cycle that doesn't help anybody and waste taxpayers money. In and out of jail, over and over again. Sounds like insanity to me. Although I have heard that the jail gets money from state funding based on how many inmates they have. Again, I have only heard of this and do not know it to be true. There's that root of all evil again, ruling the minds of the money hungry at the expense of those in need.
I think the hardest obstacle that is faced to have this program come to fruition is finding a spot to put this "all assistance under one roof" concept somewhere in Key West, nobody wants to be close to the homeless. The uneducated think that being close to a homeless shelter drives down property values but in fact,according to the speaker, from other areas that this program was implemented, the property values actually went UP !!! So I think if Key West can convince the public and show the amount of savings with this new shelter concept, it might just happen but you really have to educate a few ignorant people who think they know it all. That for some reason, at least from my point of view, is a BIG problem in Key West, people who think they know all the answers but are unwilling to listen and work together. It seems to me, some people want all the glory but fail to back up what they are saying or just like to hear themselves talk. "One agency may think it can help the homeless better than others" is one of the problems the speaker mentioned in past organization of other shelter programs, instead of working together, they want all the glory to themselves,Greed! Who is better? Which religion is right? Republican or Democrat? This homeless problem affects us all as a community and it affects democrats, republicans,... even rich people with fancy cars and nice houses. I suggest people to put their egos in their pocket, put their money where their mouth is and search for a solution to a problem you can't sweep under the rug and act like nothing is wrong. Wake up and take action! I'm doing my part, I'm homeless, I'm the problem, you would have nothing to solve if it wasn't for me..lol. I just looked at the clock and I missed the soup kitchen and I have 77 cents on my food stamp card until October 7th. Oh well, I had to vent and share my point of view to whoever is reading this, feel free to share and spread the word!
I'm homeless, not hopeless!
Until the library opens again or I find an internet connection, this is the poeticdrummer signing off...
P.S.S. I have listed some of my affiliate links below, for those that don't know, I am trying to make money online and this is how I do it, and if you sign up to anyone of the bottom links, I will make money and you will too, if you wish to promote. God Bless The U.S.
I have real estate all over the world wide web, I just can't sleep there at night!!
This is the easiest and doesn't cost you any money and potential for you to make a lot of money
http://viradyne.com/clickdoor
For Twitter Fanatics (Follow me @conchkid)
http://tweetattacks.com/?e=clickdoor
Build a website for you or somebody else
http://specialprize.sitesell.com/clickdoor.html
Make a Storefront, Make Money Selling Stuff
http://www.datafeedr.com/affiliates/jrox.php?id=2150
25 dollars gets you a lot of website creation education
http://www.infinitydownline.com/?id=clickdoor
See,.. I've been working, I just haven't been getting paid, help a brotha out, man!!
I'm not looking for a hand out, just a little help!
Thanks for your thoughtfulness and patronage!! Cheers to OUR success! I sound like one of those "gurus", it's rubbing off......
According to recent accounts the current estimated homeless population is 3,580(?) in San Antonio, the hometown of the "expert speaker" and 24,000 in Los Angeles.
There are so many "myths, beliefs" whatever you want to call it, from people who have never been homeless before but point out the problem without a solution. Apparently, the speaker today has some solutions that have worked in the past in different cities. And, btw, Key West is a very different city. Unlike any other city I have ever seen and I have traveled throughout the United States and Canada. I've also lived in Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, San Francisco and Hollywood, California and of course, my hometown that I was raised in since I was 6 months old, Marathon, Florida.
I remember moving in with my brother in San Francisco and let me tell you, it was a culture shock! I had never even seen a homeless person before living in Marathon for the first 18 years of my life. I had never seen a skyscraper, city bus or so many people walking in the city streets. It freaked me out. While walking around with my brother and his lover as they showed me around my new city, a guy sitting on the street asked me for a quarter, so being the generous person that I am, I reached into my pocket to find a quarter and I handed to him. My brothers' lover said, "Don't do that, just walk by and ignore those people." That was my first homeless encounter. Who would of thought that 10 years after, I would be just like that man, homeless. I mean I got a job in San Francisco as a walking messenger for the 5th largest law firm in the United States (they represented Chevron) and working there for almost 2 years, my job was replaced by an outside company so the law firm could save money and I was terminated. I was devastated and I loved my job, some fellow employees had been there for over 20 years!! They fired the whole mail room and messenger department which probably had 40 employees. I was doing everything right, I had a job, an apartment all to myself, credit cards, Macy's, Mastercard, Visa, you name it, life was good and I just turned 21. Then that fateful mandatory meeting at 4 o'clock in 1991, a job no longer but my bills were still there. They didn't go away as quickly as my job did. I filed and received unemployment but it wasn't enough to even pay the rent. In 3 months, I was evicted and I was essentially homeless.
I have learned that no matter how good things may seem, they can be taken away in a New York minute, even if you're doing everything you are supposed to do. I have heard quite a few stories from people who have become homeless and the stories vary dramatically. Anywhere from I had a house, 3 kids and a wife and I caught my wife, red handed, cheating on me with my best friend and I took off and left EVERYTHING to my wife to my parents died and left me with NOTHING.
Now, there are all kinds of homeless people from my observation, I will try and breakdown to explain what I see on an everyday basis at KOTS (Key West homeless shelter) and on the street.
This is my observation and even assumption, if you will, this is not scientific proof!
I would say first, there are some KOTS patrons (?) that receive a check from Social Security or Disability every month. I don't know everybody who gets one but from the ones I know, seem to like KOTS and are content with receiving a check and living at KOTS and they show no signs of getting a place of their own. Most drink and blow all of their money within 2 weeks and cry the blues another 2 weeks until they get their check again and then they are on top of the world again.
Second kind of KOTS patron, there are some, very few, that actually don't like staying at KOTS and are actively seeking work and want to get out of the situation they are in. OR some want/need work and sometimes get it, but it's not enough to get a place and/or like staying at KOTS, because they don't have to pay rent.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, are the "wacked out of their mind" people that seriously need mental help. They need to build an asylum or give these people their medication. I'm not trying to judge people, this is merely an observation, a better one than someone who doesn't stay or has never stayed at KOTS.
You need to acknowledge the problem before you can find a solution. Turning your head or ignoring people, acting like there is no problem is the first problem.
I personally can't stand people putting down the homeless, knowing NOTHING about their particular circumstances. That's like me saying, all the people who have expensive brand new cars and homes are snooty, stuck up, greedy and don't care about anyone but themselves. For some, that may hold true, but that's an assumption that would be ignorant on my part.
Some of the comments I read in the "Citizens Voice" column of the Key West Citizen newspaper are attacks on the "bums" saying "Get A Job". Ignorant rants, if you ask me, but who am I, I'm just a homeless person who needs a job. But my rebuttal is, how do you get a job when you need a haircut and you have no phone? Without a dime in your pocket, no income whatsoever. I am forever grateful for the St. Mary's soup kitchen that feeds the needy everyday at 4 o'clock without fail, one of the few things I can count on and my food stamp card. At least I won't go hungry while looking for a job. Thank you to the Salvation Army for providing free clothes, so I can look presentable for a possible interview. It's little things other people who have a home and money take for granted or overlook. It sounds simple but people tend to forget little things, like a razor. The sad part is, I can't even buy a razor, I sometimes get lucky and get one from the food bank but you never know, it's a lucky crap shoot.
As far as crime and safety, I have yet to hear of a homeless mugging or robbing somebody. For the most part, homeless people are harmless except for the occasional asshole that aggressively panhandles. There are exceptions, as with any class of human being, rich or poor. From what I have seen, homeless get busted for trespassing, (there's not many places in Key West that are NOT trespassing)my favorite drinking in public or open container, listed on the sheriff's arrest log as municipal ordinance violation,(some idiots deserve going to jail for 30 days for drinking a beer in public, wide open, they don't try to conceal it in anyway)petite theft from a store, or probation violation. One exception is when a fellow KOTS shelter mate killed my friend, also a KOTS shelter mate, last year with a hammer, there are exceptions, but few. For the most part though, the bum just wants money for beer and cigarettes.
Well, I have to go to this meeting to cure homelessness...can wait to hear what people have to say and hear their solutions...this is better than a movie..pass the popcorn..I will report some of the "bright ideas" to get rid of the homeless problem and of course, express my opinion.
Until then, save the homeless...the population is GROWING in the direction opposite of extinction! P.S. KOTS is filled to capacity every night and it's not even season yet!!! Can't wait til winter...BUUUUURRRRR
Here's a poem I wrote a while back, it seems appropriate now.
NEED VS. GREED
HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED?
WHAT IS THE PRICE OF YOUR GREED?
BLIND EYE, SIDE SWIPE
DON’T CRY A TEARDROP
IN THE END, TOO LATE
FOR SYMPATHY
ANSWER THE FINAL QUESTION
CANNOT MAKE UP THE TEST
YOU FAILED
NOW YOU MUST LIE
IN THE BED YOU MADE
NOBODY ELSE TO BLAME
AFTERLIFE, PIPE DREAM
DO WHAT YOU CAN TODAY
NEVER KNOW WHAT TOMORROW MAY BRING
OR TAKE AWAY
WAKE UP
SMELL THE COLOR OF THE MONEY TREE
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE
SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE
ON A SMALLER SCREEN
BALANCE IN BETWEEN
NEED VERSUS GREED
Ó Kevin Dale Sanders -January 8th, 2007
Well, I just got back from the "homeless" meeting and found 3 of my KOTS shelter mates there and nobody else who were homeless that I know of but all of the homeless help organizations were represented it seemed.
Mr. Marut had some great ideas that have worked in other areas of the United States very well. In fact, he mentioned one city that had virtually cleared the streets of any homeless people, which is astounding. Can it work in Key West? His program implementation centered around having one central place to take care of all the needs of the homeless, like a homeless aid compound, where you sleep, eat and get counseling under one roof. It had a merit kind of system with rewards and consequences that seem like it could work. I was going to ask a couple of questions but the meeting had run it's time limit. I was going to ask, "how do you deal with the people who receive a check every month and are happy being homeless and don't want or need to work?" My second was going to be, this is near and dear to my heart, "What do you do to people that come in drunk?" (I'm a happy drunk by the way that doesn't cause any problems unless you piss me off, of course) And he did mention something about "if you blow or test "dirty", you have consequences" but he didn't elude to what that consequence would be. I was wondering if it was abstinent of alcohol altogether or if you could blow a .04 and not be punished. He also mentioned, and I agree, that putting people in jail for being drunk or trespassing is not going to solve any problem, and I believe, it will and is now a perpetual, vicious cycle that doesn't help anybody and waste taxpayers money. In and out of jail, over and over again. Sounds like insanity to me. Although I have heard that the jail gets money from state funding based on how many inmates they have. Again, I have only heard of this and do not know it to be true. There's that root of all evil again, ruling the minds of the money hungry at the expense of those in need.
I think the hardest obstacle that is faced to have this program come to fruition is finding a spot to put this "all assistance under one roof" concept somewhere in Key West, nobody wants to be close to the homeless. The uneducated think that being close to a homeless shelter drives down property values but in fact,according to the speaker, from other areas that this program was implemented, the property values actually went UP !!! So I think if Key West can convince the public and show the amount of savings with this new shelter concept, it might just happen but you really have to educate a few ignorant people who think they know it all. That for some reason, at least from my point of view, is a BIG problem in Key West, people who think they know all the answers but are unwilling to listen and work together. It seems to me, some people want all the glory but fail to back up what they are saying or just like to hear themselves talk. "One agency may think it can help the homeless better than others" is one of the problems the speaker mentioned in past organization of other shelter programs, instead of working together, they want all the glory to themselves,Greed! Who is better? Which religion is right? Republican or Democrat? This homeless problem affects us all as a community and it affects democrats, republicans,... even rich people with fancy cars and nice houses. I suggest people to put their egos in their pocket, put their money where their mouth is and search for a solution to a problem you can't sweep under the rug and act like nothing is wrong. Wake up and take action! I'm doing my part, I'm homeless, I'm the problem, you would have nothing to solve if it wasn't for me..lol. I just looked at the clock and I missed the soup kitchen and I have 77 cents on my food stamp card until October 7th. Oh well, I had to vent and share my point of view to whoever is reading this, feel free to share and spread the word!
I'm homeless, not hopeless!
Until the library opens again or I find an internet connection, this is the poeticdrummer signing off...
P.S.S. I have listed some of my affiliate links below, for those that don't know, I am trying to make money online and this is how I do it, and if you sign up to anyone of the bottom links, I will make money and you will too, if you wish to promote. God Bless The U.S.
I have real estate all over the world wide web, I just can't sleep there at night!!
This is the easiest and doesn't cost you any money and potential for you to make a lot of money
http://viradyne.com/clickdoor
For Twitter Fanatics (Follow me @conchkid)
http://tweetattacks.com/?e=clickdoor
Build a website for you or somebody else
http://specialprize.sitesell.com/clickdoor.html
Make a Storefront, Make Money Selling Stuff
http://www.datafeedr.com/affiliates/jrox.php?id=2150
25 dollars gets you a lot of website creation education
http://www.infinitydownline.com/?id=clickdoor
See,.. I've been working, I just haven't been getting paid, help a brotha out, man!!
I'm not looking for a hand out, just a little help!
Thanks for your thoughtfulness and patronage!! Cheers to OUR success! I sound like one of those "gurus", it's rubbing off......
Friday, September 2, 2011
Livin Da Vida Homelesso.......A Happy Ending Vicariously
It's about 3:27AM and I have left K.O.T.S. for the night or morning, I should say. I think I slept a total of 2 hours.BECAUSE, I have to sleep along side derelicts with fucked up sleeping habits. On top of that, it rained really hard and long last night at K.O.T.S. luckily I got the last bunk inside although the roof still leaked slowly onto different parts of my body covered by the thin pink sheet provided to me. It gave me a sense of what water boarding would be like and I don't mean out on the ocean, I mean the torture technique. But I still managed to get a decent night's sleep. I was thankfully for not being outside. Now to explain, there are 4 enclosed barracks that house 26 people per barrack, once they are filled up, the rest of the less fortunate sleep outside on the same 2 inch thick green 2 foot by 7 foot mattress used inside.In the back side lays about 15 mats under a white tarp that hangs down about 5 feet off the ground. When it rains, you don't get wet but that is determined by the wind, and of course that too has a drip leak on certain mats, again, of course, on the spot I chose. That's just my luck. I could win a prize if losing was the goal of winning.
Anyway, I miss the rain storm the night before but when I came in last night, I was stuck with picking a spot outside and I have learned that number 10 is the best because it is one mattress over from the edge and the amber streetlight doesn't shine in your eyes all night. But last night I got a mat on number 10 but it was soaked with water, the surface was dry but the internal part of the mattress had sucked up the water from the night before like a sponge. So I tried to go to sleep, unbeknownst to me that, there's water in them there hills, uh..mattresses.After a shower, I slept for about an hour, woke up and my shorts were wet and believe you me, it wasn't a wet dream. I even had a thick pink blanket under me. So I said, O.K. there's nothing I can do, I can live with being wet, deal with it. Then almost entering rem again, those pesky little fuckin mosquitoes decide they are hungry for blood, and of course, mine is the sweetest one, or so it seems at the time while everybody else is snoring away with their little pipe dreams except for this one asshole next to me whom I have never seen before, starts tossin' and turnin', he still has his boots on and every fuckin 2 minutes shuffles his feet across the green vinyl mattress, making a sound like zipping up a zipper on a tent. His legs went up and down every 2 friggin minutes, which drove me nuts!! Back and forth, non stop, all night, into the morning. I can't change spots because KOTS is full, so I am trapped between him, the mosquitoes and the wet mattress. It's 2 AM, I go out to the common area and smoke my last cigarette er... little cheap cigar that look like cigarettes but are 4 times cheaper, a real pack of cigarette for 4 bucks versus 1 dollar for a pack of 305 cigars, the new official smoke of the homeless, thanks to the tax hike in regular cigarettes.I finish my cigaro and I go back to my boat, I mean,my mattress and try to get some kind of sleep, to no avail. The motherfucker next to me is still squirming and the mosquitoes are still swarming. So I lay there defenseless, wondering what am I going to do. I laid there for an hour and said fuck this, I'm out of cigarettes and I can't sleep. I picked up my shit, left KOTS and headed to the gas station on my bike without any lights, where I know they have my cheap cigarettes and bought a Natty Ice because it was still before 4 and I had a dollar and change and 1.34 on my debit card.
And here I am, typing in the dark at a bus stop across the street from McDonald's where I can pick up WiFi for free, especially at 4 in the morning, only knowing 2 people that will read this and that would be Terra (my former bosses roommate) and my KOTS shelter mate, Bobby. Good Morning, Terra and Bobby! I guess it's better than cell mate. Other than that, it's weird writing what I have been through and not knowing in the whole wide world who will come across this. I don't promote it, maybe on Facebook, but it's cathartic. If anything, I like doing it, I do this because I want to, I don't get paid to do it,...yet!
Shift from sleep deprived pissed off to something I had a chance to do for somebody that I will never be able to do until the day I die,... I can only hope.
I met this guy at KOTS about a month a go.
He kind of looks like a gold miner with a bandana without the hat or gold.
He calls himself, Murphy, and has a personality between Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn and walks like he needs a cane.
He claims, "he from a country called, Texas" his words, not mine. And always asks the question in a fast, slurred tempo depending on how much Vodka he's had to drink, "whatchu gonna be when you grow up, boy?" and "Is you a vet?" He served in Vietnam.
Anyway, how or who. He found out his son, who he hasn't seen since his son was about 3 years old, was on Facebook. The guy who told Murphy didn't stay long at KOTS, so I told Murphy I would try and contact his son through Facebook just give me your son's name, so he did and the hunt was on. I found his son and tried to become friends with him so I could give him the message that his father was looking for him.
His son confirmed me as a friend an sent a message to me asking, "Who are you and how do you know me?"
I replied, "Well, I stay at a homeless shelter in Florida and I met your father there and he found out you were on Facebook and since he doesn't know how to use the computer too good, he told me your name and he asked me to send you a message to see if he could get in contact with you. I'm just trying to help."
I got no reply from Murphy's son
So I shot out another message that read, "Your father wanted me to ask you if you had a phone number that he could reach you at"
4 days later I got a reply with simply his son's telephone number.
I gave it to Murphy and he called his son and they talked for an hour and a half.
It does my heart good to know that at least Murphy had a chance to reunite with his son because I will never get that chance with my own biological father because he was shot to death when I was 6 months old.
I mean, I am by no means Oprah Winfrey, but it is cool to see somebody get a chance to see or at least talk to, a long lost family member, in this case a father and son.
Okay, on that note, the sun is rising and the roosters are crowing...
Ab,ab,ab,ab....that's all folks!!!!
It's about 3:27AM and I have left K.O.T.S. for the night or morning, I should say. I think I slept a total of 2 hours.BECAUSE, I have to sleep along side derelicts with fucked up sleeping habits. On top of that, it rained really hard and long last night at K.O.T.S. luckily I got the last bunk inside although the roof still leaked slowly onto different parts of my body covered by the thin pink sheet provided to me. It gave me a sense of what water boarding would be like and I don't me out on the ocean, I mean the torture technique. But I still managed to get a decent night's sleep. I was thankfully for not being outside. Now to explain, there are 4 enclosed barracks that house 26 people per barrack, once they are filled up, the rest of the less fortunate sleep outside on the same 2 inch thick green 2 foot by 7 foot mattress used inside.In the back side lays about 15 mats under a white tarp that hangs down about 5 feet off the ground. When it rains, you don't get wet but that is determined by the wind, and of course that too has a drip leak on certain mats, again, of course, on the spot I chose. That's just my luck. I could win a prize if losing was the goal of winning. Anyway, I miss the rain storm the night before but when I came in last night, I was stuck with picking a spot outside and I have learned that number 10 is the best because it is one mattress over from the edge and the amber streetlight doesn't shine in your eyes all night. But last night I got a mat on number 10 but it was soaked with water, the surface was dry but the internal part of the mattress had sucked up the water from the night before like a sponge. So I try to go to sleep, unbeknownst to me that, there's water in them there hills, uh..mattresses.After a shower, I slept for about an hour, woke up and my shorts were wet and believe you me, it wasn't a wet dream. I even had a thick pink blanket under me. So I said, O.K. there's nothing I can do, I can live with being wet, deal with it. Then almost entering rem again, so pesky little fuckin mosquitoes decide they are hungry for blood, and of course, mine is the sweetest one, or so it seems at the time while everybody else is snoring away with their little pipe dreams except for this one asshole next to me whom I have never seen before starts tossin' and turnin', he still has his boots on and every fuckin 2 minutes shuffles his feet across the green vinyl mattress, making a sound like zipping up a zipper on a tent. His legs went up and down every 2 friggin minutes, which drove me nuts!! Back and forth, non stop all night into the morning. I can change spots because KOTS is full, so I am trapped between him, the mosquitoes and the wet mattress. It's 2 AM, I go out to the common area and smoke my last cigarette er... little cheap cigar that look like cigarettes but are 4 times cheaper, a real pack of cigarette for 4 bucks versus 1 dollar for a pack of 305 cigars, the new official smoke of the homeless, thanks to the tax hike in regular cigarettes.I finish my cigaro and I go back to my boat, I mean,my mattress and try to get some kind of sleep, to no avail. The motherfucker next to me is still squirming and the mosquitoes are still swarming. So I lay there defenseless, wondering what am I going to do. I laid there for an hour and said fuck this I'm out of cigarettes and I can't sleep. I picked up my shit, left KOTS and headed to the gas station on my bike without any lights, where I know they have my cheap cigarettes and bought a Natty Ice because it was still before 4 and I had a dollar and change and 1.34 on my debit card. And here I am, typing in the dark at a bus stop across the street from McDonald's where I can pick up WiFi for free, especially at 4 in the morning, only knowing 2 people that will read this and that would be Terra (my former bosses roommate) and my KOTS shelter mate, Bobby. Good Morning, Terra and Bobby! I guess it's better than cell mate. Other than that, it's weird writing what I have been through and not knowing in the whole wide world who will come across this. I don't promote it, maybe on Facebook, but it's cathartic. If anything, I like doing it, I do this because I want to, I don't get paid to do it,...yet!
Shift from sleep deprived pissed off to something I had a chance to do for somebody that I will never be able to do until the day I die,... I can only hope.
I met this guy at KOTS about a month a go.
He kind of looks like a gold miner with a bandana without the hat or gold.
He calls himself, Murphy, and has a personality between Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn and walks like he needs a cane. He claims, "he from a country called, Texas" his words not mine. And always asks the question in a fast, slurred tempo depending on how much Vodka he's had to drink, "whatchu gonna be when you grow up, boy?" and "Is you a vet?" He served in Vietnam. Anyway, how or who. He found out his son, who he hasn't seen since his son was about 3 years old, was on Facebook. The guy who told Murphy didn't stay long at KOTS, so I told Murphy I would try and contact his son through Facebook just give me your son's name, so he did and the hunt was on. I found his son and tried to become friends with him so I could give him the message that his father was looking for him.
His son confirmed me as a friend an sent a message to me asking, "Who are you and how do you know me?"
I replied, "Well, I stay at a homeless shelter in Florida and I met your father there and he found out you were on Facebook and since he doesn't know how to use the computer too good, he told me your name and he asked me to send you a message to see if he could get in contact with you. I'm just trying to help."
I got no reply from Murphy's son
So I shot out another message that read, "Your father wanted me to ask you if you had a phone number that he could reach you at"
4 days later I got a reply with simply his son's telephone number.
I gave it to Murphy and he called his son and they talked for an hour and a half.
It does my heart good to know that at least Murphy had a chance to reunite with his son because I will never get that chance with my own biological father because he was shot to death when I was 6 months old.
I mean, I am by no means Oprah Winfrey, but it is cool to see somebody get a chance to see or at least talk to, a long lost family member, in this case a father and son.
Okay, on that note, the sun is rising and the roosters are crowing...
Ab,ab,ab,ab....that's all folks!!!! Check out my video.."The Rooster Goes...."
Anyway, I miss the rain storm the night before but when I came in last night, I was stuck with picking a spot outside and I have learned that number 10 is the best because it is one mattress over from the edge and the amber streetlight doesn't shine in your eyes all night. But last night I got a mat on number 10 but it was soaked with water, the surface was dry but the internal part of the mattress had sucked up the water from the night before like a sponge. So I tried to go to sleep, unbeknownst to me that, there's water in them there hills, uh..mattresses.After a shower, I slept for about an hour, woke up and my shorts were wet and believe you me, it wasn't a wet dream. I even had a thick pink blanket under me. So I said, O.K. there's nothing I can do, I can live with being wet, deal with it. Then almost entering rem again, those pesky little fuckin mosquitoes decide they are hungry for blood, and of course, mine is the sweetest one, or so it seems at the time while everybody else is snoring away with their little pipe dreams except for this one asshole next to me whom I have never seen before, starts tossin' and turnin', he still has his boots on and every fuckin 2 minutes shuffles his feet across the green vinyl mattress, making a sound like zipping up a zipper on a tent. His legs went up and down every 2 friggin minutes, which drove me nuts!! Back and forth, non stop, all night, into the morning. I can't change spots because KOTS is full, so I am trapped between him, the mosquitoes and the wet mattress. It's 2 AM, I go out to the common area and smoke my last cigarette er... little cheap cigar that look like cigarettes but are 4 times cheaper, a real pack of cigarette for 4 bucks versus 1 dollar for a pack of 305 cigars, the new official smoke of the homeless, thanks to the tax hike in regular cigarettes.I finish my cigaro and I go back to my boat, I mean,my mattress and try to get some kind of sleep, to no avail. The motherfucker next to me is still squirming and the mosquitoes are still swarming. So I lay there defenseless, wondering what am I going to do. I laid there for an hour and said fuck this, I'm out of cigarettes and I can't sleep. I picked up my shit, left KOTS and headed to the gas station on my bike without any lights, where I know they have my cheap cigarettes and bought a Natty Ice because it was still before 4 and I had a dollar and change and 1.34 on my debit card.
And here I am, typing in the dark at a bus stop across the street from McDonald's where I can pick up WiFi for free, especially at 4 in the morning, only knowing 2 people that will read this and that would be Terra (my former bosses roommate) and my KOTS shelter mate, Bobby. Good Morning, Terra and Bobby! I guess it's better than cell mate. Other than that, it's weird writing what I have been through and not knowing in the whole wide world who will come across this. I don't promote it, maybe on Facebook, but it's cathartic. If anything, I like doing it, I do this because I want to, I don't get paid to do it,...yet!
Shift from sleep deprived pissed off to something I had a chance to do for somebody that I will never be able to do until the day I die,... I can only hope.
I met this guy at KOTS about a month a go.
He kind of looks like a gold miner with a bandana without the hat or gold.
He calls himself, Murphy, and has a personality between Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn and walks like he needs a cane.
He claims, "he from a country called, Texas" his words, not mine. And always asks the question in a fast, slurred tempo depending on how much Vodka he's had to drink, "whatchu gonna be when you grow up, boy?" and "Is you a vet?" He served in Vietnam.
Anyway, how or who. He found out his son, who he hasn't seen since his son was about 3 years old, was on Facebook. The guy who told Murphy didn't stay long at KOTS, so I told Murphy I would try and contact his son through Facebook just give me your son's name, so he did and the hunt was on. I found his son and tried to become friends with him so I could give him the message that his father was looking for him.
His son confirmed me as a friend an sent a message to me asking, "Who are you and how do you know me?"
I replied, "Well, I stay at a homeless shelter in Florida and I met your father there and he found out you were on Facebook and since he doesn't know how to use the computer too good, he told me your name and he asked me to send you a message to see if he could get in contact with you. I'm just trying to help."
I got no reply from Murphy's son
So I shot out another message that read, "Your father wanted me to ask you if you had a phone number that he could reach you at"
4 days later I got a reply with simply his son's telephone number.
I gave it to Murphy and he called his son and they talked for an hour and a half.
It does my heart good to know that at least Murphy had a chance to reunite with his son because I will never get that chance with my own biological father because he was shot to death when I was 6 months old.
I mean, I am by no means Oprah Winfrey, but it is cool to see somebody get a chance to see or at least talk to, a long lost family member, in this case a father and son.
Okay, on that note, the sun is rising and the roosters are crowing...
Ab,ab,ab,ab....that's all folks!!!!
It's about 3:27AM and I have left K.O.T.S. for the night or morning, I should say. I think I slept a total of 2 hours.BECAUSE, I have to sleep along side derelicts with fucked up sleeping habits. On top of that, it rained really hard and long last night at K.O.T.S. luckily I got the last bunk inside although the roof still leaked slowly onto different parts of my body covered by the thin pink sheet provided to me. It gave me a sense of what water boarding would be like and I don't me out on the ocean, I mean the torture technique. But I still managed to get a decent night's sleep. I was thankfully for not being outside. Now to explain, there are 4 enclosed barracks that house 26 people per barrack, once they are filled up, the rest of the less fortunate sleep outside on the same 2 inch thick green 2 foot by 7 foot mattress used inside.In the back side lays about 15 mats under a white tarp that hangs down about 5 feet off the ground. When it rains, you don't get wet but that is determined by the wind, and of course that too has a drip leak on certain mats, again, of course, on the spot I chose. That's just my luck. I could win a prize if losing was the goal of winning. Anyway, I miss the rain storm the night before but when I came in last night, I was stuck with picking a spot outside and I have learned that number 10 is the best because it is one mattress over from the edge and the amber streetlight doesn't shine in your eyes all night. But last night I got a mat on number 10 but it was soaked with water, the surface was dry but the internal part of the mattress had sucked up the water from the night before like a sponge. So I try to go to sleep, unbeknownst to me that, there's water in them there hills, uh..mattresses.After a shower, I slept for about an hour, woke up and my shorts were wet and believe you me, it wasn't a wet dream. I even had a thick pink blanket under me. So I said, O.K. there's nothing I can do, I can live with being wet, deal with it. Then almost entering rem again, so pesky little fuckin mosquitoes decide they are hungry for blood, and of course, mine is the sweetest one, or so it seems at the time while everybody else is snoring away with their little pipe dreams except for this one asshole next to me whom I have never seen before starts tossin' and turnin', he still has his boots on and every fuckin 2 minutes shuffles his feet across the green vinyl mattress, making a sound like zipping up a zipper on a tent. His legs went up and down every 2 friggin minutes, which drove me nuts!! Back and forth, non stop all night into the morning. I can change spots because KOTS is full, so I am trapped between him, the mosquitoes and the wet mattress. It's 2 AM, I go out to the common area and smoke my last cigarette er... little cheap cigar that look like cigarettes but are 4 times cheaper, a real pack of cigarette for 4 bucks versus 1 dollar for a pack of 305 cigars, the new official smoke of the homeless, thanks to the tax hike in regular cigarettes.I finish my cigaro and I go back to my boat, I mean,my mattress and try to get some kind of sleep, to no avail. The motherfucker next to me is still squirming and the mosquitoes are still swarming. So I lay there defenseless, wondering what am I going to do. I laid there for an hour and said fuck this I'm out of cigarettes and I can't sleep. I picked up my shit, left KOTS and headed to the gas station on my bike without any lights, where I know they have my cheap cigarettes and bought a Natty Ice because it was still before 4 and I had a dollar and change and 1.34 on my debit card. And here I am, typing in the dark at a bus stop across the street from McDonald's where I can pick up WiFi for free, especially at 4 in the morning, only knowing 2 people that will read this and that would be Terra (my former bosses roommate) and my KOTS shelter mate, Bobby. Good Morning, Terra and Bobby! I guess it's better than cell mate. Other than that, it's weird writing what I have been through and not knowing in the whole wide world who will come across this. I don't promote it, maybe on Facebook, but it's cathartic. If anything, I like doing it, I do this because I want to, I don't get paid to do it,...yet!
Shift from sleep deprived pissed off to something I had a chance to do for somebody that I will never be able to do until the day I die,... I can only hope.
I met this guy at KOTS about a month a go.
He kind of looks like a gold miner with a bandana without the hat or gold.
He calls himself, Murphy, and has a personality between Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn and walks like he needs a cane. He claims, "he from a country called, Texas" his words not mine. And always asks the question in a fast, slurred tempo depending on how much Vodka he's had to drink, "whatchu gonna be when you grow up, boy?" and "Is you a vet?" He served in Vietnam. Anyway, how or who. He found out his son, who he hasn't seen since his son was about 3 years old, was on Facebook. The guy who told Murphy didn't stay long at KOTS, so I told Murphy I would try and contact his son through Facebook just give me your son's name, so he did and the hunt was on. I found his son and tried to become friends with him so I could give him the message that his father was looking for him.
His son confirmed me as a friend an sent a message to me asking, "Who are you and how do you know me?"
I replied, "Well, I stay at a homeless shelter in Florida and I met your father there and he found out you were on Facebook and since he doesn't know how to use the computer too good, he told me your name and he asked me to send you a message to see if he could get in contact with you. I'm just trying to help."
I got no reply from Murphy's son
So I shot out another message that read, "Your father wanted me to ask you if you had a phone number that he could reach you at"
4 days later I got a reply with simply his son's telephone number.
I gave it to Murphy and he called his son and they talked for an hour and a half.
It does my heart good to know that at least Murphy had a chance to reunite with his son because I will never get that chance with my own biological father because he was shot to death when I was 6 months old.
I mean, I am by no means Oprah Winfrey, but it is cool to see somebody get a chance to see or at least talk to, a long lost family member, in this case a father and son.
Okay, on that note, the sun is rising and the roosters are crowing...
Ab,ab,ab,ab....that's all folks!!!! Check out my video.."The Rooster Goes...."
Livin Da Vida Homelesso.......A Happy Ending Vicariously
It's about 3:27AM and I have left K.O.T.S. for the night or morning, I should say. I think I slept a total of 2hours.BECAUSE, I have to sleep along side derelicts with fucked up sleeping habits. On top of that, it rained really hard and long last night at K.O.T.S. luckily I got the last bunk inside although the roof still leaked slowly onto different parts of my body covered by the thin pink sheet provided to me. It gave me a sense of what water boarding would be like and I don't me out on the ocean, I mean the torture technique. But I still managed to get a decent night's sleep. I was thankfully for not being outside. Now to explain, there are 4 enclosed barracks that house 26 people per barrack, once they are filled up, the rest of the less fortunate sleep outside on the same 2 inch thick green 2 foot by 7 foot mattress used inside.In the back side lays about 15 mats under a white tarp that hangs down about 5 feet off the ground. When it rains, you don't get wet but that is determined by the wind, and of course that too has a drip leak on certain mats, again, of course, on the spot I chose. That's just my luck. I could win a prize if losing was the goal of winning. Anyway, I miss the rain storm the night before but when I came in last night, I was stuck with picking a spot outside and I have learned that number 10 is the best because it is one mattress over from the edge and the amber streetlight doesn't shine in your eyes all night. But last night I got a mat on number 10 but it was soaked with water, the surface was dry but the internal part of the mattress had sucked up the water from the night before like a sponge. So I try to go to sleep, unbeknownst to me that, there's water in them there hills, uh..mattresses.After a shower, I slept for about an hour, woke up and my shorts were wet and believe you me, it wasn't a wet dream. I even had a thick pink blanket under me. So I said, O.K. there's nothing I can do, I can live with being wet, deal with it. Then almost entering rem again, so pesky little fuckin mosquitoes decide they are hungry for blood, and of course, mine is the sweetest one, or so it seems at the time while everybody else is snoring away with their little pipe dreams except for this one asshole next to me whom I have never seen before starts tossin' and turnin', he still has his boots on and every fuckin 2 minutes shuffles his feet across the green vinyl mattress, making a sound like zipping up a zipper on a tent. His legs went up and down every 2 friggin minutes, which drove me nuts!! Back and forth, non stop all night into the morning. I can change spots because KOTS is full, so I am trapped between him, the mosquitoes and the wet mattress. It's 2 AM, I go out to the common area and smoke my last cigarette er... little cheap cigar that look like cigarettes but are 4 times cheaper, a real pack of cigarette for 4 bucks versus 1 dollar for a pack of 305 cigars, the new official smoke of the homeless, thanks to the tax hike in regular cigarettes.I finish my cigaro and I go back to my boat, I mean,my mattress and try to get some kind of sleep, to no avail. The motherfucker next to me is still squirming and the mosquitoes are still swarming. So I lay there defenseless, wondering what am I going to do. I laid there for an hour and said fuck this I'm out of cigarettes and I can't sleep. I picked up my shit, left KOTS and headed to the gas station on my bike without any lights, where I know they have my cheap cigarettes and bought a Natty Ice because it was still before 4 and I had a dollar and change and 1.34 on my debit card. And here I am, typing in the dark at a bus stop across the street from McDonald's where I can pick up WiFi for free, especially at 4 in the morning, only knowing 2 people that will read this and that would be Terra (my former bosses roommate) and my KOTS shelter mate, Bobby. Good Morning, Terra and Bobby! I guess it's better than cell mate. Other than that, it's weird writing what I have been through and not knowing in the whole wide world who will come across this. I don't promote it, maybe on Facebook, but it's cathartic. If anything, I like doing it, I do this because I want to, I don't get paid to do it,...yet!
Shift from sleep deprived pissed off to something I had a chance to do for somebody that I will never be able to do until the day I die,... I can only hope.
I met this guy at KOTS about a month a go.
He kind of looks like a gold miner with a bandana without the hat or gold.
He calls himself, Murphy, and has a personality between Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn and walks like he needs a cane. He claims, "he from a country called, Texas" his words not mine. And always asks the question in a fast, slurred tempo depending on how much Vodka he's had to drink, "whatchu gonna be when you grow up, boy?" and "Is you a vet?" He served in Vietnam. Anyway, how or who. He found out his son, who he hasn't seen since his son was about 3 years old, was on Facebook. The guy who told Murphy didn't stay long at KOTS, so I told Murphy I would try and contact his son through Facebook just give me your son's name, so he did and the hunt was on. I found his son and tried to become friends with him so I could give him the message that his father was looking for him.
His son confirmed me as a friend an sent a message to me asking, "Who are you and how do you know me?"
I replied, "Well, I stay at a homeless shelter in Florida and I met your father there and he found out you were on Facebook and since he doesn't know how to use the computer too good, he told me your name and he asked me to send you a message to see if he could get in contact with you. I'm just trying to help."
I got no reply from Murphy's son
Shift from sleep deprived pissed off to something I had a chance to do for somebody that I will never be able to do until the day I die,... I can only hope.
I met this guy at KOTS about a month a go.
He kind of looks like a gold miner with a bandana without the hat or gold.
He calls himself, Murphy, and has a personality between Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn and walks like he needs a cane. He claims, "he from a country called, Texas" his words not mine. And always asks the question in a fast, slurred tempo depending on how much Vodka he's had to drink, "whatchu gonna be when you grow up, boy?" and "Is you a vet?" He served in Vietnam. Anyway, how or who. He found out his son, who he hasn't seen since his son was about 3 years old, was on Facebook. The guy who told Murphy didn't stay long at KOTS, so I told Murphy I would try and contact his son through Facebook just give me your son's name, so he did and the hunt was on. I found his son and tried to become friends with him so I could give him the message that his father was looking for him.
His son confirmed me as a friend an sent a message to me asking, "Who are you and how do you know me?"
I replied, "Well, I stay at a homeless shelter in Florida and I met your father there and he found out you were on Facebook and since he doesn't know how to use the computer too good, he told me your name and he asked me to send you a message to see if he could get in contact with you. I'm just trying to help."
I got no reply from Murphy's son
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Perpetual Problem and a Scary Thought
I woke up in the hospital this morning. I have no idea or recollection of how I got there. I know of and remember drinking beer and vodka yesterday. I can drink beer all day and kind of remember most things. But when I hit the vodka, I seem to "blackout" and can't remember a damn thing. I found my buddy Bobby this morning and he filled me in on the rumors he heard. Then I went to get the bag lunch at the MCC church and one of my fellow homeless acquaintances told me he saw me floating in the water on the side of the seawall on US 1 across from Sears in Key West. He said he stopped to make sure I was breathing, found out I was and moved on. I talked to another homeless cohort and he saw Key West police surrounding me and then the ambulance took me away. The last thing I remember is listening to music in front of Publix and then waking up on a gurney at the Lower Keys Medical Center and a security guard telling me that the sun was coming up and I had to go. I was sick, puking up yellow bile. I had not eaten anything. I got some water from the water fountain and 10 minutes later, I threw that up. I feel like a mack truck ran over me and to add insult to injury, I don't have my bicycle anymore. But a look at the bright side, I thank GOD I still have my laptop. I did get a free ride on the bus, the driver was on a break and the bus door was open and I just walked on. I grabbed the garbage can that was on the bus so I could puke in it, which I eventually did, then we were off to the Senior Center where I get internet access and am typing this blog entry. I am never drinking Vodka again. I can drink beer until the cows come home and not "blackout". So I'm gonna stick with beer and to hell with the vodka. It's a scary thought to think that I can't remember what happened to me. I don't remember anything about the cops showing up or the ambulance or even floating in the water. I have learned my lesson and I count my blessings that I am not in jail or even worse yet, dead. Thank you to the KWPD and the EMTs for helping me out of a bad situation. I should of learned my lesson with drinking Vodka about a month ago when I was in front of Winn-Dixie in Big Pine Key and drinking Vodka straight and had not eaten anything and I "blacked out" again. The ambulance picked me up and transported me to Fisherman's Hospital in Marathon giving me an IV and something to eat. The nurse told me my blood sugar level was down to .24 and that if it reaches 0 then you are dead. That enticing Vodka creeps up on me every time. I need to stick with beer. I am sure some believe I should quit drinking all together but I know that won't happening especially with my current situation of being homeless. I have to have some kind of escape to the reality of my situation....This concludes my recollection of a blackout that I can't remember and a promise to myself that I will not drink Vodka ever again...until next time... My blog will be "featured" on the website localpigeon.com on August 9th, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Rough Rendition of a Daily Routine
For those of you who don't know, I am currently homeless, staying at a shelter in Key West, Florida. It's called K.O.T.S. here's their website www.fkoc.org/emergency_shelter.html I figured I would give a run down on my current daily routine as a homeless person. So those of whom, who wish to want to know, can get a slight glimpse of a unemployed homeless person's journey living in a so called "Paradise". Close enough I guess, and I know it's better than living on the streets of New York City in the winter time. Don't get me wrong, I love New York City but it's much better with a roof over your head.
Well, first, starting from KOTS, you get a wake up call at 6:30 am. You walk out to the "common" area, drop off your pink hand towel and sheet that you were issued the night before, announcing to the monitor the "bunk" you were in ie. B-11 (I seem to be getting that particular "bunk" lately). I put bunks in quotations because they're not really bunk beds, it's a flat row of 14 green mats each side of the tents, which really aren't tents, they are more like half domed army barracks...ANYWAY... Find a white plastic chair to sit down in, get some water, go to the bathroom and smoke a cigarette if I have one. Wait until 7:30am, when they kick everybody out. Get on my bike and ride to the Senior Center where I can get Internet access with my net book. My buddy/running partner, Bobby is 60 and he can get into the senior center, I am not quite old enough. I guess age does have it's benefits. I sit outside while he goes in and gets free coffee, goes on the computer, watches Let's Make A Deal and the Price Is Right and gets lunch at 12 noon.
Now, there's going to be different variations on a typical day, for instance.
Monday thru Wednesday. Bobby and I walk over to the MCC church at precisely 9:40am. It's the only time I ever see Bobby ready and on time, like clockwork. He loves his bag lunch!! We get a bag lunch which you get to pick between a PB&J sandwich or something else like chicken or tuna salad sandwich. They usually also have cookies or crackers and always a can of corn. We both get a can of corn in which I open with a P-38 (can opener) and feed about 20 chickens that roam the area of the senior center. And yes, I am "friends" with the Key West Chickens on Facebook. After the chicken feed, I proceed to continue with my Internet stuff outside while Bobby goes in to watch his game shows. I am trying to find different ways to make money online through affiliate marketing. I currently have over 40 Twitter accounts that have a combined following of over 50,000 followers. It has not been very lucrative yet and I can't quit the job I don't have yet, but I am researching the possibilities. I am banking on the affiliate website Clickbank. I have made a total of 62.14 on clickbank..so far since 2010.
At about 3:30pm, Bobby comes out of his hibernation and then we're off to the soup kitchen for dinner, which is served everyday at 4pm by St. Mary's church on Flagler Avenue. About a 15 minute bike ride. St. Mary's soup kitchen serves an average of 75 people per day. After we eat, we can "hang" out until 5:30pm then we have to move on. We start making our way back to KOTS slowly (another 15 minute bike ride) as they don't open until 6:30pm and nobody can line up before then. The time spent in between depends on how much money we have or can possibly get for beer and cigarettes. We usually somehow get a 4 pack of Natty Ice (Natural Ice), the official beer of the homeless at least in Key West. Then we usually sit on the seawall in the shade along US 1 and drink our 2 beers a piece, which of course, is never enough, in hopes that the cops don't roll up on us. We are somewhat responsible drinkers in that we pour our beers in non see through cups or bottles. My empty bottle of choice is the brown 42 oz Arizona Green Tea bottle and Bobby uses his plastic Circle K cup and he ALWAYS has to have ice in his cup because he is high maintenance. So we have to stop at a local bar or a hotel to get ice. Taking away from my beer-thirty time.
We got lucky one evening sitting on the seawall when this car stops in front of us in the middle of US 1. (Luckily it's a 4 lane road and nobody was behind them) Two people get out and hand us 2 grocery bags of stuff. It was a 12 pack of Coors Lite bottles, 2 half drunk bottles of wine, a half bottle of Skyy vodka and 3 round aluminum to go containers containing pasta with chicken. We were thrilled and thankful! We had a great time! Disregarding the 10pm curfew KOTS has. If you don't get to KOTS by 10pm, you can't get in. So we slept in the mangroves on the other side of the seawall. The cops didn't show up until the alcohol was all gone and it was about 9 o'clock in the morning. I prompted the meeting by trying not to litter and throw away my EMPTY beer can in the trash can. As I looked over to my left, there was a cop watching me throw away the beer can. Caught red handed, I tried to explain it was empty. She pulled her car off of US 1, up along the sidewalk/bike path seawall and walked back to where Bobby was still sleeping next to the seawall. I told him to get up, the cops were coming. She checked our ID's and I had explained that a couple of tourists had dropped off some food for us that they couldn't take on the plane and the police officer said that we couldn't have a picnic on the side of the road and that we had to take it someplace else. All in all, she was a cool cop, I must admit. I understand they have a job to do. Bobby and I know to be polite and not to be an asshole. We both concur that's how most of these idiots wind up in jail, by being an asshole and I just sing the song, I Fought The Law and The Law Won, you can't win. Another close call but I can honestly still say, I have never been to jail. I hope I just didn't jinx it.
Before I leave, I want to thank St.Mary's Soup Kitchen,for feeding me everyday, K.O.T.S, for putting me up and putting up with me, the Senior Center for providing me with internet access (faster speeds there than the library), shade from the sun (the average temp lately has been in the 90's) and not calling the cops on me for loitering and/or trespassing.AND last but most certainly not the least,a thank you to the fine men and women who, work in paradise at the Key West police department, for not throwing me in jail.....
P.S. If you want to know what a Key West rooster sounds like,(It's actually a Big Pine Key rooster..don't tell anybody) check out my YouTube channel, FloridaKeysNature. My latest video called, "The Rooster Goes...." http://youtu.be/E7FZy73OmcM
Until the next adventure kids....Drink a beer, Be polite and Stay out of jail.
This has been a Public Service Message brought to you by the homeless Poetic Drummer.
Well, first, starting from KOTS, you get a wake up call at 6:30 am. You walk out to the "common" area, drop off your pink hand towel and sheet that you were issued the night before, announcing to the monitor the "bunk" you were in ie. B-11 (I seem to be getting that particular "bunk" lately). I put bunks in quotations because they're not really bunk beds, it's a flat row of 14 green mats each side of the tents, which really aren't tents, they are more like half domed army barracks...ANYWAY... Find a white plastic chair to sit down in, get some water, go to the bathroom and smoke a cigarette if I have one. Wait until 7:30am, when they kick everybody out. Get on my bike and ride to the Senior Center where I can get Internet access with my net book. My buddy/running partner, Bobby is 60 and he can get into the senior center, I am not quite old enough. I guess age does have it's benefits. I sit outside while he goes in and gets free coffee, goes on the computer, watches Let's Make A Deal and the Price Is Right and gets lunch at 12 noon.
Now, there's going to be different variations on a typical day, for instance.
Monday thru Wednesday. Bobby and I walk over to the MCC church at precisely 9:40am. It's the only time I ever see Bobby ready and on time, like clockwork. He loves his bag lunch!! We get a bag lunch which you get to pick between a PB&J sandwich or something else like chicken or tuna salad sandwich. They usually also have cookies or crackers and always a can of corn. We both get a can of corn in which I open with a P-38 (can opener) and feed about 20 chickens that roam the area of the senior center. And yes, I am "friends" with the Key West Chickens on Facebook. After the chicken feed, I proceed to continue with my Internet stuff outside while Bobby goes in to watch his game shows. I am trying to find different ways to make money online through affiliate marketing. I currently have over 40 Twitter accounts that have a combined following of over 50,000 followers. It has not been very lucrative yet and I can't quit the job I don't have yet, but I am researching the possibilities. I am banking on the affiliate website Clickbank. I have made a total of 62.14 on clickbank..so far since 2010.
At about 3:30pm, Bobby comes out of his hibernation and then we're off to the soup kitchen for dinner, which is served everyday at 4pm by St. Mary's church on Flagler Avenue. About a 15 minute bike ride. St. Mary's soup kitchen serves an average of 75 people per day. After we eat, we can "hang" out until 5:30pm then we have to move on. We start making our way back to KOTS slowly (another 15 minute bike ride) as they don't open until 6:30pm and nobody can line up before then. The time spent in between depends on how much money we have or can possibly get for beer and cigarettes. We usually somehow get a 4 pack of Natty Ice (Natural Ice), the official beer of the homeless at least in Key West. Then we usually sit on the seawall in the shade along US 1 and drink our 2 beers a piece, which of course, is never enough, in hopes that the cops don't roll up on us. We are somewhat responsible drinkers in that we pour our beers in non see through cups or bottles. My empty bottle of choice is the brown 42 oz Arizona Green Tea bottle and Bobby uses his plastic Circle K cup and he ALWAYS has to have ice in his cup because he is high maintenance. So we have to stop at a local bar or a hotel to get ice. Taking away from my beer-thirty time.
We got lucky one evening sitting on the seawall when this car stops in front of us in the middle of US 1. (Luckily it's a 4 lane road and nobody was behind them) Two people get out and hand us 2 grocery bags of stuff. It was a 12 pack of Coors Lite bottles, 2 half drunk bottles of wine, a half bottle of Skyy vodka and 3 round aluminum to go containers containing pasta with chicken. We were thrilled and thankful! We had a great time! Disregarding the 10pm curfew KOTS has. If you don't get to KOTS by 10pm, you can't get in. So we slept in the mangroves on the other side of the seawall. The cops didn't show up until the alcohol was all gone and it was about 9 o'clock in the morning. I prompted the meeting by trying not to litter and throw away my EMPTY beer can in the trash can. As I looked over to my left, there was a cop watching me throw away the beer can. Caught red handed, I tried to explain it was empty. She pulled her car off of US 1, up along the sidewalk/bike path seawall and walked back to where Bobby was still sleeping next to the seawall. I told him to get up, the cops were coming. She checked our ID's and I had explained that a couple of tourists had dropped off some food for us that they couldn't take on the plane and the police officer said that we couldn't have a picnic on the side of the road and that we had to take it someplace else. All in all, she was a cool cop, I must admit. I understand they have a job to do. Bobby and I know to be polite and not to be an asshole. We both concur that's how most of these idiots wind up in jail, by being an asshole and I just sing the song, I Fought The Law and The Law Won, you can't win. Another close call but I can honestly still say, I have never been to jail. I hope I just didn't jinx it.
Before I leave, I want to thank St.Mary's Soup Kitchen,for feeding me everyday, K.O.T.S, for putting me up and putting up with me, the Senior Center for providing me with internet access (faster speeds there than the library), shade from the sun (the average temp lately has been in the 90's) and not calling the cops on me for loitering and/or trespassing.AND last but most certainly not the least,a thank you to the fine men and women who, work in paradise at the Key West police department, for not throwing me in jail.....
P.S. If you want to know what a Key West rooster sounds like,(It's actually a Big Pine Key rooster..don't tell anybody) check out my YouTube channel, FloridaKeysNature. My latest video called, "The Rooster Goes...." http://youtu.be/E7FZy73OmcM
Until the next adventure kids....Drink a beer, Be polite and Stay out of jail.
This has been a Public Service Message brought to you by the homeless Poetic Drummer.
Friday, July 8, 2011
No Arrest....Yet in Key West
In Key West, if you're homeless, every place you go is trespassing. I bought food from the local Albertson's grocery store from my own food stamp card, sat down at the store on the curb, to consume what I had just bought and a Key West Police officer came up about 10 minutes into the consumption. With my receipt in hand, the officer ordered my co homeless buddy and I to move on without question or she would put us in jail for trespassing. I have since gotten a trespass @ McDonald's AND Citco (gas station)) in one sitting because my buddy, Bobby, is good at panhandling. I can not panhandle to save my life. He is good and ALMOST a professional, getting us money for cigarettes and beer. So it's beneficial for me to stick around and see what he can get. For the record, I have NEVER been to jail. I would hate to go after all these years for trespassing and/or drinking in public, both of which are the most popular offenses of homeless people in Key West. For shits and giggles, here is the most popular website in Monroe County. http://www.keysso.net After you get there, click on Arrest/Mug Shots..Very entertaining, I guess because I probably know, know of, or have seen about a third of the people on there... FYI..Municipal Ordinance Violation means...Drinking in Public.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Help me, Help you, Make money for both of us...Win-Win
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It’s simple. There is nothing to buy and nothing to sell, so what do you have to lose? Check it out now by clicking on my link:
http://www.viradyne.com/clickdoor
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