You know those old Star Trek episodes where William Shatner or Patrick Stewart would lean over and tell their workers to engage the warp drive? And then that screen of all black with the fuzzy white dots would start stretching as they sped up? Well that's what my life is feeling like right now. So the Willie situation is just about over, as I've decided I don't really want to deal with her bullshit anymore, and I've decided to get my own place. It is SOOOOO amazing, like oh my God. It's got a master bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, dining room (more like area) and it's 700 sq. feet for 728.00 a month. Might seem like a big jump from the 472.00 I was paying a month, but this is totally different. For one thing, it's my own place with no one else inside. Just me, myself and I. That's a huge difference. Secondly, for DC, under 800 for a place like that, is magnificent. I can't wait to get all my stuff there so I can make it my own. It's going to be really nice to be able to come home and relax and do whatever the hell I want without having anyone, anywhere tell me what or how to do it. I look forward to that immensely.
So in other news, I actually met Chris Monday night. He came over to the house and we sat and started talking and chilling out and I learned a lot about him. He has a Master's Degree in Geology and likes to make maps, which is what he does for a job. He had an ex of 8 years from Louisiana and he's cool with the foot fetish thing too. Apparently very cool with it because things got...shall we say...rather scandalous. LOL. But yeah it was good. And he left and I emailed him today we're keeping in touch.
What else...? Oh yeah. I actually got paid for once on Monday. Turns out my monthly checks are pretty damn good. Much better than I expected. 946 a month. Out of 1216, not too bad. So I did some calculations, and turns out I'll be able to pay off the school, Pembroke Place and my phone bill and still have plenty of money every month for the apartment, and putting some in the bank. I guess it's time to be sophiscated and grown in that regard, huh? Gotta have something there in case it goes wrong. But that means it will be a HOT minute before I go and cop that Playstation 3, since I just don't have the liquidity to just drop it at the moment. That'd be suicide. Which could end me on the streets. So if it's the choice between eating with an apartment in my name or playing PS3, as much as I'd love to put Sony on that pedestal, I like sleeping in a bed too much for that.
Yesterday was the huge Summit that my office has been planning for a year now, and it was wonderful. All these people were there from all these different organizations and everyone was there to experience and learn new things about disability employment. It was really quite wonderful. While I was there, I ran into Rebecca, (the super powerhouse packed into a 4-foot frame) and she introduced me to a few people that were absolutely amazing, and that has some real potential for my after ODEP work here in DC. First off, was Betty. She works as the director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts here in DC (which is DC's Juliard) and when I told her I had a degree in Musical Theatre, she went absolutely beserk made me promise to call and email her. She said I could some things with the company here which would be amazing. I have missed the arts terribly for about a year a half now, since I had to stop doing them to focus on my English degree. But I'm feeling the itch again and I want to do something about it. Then there was Marci (I think) and she was telling me about this disability group that runs a function for Fashion Week, and that was ALL up my alley. So definitely made sure to give her a call. And then Joyce Bender came and was practically offering me a position at her company Bender Consulting, so I just got done sending her a resume. So with all of this, who knows? Perhaps next week when I'm staying with Scherronne, (we'll get to that later) life can start looking even better than it does now, and it's getting much better by the day.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Lessons of a Fried Pork Chop
May 29, 2008 - Thursday
Lessons of a Fried Pork Chop
Current mood: bitchy
Okay so this was a seperate blog that I had to break into another piece because there was too much to digest in just one section. Yesterday while looking at the apartment that I'm considering in South East, I took a bus and a train over to the Anacostia station and ended up (finally) at the corner of 17th and Minnesota Ave. where 1411 Ridge Place is located. Getting there, I saw that the house needed some work but I could view the potential there as it had a nice little front garden, though I have yet to see the inside. That could make or break the deal for me. We'll see. Granted it is in the hood no doubt, but for a beginning house, it's not that bad. I could definitely see the potential there. And if she's truly asking for 665 for it, then that's a powerful initiative. Anyway, after viewing the house, I left there and because I was starving, I ended up at Good Hope Takeout, which serves as many places in the area of the same origin do, as a multi-hypenated resturant function. A Chinese/Soul/American/Seafood place. So I bought a fried pork chop dinner with a box of chicken wings off to the side. Since this was the kind of place that didn't have a dining area (hence "Takeout") and since I didn't want to be chowing on chicken via bus, I decided to just chill there in the parking lot and eat some of it. I got through the chicken wings (which were banging) and I finished off the tea when I was going to eat the pork chop and the rice, but I didn't feel hungry anymore after that point. So I just decided to bag up the remains and take it home.
While waiting for the bus to come, I ran into a man who was standing on the corner and after talking to him for a bit, I asked if he lived in the area. He said he was homeless, and so I was like, "Oh I get it. That's too bad." And he was mumbling about going down to the metro station to beg for some food. I was sitting there complating the entire incident when I thought about it and I wondered what it would be like if I were begging for food, and my conscious got the best of me. I offered him my plate of pork chop and rice and he took it, placing it in his backpack to eat later. However things got weirder when he asked if he could use my phone. I said yes and he called a friend of his and told him that he was going to pay him some money that he owed the next day. To me, this didn't make any sense. After he hung up, I asked him about it. I mean how can you say you're gonna pay someone some money when you supposedly can't afford to buy dinner for the night? He said that his aunt was sending him some money and it wasn't a big deal but I suddenly started feeling like I was getting played. And it was then I started thinking about the lessons of a fried pork chop.
Living here in this city, you see homeless people. A lot. And though it may sound cold to say so, all you can really do most of the time, is just pass them by and keep it moving. Granted, I'm a just graduated college student living by the skin of my teeth in this crazy city, and I can't afford to be giving you all my belongings, because I don't have much! But that's not the thing that makes me mad. I've seen people who are probably better off than me, begging on the street corner because they're bored or need something to do. Or at least those are some of the stories I hear from the paramedics and others. She told me one night they stopped to help a man who was homeless and on the way to the hospital, he asked if he could stop at an ATM and when he did he printed a bank statement stating he had over 10 million in the bank. His homeless act was truly that. Trying to get his kids to leave him alone when they thought he had money. And further still, there are others who just play the game because they don't know what it feels like and want to experience something new. This is complete and utter bullshit to me. Andrew (a totally cute new intern here) and I spent the day together going to the Career Fair and while we were out, we ran into a couple, and I was looking at them closely. One man who asked us for change was sitting in a fairly nice suit with an expensive watch on his arm begging for money. And I didn't understand that. Then when we went to Five Guys, there was a black woman who was missing a leg, who decided to stop and park her wheelchair right in front of the parking meter as people were coming in for lunch. She had her purse slung around her neck looking fairly well to do, and put the mocha latte she was sipping on from Starbucks on the ground behind her chair and she sat there not saying a word, with a cup hanging out in front of her. When a man did stop to give her something, he presented her with what looked like 40.00. She reached in her cup when he turned around, and pocketed the change ringing the cup stating it was empty. It was really annoying to see. And then a college girl chilling on her apartment decided to start shaking her cup at us when we were passing by. I wanted to cuss her out right there on the street. Just because we went to school and got degrees and you chose not to pursue a further education and sit bored on the street all damn day doesn't mean that you have the right to leach off other charity. As a person with a disability, I fight all the time against that stigma that we're worthless in the society that we don't contribute.
It just made me angry. And I'll think about that pork chop every time I see someone begging from now on.
Lessons of a Fried Pork Chop
Current mood: bitchy
Okay so this was a seperate blog that I had to break into another piece because there was too much to digest in just one section. Yesterday while looking at the apartment that I'm considering in South East, I took a bus and a train over to the Anacostia station and ended up (finally) at the corner of 17th and Minnesota Ave. where 1411 Ridge Place is located. Getting there, I saw that the house needed some work but I could view the potential there as it had a nice little front garden, though I have yet to see the inside. That could make or break the deal for me. We'll see. Granted it is in the hood no doubt, but for a beginning house, it's not that bad. I could definitely see the potential there. And if she's truly asking for 665 for it, then that's a powerful initiative. Anyway, after viewing the house, I left there and because I was starving, I ended up at Good Hope Takeout, which serves as many places in the area of the same origin do, as a multi-hypenated resturant function. A Chinese/Soul/American/Seafood place. So I bought a fried pork chop dinner with a box of chicken wings off to the side. Since this was the kind of place that didn't have a dining area (hence "Takeout") and since I didn't want to be chowing on chicken via bus, I decided to just chill there in the parking lot and eat some of it. I got through the chicken wings (which were banging) and I finished off the tea when I was going to eat the pork chop and the rice, but I didn't feel hungry anymore after that point. So I just decided to bag up the remains and take it home.
While waiting for the bus to come, I ran into a man who was standing on the corner and after talking to him for a bit, I asked if he lived in the area. He said he was homeless, and so I was like, "Oh I get it. That's too bad." And he was mumbling about going down to the metro station to beg for some food. I was sitting there complating the entire incident when I thought about it and I wondered what it would be like if I were begging for food, and my conscious got the best of me. I offered him my plate of pork chop and rice and he took it, placing it in his backpack to eat later. However things got weirder when he asked if he could use my phone. I said yes and he called a friend of his and told him that he was going to pay him some money that he owed the next day. To me, this didn't make any sense. After he hung up, I asked him about it. I mean how can you say you're gonna pay someone some money when you supposedly can't afford to buy dinner for the night? He said that his aunt was sending him some money and it wasn't a big deal but I suddenly started feeling like I was getting played. And it was then I started thinking about the lessons of a fried pork chop.
Living here in this city, you see homeless people. A lot. And though it may sound cold to say so, all you can really do most of the time, is just pass them by and keep it moving. Granted, I'm a just graduated college student living by the skin of my teeth in this crazy city, and I can't afford to be giving you all my belongings, because I don't have much! But that's not the thing that makes me mad. I've seen people who are probably better off than me, begging on the street corner because they're bored or need something to do. Or at least those are some of the stories I hear from the paramedics and others. She told me one night they stopped to help a man who was homeless and on the way to the hospital, he asked if he could stop at an ATM and when he did he printed a bank statement stating he had over 10 million in the bank. His homeless act was truly that. Trying to get his kids to leave him alone when they thought he had money. And further still, there are others who just play the game because they don't know what it feels like and want to experience something new. This is complete and utter bullshit to me. Andrew (a totally cute new intern here) and I spent the day together going to the Career Fair and while we were out, we ran into a couple, and I was looking at them closely. One man who asked us for change was sitting in a fairly nice suit with an expensive watch on his arm begging for money. And I didn't understand that. Then when we went to Five Guys, there was a black woman who was missing a leg, who decided to stop and park her wheelchair right in front of the parking meter as people were coming in for lunch. She had her purse slung around her neck looking fairly well to do, and put the mocha latte she was sipping on from Starbucks on the ground behind her chair and she sat there not saying a word, with a cup hanging out in front of her. When a man did stop to give her something, he presented her with what looked like 40.00. She reached in her cup when he turned around, and pocketed the change ringing the cup stating it was empty. It was really annoying to see. And then a college girl chilling on her apartment decided to start shaking her cup at us when we were passing by. I wanted to cuss her out right there on the street. Just because we went to school and got degrees and you chose not to pursue a further education and sit bored on the street all damn day doesn't mean that you have the right to leach off other charity. As a person with a disability, I fight all the time against that stigma that we're worthless in the society that we don't contribute.
It just made me angry. And I'll think about that pork chop every time I see someone begging from now on.
Precursor to a Much Deserved Break
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
