Saturday, February 22, 2014

February 22, 2014

A lot has changed since I last posted here. I am now in Austin, Texas- in almost the same place in the same building I was in 51 weeks ago. I now have a Texas Driver's License (which is considerably cheaper than its New York counterpart). Unlike last time, I was not forced to sleep on the street because the shelter was full, and I hadn't finished changing the local address from the hostel I spent a week at (and used as an address for over 20 job applications) to the ARCH (Austin's main homeless shelter) before I got back into the transitional housing program I was in for March, April, and half of May last year. Things have changed in Austin, too. Few of the people I was in contact with last year are around now- possibly due to moving out of the area (or possibly even death). I recognized a few people who didn't remember me. I ran into my primary local job reference (and former case worker) at her new Goodwill assignment. One of my former running partners is well established in his new job, and too busy to meet up with me, yet he still liked some of my Austin and New York photos on Facebook. I also ran into a film/theater instructor from Israel who got me into that 6th Street Video project last year (the results of which are below) and now has me enrolled in a special theatrical project with the ARCH, UT, and a few other organizations called "Am I Invisible". I created a song that could possibly accompany this project, but I have already reached the limit of SoundCloud free space. Now I have a few hobbies to occupy my time between job search, and whenever I get my final paycheck from a certain messenger service in NYC next week, I can finally pay off some bills and maybe see if I still qualify for the discounted membership at the Austin YMCA. And maybe I can qualify for one of those under $600 per month apartments once I start working. But I am enjoying not being in snowstorm after snowstorm, and I am enjoying not have that hypocritical Sandinista De Blasio as my mayor and that intolerant scumbag Cuomo as my governor. Video of De Blasio's latest miscue