Still
I did ultimately get a job, paid rent, one month late, the next early, and can’t even really tell you in a cohesive manner what I have done in a whirlwind of stupidity during the past month and now I am stuck listening to a southern California running club get their caffeine fix — they act like addicts when it comes to running. They are so white.

Nice work when you can get it
Through the grace of God and, since I am on the fence about who that actually is, a friend, I have been employed for about ten days to help re-write a piece on the communities recovering from the massively destructive tsunami in Asia (about 5 years ago). I am thrilled to be working again because it engages my brain in something beyond my own navel (despite acknowledging the wisdom of the Chinese saying, “The center of the universe is in your belly button.”) and a project that is so worthy of expression, so meaningful and important. These people inspire me to tell their stories. As my uncle just said on the phone,

The Slide
Well, I couldn’t come up with rent so now I am technically squatting and the only justification I have is that they are overcharging so much for this very tiny room, that it has bought me a few days, perhaps up to 2 weeks, I hope as I am waiting on reimbursements and a return of the exorbitant tax money I have paid into the State of California this year (due to a lien for not filing correctly, I have actually paid more in various tax obligations than my ‘net’ income — which, with two jobs for the past 9 months and a significant decrease in pay, have made it difficult for me to survive). I have looked into a myriad of ‘programs,’ and I

The Necessity of Grace
I have less than a week to come up with rent. I called a place called “Beyond Shelter” here in L.A. for potential emergency assistance (all State of California programs have been suspended due to our budget ’shortfall’ while Los Angeles has become the ‘capital of homelessness’ in the country). The extremely cold, uncaring and unhelpful ‘worker’ on the other end of the phone at “Beyond Shelter” told me that I’d have to wait until I got my ‘three day or quit’ notice to apply for help and then, maybe they could help, maybe not. That was what set me off. The blase manner with which a perso

Job ‘hunt’
So today I came across this story [please see link: http://www.theworkbuzz.com/interviews/burning-bridges] where a man had submitted a resume to a faceless HR ‘department’ of one, and when she got back to him with the usual impersonal response that goes out when a bureaucratic type with power gets to sift through your life at a glance, he wrote a scathing and somewhat inappropriate email back to her. Now, while I don’t support the personal attack [he called her an 'arse'], I do understand the frustration and why he lashed out. I have been unemployed, again, for too long, and now I face the inevitable crisis that has been plaguing me this