Blessed

Just a quick update -- but, first, t3h Curly!


I've talked with DHS and a couple of the other agencies, and found out what kind of documentation I need to bring in for them to evaluate my eligibility for the various programs. Unfortunately, not all of them are located in the same physical location, but I'll deal with that. I've found most of what they need, and fortunately, can now produce the rest*. I had an encouraging exchange with a nice lady at Catholic Charities, regarding their chances of helping to find me some employment -- she said they generally don't have "so much to work with" regarding job skills, etc., so she felt my chances of finding something through them would be very good. I'm pretty psyched by that!

It's a bit rough doing these calls on a pay phone, but it's better than not being able to get in touch, at all. I've got the bus schedule for my area, too -- I was going to simply drive downtown, but I had an close police encounter yesterday morning just driving to the pay phone (about a mile from the condo), and got paranoid about it, and decided I'd better not take the chance. I'd rather sell the car than have it impounded (and subsequently auctioned, since I'd not be able to pay to have it released).

The one drawback to using the bus: My area is basically serviced twice in the morning, and twice in the evening, timed around typical rush hour times (which makes sense, I suppose), so whatever trips I need to make downtown will be an all-day affair. I'll pack a lunch. ;) It's about a mile walk to the nearest stop, but fortunately, my legs work well. :)

Anyway, y'all have donated enough to keep me afloat for maybe two months, and I'm completely overwhelmed -- I've saved every e-mail, and labeled it @ Gmail with the label "loans," so regardless of how you feel about your generosity, I hope you'll allow me to pay you back as soon as I'm able. It's a self-esteem thang, I suppose... and I know I have a lot of work ahead of me (and a landlord to consider, primarily), but in the meantime, I at least owe you an accounting of what I'm doing to improve my condition, and that is what I will try to do, for now. I get such valuable feedback and informational (as well as all the other forms of) support from this community, it'd be foolish not to do so, regardless of privacy concerns.

* Karma keeps giving -- some of you might recall my comment at Eschaton about the computer chair outside my door the other day. Well, that was, as I suspected, a gift from Princess' human, my neighbor Linda, who's moving to Ft. Walton Beach, FL, this week. Today, she also gave me an Emachines Celeron 1.7GHz desktop system, complete with Canon printer (which will allow me to print my bank statements -- my bank doesn't do paper statements on free checking accounts anymore, except by request, and they charge for them, of course). She mentioned this the other day, and I told her I'd take it, but I figured it was probably a boat anchor that I might be able to scavenge some parts from. She said it has a bad modem; I told her I could easily replace that for her (in fact, I'm sure I have one), but she doesn't want to take it to Florida with her -- says her boyfriend has a nice 'puter, and she'll just use his, anyway. I told her a pawn shop ought to give her $100 for it, at least, but she said if I didn't take it, she was putting it in the dumpster, so... I am so blessed. If my DVD burner will work with this PC, I'll at least be able to send a Curly DVD to everyone who's helped me out this week. :)

♥ to all of you, again.

UPDATE: Regarding SSDI, I've always been led to believe that applications for such under the heading of "depression" are universally rejected, and lead to years upon years of legal wrangling that leave the recipient (after legal fees) with a fraction of their benefit. Thoughts? Experiences?
.