Checkin' In

Another brief brief (which is not, to say, a brief on my briefs)... :)

But again, first and foremost, for the faithful -- Curly!

It's colder than a welldigger's ass here in Gnashvegas, and given that, I decided to not do the walk to the bus stop this morning to check into the SSDI thang, today. Well, that, and the fact that I think I'm coming down with something -- probably just a cold, but there are chills and aches, too, so it may be a touch of the flu.

Anywhoo... the network connection's been down all day -- and I'll again apologize for not staying in touch as I would normally do (and more importantly, for not contacting all of you individually with my thanks), in spite of the fact there wasn't much to be done about it today. The limited amount of time I have been online the last few days has been in communicating with various agencies via e-mail, and applying for work. I'm following the advice of a social worker firned of mine who works in Columbus, OH, who says I need to try to break out of my usual routine until I can get some of these more pressing issues resolved. However, I think I'm making progress on a number of fronts.

The good news: I do qualify for food assistance, and should be getting a debit-type card in the mail any day, now. I've typically been able to get by shopping at Aldi for about $12/week, and I qualify for a minimum of $120/month in food assistance, so this will be a vast expansion of my food resources. Also, Catholic Charities, and a couple of other faith-based organizations now have my résumé and skill set on file, and are shopping me to their clients for employment, and all sounded pretty positive about my chances, there. It also seems likely that I can at least initially arrange to benefit from a ride-sharing program, should I get a job through one of these agencies. One agency even offered to pay for a haircut and clothing, should I need those prior to going to an interview.

The bad news: Housing resources are scarce in the area, and waiting lists are long, long, long... and single guys are low on the priority list, of course. Looks like faith-based programs may be the only avenue, there, should I not be able to find work. However, thanks to your incredible generosity, I expect to be able to stay where I am until May 19th, at a minimum, even if I am unable to find work... perhaps longer, depending on what else I can manage to sell.

The TennCare folks were less than clear about my chances for getting any treatment options, again referring me to a handful of faith-based charities for the time being, and telling me that my application for benefits would be "under review," and that I'd be getting more info through the mail.

More good news: Linda (Princess' human) gave me a ton of canned goods and other food, as she was clearing out her condo to move to Florida. I wrote her a note of thanks for the PC, and explained my situation, letting her know that the PC and (especially) the printer (as mine has no black ink!) would enable me to make up some more paper résumés. The next morning, there were two huge trash bags full of food items on my doorstep. My pantry is full of all kinds of goodies, right now... soups, veggies, pasta dishes. Unfortunately, she'd already left for Florida when I saw this, so I wasn't able to thank her for that. I'm glad that I was able to use her printer to print out a couple of photos of Princess, to include with my note -- I hope they'll be stuck to a 'fridge in Florida, shortly. Curly and I are both sad that we'll not be seeing Princess again, anytime soon.

Thank you again for looking in on me -- ♥ to you all!
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