saint vincent de paul

i have a hard time at work most of the time. these people... so many problems. every day i wonder if anything in life ever gets better, ever.

saint vincent de paul is the biggest shelter here in san diego. oh and let me also say that for a single male here in san diego county there are only about three shelters total. then you can add one in carlsbad and one in oceanside. the last count about 5 years ago had the homeless population of about 15,000 people and that is a modest estimate.

i hate this. there is not enough help for too many people.

but then shit like this happens;

this woman just called me on behalf of her friend who is in a wheelchair. he is staying in a hotel and will run out of money for it tommorrow, she wanted to know where the winter tent is downtown to see about getting him into shelter. his only income is ssi, about 800 or so a month.
it all starts to sound all sad, but then you do your assessment and start to ask questions, this person has already stayed at svdp, for the maximum they let you stay two years. and you know what, if youre lucky enough to even get into a shelter, and then lucky enough to get into svdp two year stay, YOU PAY NOTHING WHILE YOURE THERE. they dont charge you rent, food, not a goddamn thing. the whole time this man was there, he could have saved up enough to have deposit on an apartment, and have been looking for a place to live, single room occupancy somewhere, something. he could've hooked up w/a case manager somewhere to find someplace permanent. case managers are over worked and swamped of course, but goddamn man you had two years, they couldve helped you in those two years. now he has nowhere to go. great. fucking wonderful. and im feeling its partly his own fault for not being proactive at all. i hate this life sometimes.

this job is really chipping away at my sympathy. this is the pattern with every call, every single one it seems. they tell you right away thier horror stories, their sob stories, no one will help them, blah blah blah, but you do an assessment and ask a few questions and see how little people do to help themselves. this must be how some people become republican.

sha knows

write "Your Name Knows" in google in quotation marks. then see what you know.
-----------------------------------------------
Sha knows that this time She has created A big mess
sha knows too mush betta thing
Sha knows many of the Jedi ways
Sha knows that Tao is in love with her classmate Dongsi Sen
Sha knows exactly how to keep rubbing, but without bothering the sensitive spots
Sha knows what im talking about, it was one of the staff at band camp who had it.
Sha knows all about my online boyfriend
Sha knows I was pissed
SHA knows exactly what her future self-control problems will be
Sha knows what i mean by that shiiitt freal man
sha knows ebout SPANK den go dere.
Sha knows stuff you need to know before you go blazing in
sha knows she could improve on her serves and she will, a Slave never stops learning and growing.

Sha knows this pathetic journal.

songs im going to download once the ol' computer gets to working again

back up everything. EVERYTHING, y'all. one little mistake and the whole hard drive is gone, all my music, all my photos, everything.

song-artist-album:

• angry jonny-poe-hello
• feel good inc-gorillaz-feel good inc
• tear drop-massive attack-mezzanine
• numb-portishead-dummy
• breathe-telepopmusik-genetic world
• 6 underground-sneaker pimps-becoming x
• queer-garbage-garbage
• only happy when it rains-garbage-garbage
• 7 nation army-the white stripes-the white stripes
• whatever he wants-sarah vaughn-?
• cleo's joint-damn! (thats really their name, damn!)-?
• watch your mouth-lina-?
• huddie ledbetter
• all this love-el debarge
• unbreakable-alicia keys-unbreakable

you know youre fm So Cal when...

pineapple on pizza is the bomb.
i'll meet you at the pizza place in about 20 minutes.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WHEN:>

1) Your monthly house payments exceed your annual income.

2) You drive next to a Rolls Royce and don't notice.

3) You don't know anyone's phone number unless you check your cell phone.

4) You speak Spanish, but you're not Mexican.

5) You begin to "lie" to your friends about how close you are when you know damn well that it'll take you at least an hour to get there (see below).

6) Getting anywhere from point A to point B, no matter what thedistance, takes about "twenty minutes".

7) You drive to your neighborhood block party.

8)In the "winter", you can go to the beach and ski at Big Bear on the same day or mow your lawn in your shorts on New Years Day, and maybe sunburn.

9) You eat a different ethnic food for every meal.

10) If your destination is more than 5 minutes away on foot, you're definitely driving.

11) Calling your neighbors requires knowing their area code.

12) You know what "In-'N-Out" is and feel bad for all the other states because they don't have any.

13) You don't stop at a STOP sign, you do a California Roll.

14) You really can never be too rich or too thin or too tan.

15) You've partied in Tijuana at least 3 times and you don't remember at least 1 of them.

16) You go to a tanning salon before going to the beach.

17) You eat pineapple on pizza.

18) Your cell phone has left a permanent impression on the side of your head.

19) You think that Venice is a beach.

20) The waitress asks if you'd like "carbs" in your meal.

21) You know who the tinsel underwear dude in Venice Beach is.

22) You classify new people you meet by their Area Code. An "818" would never date a "562" and anyone from "323" or "213" is ghetto/ second class. Best area code: "949." Nobody likes anyone from the "909" because it stinks there.

23) You call 911 and they put you on hold.

24) You have a gym membership because it's mandatory.

25) The gym is packed at 3pm...on a workday.

26) You think you are better than the people who live "Over the Hill". It doesn't matter which side of the hill you are currently residing, you are just better than them, for whatever reason.

27) You know that if you drive two miles in any direction you will find a McDonald's or a Starbucks.

28) You know what "sigalert", "PCH", and "the five" mean.

29) You can't remember...is pot illegal?

30) It's barely sprinkling rain and there's a report on every news station: "STORM WATCH".

husband got the green card!

we had the interview yesterday and it couldn't have gone any smoother, y'all!

most of you know, but my husband is from ethiopia, born and raised in lalibela. we've had this interview with immigration lined up for over 2 months to get him a green card so that he can work, and so that he can more easily travel back and forth from ethiopia.

the interview was in chula vista at 2:15pm. i told him that we should leave at 1:45pm at the latest. i knew i should've just said 1:30 b/c of course he was late coming home, so we arrived to INS 15 min LATE barely the parking lot. he was so nervous and sweaty, dropping papers everywhere. we get inside and we're told straight away that we'll probably have to reschedule.

as a side note, gosh dayum he looked so handsome. he's got this nice gray jacket i really like him in. if he wasnt so cute, i probably wouldnt have married him. no, i wouldve. but probably not as quickly as i did, and i'd have asked a lot more questions.

we sat and he asked me if i was mad at him. i was, i missed half my shift at work for this damn interview. but i told him no, b/c he was already so nervous, and he put his head on my shoulder. he smelled good.

we wait in a room w/my husband sitting so still i was afraid he'd stopped breathing. we luck out that we wont have to reschedule, we're called in, the woman asks for our passports, birth certificates, etc. she says, "ok, im going to just ask you a few questions," and asks how we met. we tell her we met at maharlika filipino restaurant two years ago, that i approached him and asked if he was black and filipino like me. the agent says, "oh, im filipino!" we were out of there in less than ten min. the interview was probably only about 5, the other 5 was the agent asking for the address to marharlika b/c she was looking for a new place to go to lunch. we get into the parking lot and my husband does a little dance, and exclaiming for the world to know, "i love all filipinos!"