She listened to me

Every time I look at Eric's Blogdowntown, it seems to get better each time. I love it. I love the information that he gets on an everyday basis. I could only imagine all that he learns, constantly.


That is what I like about blogging. Ever since I started, I have been learning quite a bit. I must do something to continue that growth process.

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Hell, I was trying to see something on Garza's blog and I could not. The conspiracy is spreading.(smile.)

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I could not figure out something this morning while I was reading the comment on my blog.

I went away and I kept thinking of my Grandmother. "That's it. The Cowboys-the person liked the cowboys. My Grandmother loves the Dallas Cowboys. I looked at the profile. Hmm.

recent account at Blogger. Good detective work, walter. Ah yes. "keep up the good work"

I figured out the mistery.

"Keep up the good work, Dallas Cowboys", it is working on me. I have been in decent spirits the last few days.

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I am sitting at Chrysalis as I write this. I am to see Neidy. She said she would see me in a few minutes. I have the time to use the computer.

On Skid Row, most things are planned, not to the time management needs of the residents and the person that needs the services. I do not know on what basis policy is made.

It appears in most cases that you must come early if you want services and be prepared to sit all day.

One must be fair. I was told by a doctor on Skid Row that 50% of appointments made to see the doctors result in no shows. Apparently that is why one mission's clinic decided to not make appointments when you want to see the dentist. As it turned out, doctors and dentists were standing around doing nothing.



However, not everyone on Skid Row can afford to sit around all day long and wait to see a doctor or dentist. I made an appointment to see a doctor a week ago. I was suppose to be there at

12:30PM. I did not see the doctor until 5:30PM. I almost lost my GR benefits because I was suppose to be there that day as well. I gave myself three hours to see the doctor and get over to the GR building. It still was not enough. Fortunately, the lady at the GR office regards me as a gentleman and knows that I am serious about organizing my life.



If I need to see a dentist for follow up visits, I shall have to come at 6:00AM and sit in the room until 9:00 Am. Around that hour, the doctor is expected. There is no set time for the doctor to come in. Why should there be there are no appointments. "Nobody has anything to do, they will wait for me. " is the attitude. Can you blame them. No. It is like a gas station owner in no hurry to open the pumps if there is a line of customers waiting for him in a gas shortage.



If I have to wait all day to see a dentist, when do I have time to make appointments to get a job. I cant.



Oh, you would think I can apply for jobs online from this location. Most of the jobs on Craigslist want you to send a resume. Chrysalis has a bunch of folders on the wall with job postings in them. Most of them are from Craigslist. I can not apply to Craigslist job postings from here. I have to go someplace and find a computer where I can use my FLASH DRIVE to send my resume.



The system on Skid Row is designed for people who have nothing else to do but stand around and waste time. However. Many people are not of the "I want to stand out here and look good crowd," "I want to be seen by everyone who also has nothing to do crowd," and the "I do not want to better myself for any reason crowd. I want to collect my GR check. I want to pretend I am crazy and collect SSI."



there are lots of people who are fighting like crazy to get out of Skid Row. Those are the people that you never see. Those are the people who walk with an urgent sense of purpose, trying to get to wherever they have to be, ONTIME, only to hurry up and wait.



There are four people who live next to me that I either met at the Transition house or somewhere else. One of them grew up around the corner from my mother's house.

I know four people, on the floor beneath me. I never see any of them. Never. I may see one or two of them once a week. Why because they are trying to as they say on Skid Row,
"get with the Business". That basically means they are trying to take care of business.
You never see them. You only see people who do not care about moving forward in their lives.

It may not be politically correct to say that but I am not willing to sacrifice the truth of my observations to be accepted by those that promote a "group think" outlook and do not really understand the consequences to them and others for promoting it.
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11:15 AM.

I just came out of a meeting with Neidy. She is the Downtown Site Director at Chrysalis.
She recognized me as soon as I walked in the office. She took the time to listen to me. I told her why I was not taking the immediate street cleaning job. In fact it was recommended that I not do so after I left the Transition House by the employment specialist of the Transition House. While I was at the Transition house she had a different point of view. She told me that the jobs she recommended for me to take were jobs that can quickly provide some money in my pocket.
It was necessary to acquire some money because I was due to leave the Transition House within weeks. Furthermore, there would be no extensions of stay at that location.

The employment specialist at the Transition House secured a job for me at a warehouse. I pulled orders. I lifted boxes in excess of one hundred pounds for 8 hours. That is why it hurt so much to not be able to secure a job because of 25 pounds. Anyway, the warehouse that hired so many people fired 95% of the people they hired. Figure that.

The specialist saw me recently. She said that I had some savings and that now I should try to find a career instead of a job. I agree. That is why I did not listen to the people at the "grow"
classes on Adams/ Grand. They insisted I would not find a job except warehouse or janitorial work. They were trying to force me to take that type of position. It is more important for them to beef up their statistics than it is for me to find a career or a job with which I would be so dissatisfied that I would get fired anyway.

I made sure Neidy knew that I was not pursuing a job as a street cleaner NOT because I felt It was beneath me but because I had the time to find a job that was more fitting for me. I told her what the employment specialist said at the Transition House and she agreed. She listened to me. I have found attorneys and policemen and now an employment person who now listen to me. I told her that George, my specialist at Chrysalis was good but I utilized him more as a cheerleader than anything else. I wanted to make sure that she knew that.

I told her I could not access my resume because of the blocks on the computers in the computer lab. She plugged my FLASH drive into her computer and emailed a copied of my resume to me. Now I can access it from the library.

Once she saw my resume she agreed with me. She felt I had so much experience and I have, in her own words, tremendous skills, that she felt it was best for me to look for a career.

"Let's aim for the top. If we are not having success, we can adjust our game plan," Neidy said.
That was great. She also felt that I would need to cut and paste different aspects of my resume for different industries. That was the first time I heard anyone say that to me, even though, that was always on my mind. One resume would not do it for me.

So, It was time well spent. She is a very aware lady. I will enjoy working with her. I was also able to let her know where there was a warehouse that was hiring on the spot. She took down the information and would pass it on to people who come to her office. In fact, I pointed to someone who was at the office to whom I gave the information a couple of months ago. He is still there. I knew he would be successful. She smiled at the fact that he was not one of the 95%
that were terminated. It was as if she believed I knew how to place people. Of course, I could be reading into that, trying to give myself more credit than I deserve.

So, that is the state of affairs for today, Tuesday morning, November 6,2007.
I think I did good. I, at least did what I know a couple of people were looking for me to do, follow up on their efforts. It was more important that I follow up than I meet with success. I need to continue to establish credibility, reliability and trust. In doing so, when I need them to really vouch for me they will have a track record of certain dealings with me as oppose to having impressions of me. Track records are building as time continues.

Well, it is time for me to go. Chrysalis is closing for lunch. I have to find some food and pay my rent.

Good Morning world.. I love you