Sunday, August 17, 2008

One disconcerting experience!

I spent last winter working at a homeless shelter that opens from November-April each season. In the four months since the shelter closed, I've run into several people who had slept there. Thankfully, the lion's share of them now have places to live. But not all, as I was fiercely reminded a little while ago.

At 11:00 Sunday night, I was taking one of my frequent exercise walks in downtown Willimantic, CT. As I strolled past the public library, I noticed a woman sitting on the bench out front. I recognized her as a former shelter guest and stopped to say hello. Big mistake, as it turned out.

This particular woman had been quite a handful as she was both certifiably insane and quite unsanitary. (She refused to shower because she said she was afraid of getting raped.) So, imagine how I felt when she grabbed my hand and said, "I don't have a place to sleep tonight. If you let me stay at your place, you can have sex with me and I won't charge you money."

Now, I've been alone for quite some time, but I wasn't about to take that woman up on her offer. Rather, I lied that I now had a live-in girlfriend and that I really couldn't do anything to help her. I then high-tailed it out of there, feeling both repulsed and guilty. I would have felt far worse, though, had I taken that woman home with me and used her as a substitute for my right hand.

Perhaps you're thinking I could have let her crash at my place without having sex with her. Technically, you'd be right. However, I have three roommates to consider. I'm not sure they'd have looked too kindly on my having let an insane, homeless, unsanitary woman sleep on our couch. Besides, she then would have known where I lived and might have started habitually turning up on my doorstep. I have enough on my mind these days without adding that to my problems!

Still, I feel guilty as hell about having left that poor woman to sleep on a bench in front of the public library. But what could I do?

It's been four months since I worked at that shelter, but the experience haunts me still.

Friday, August 1, 2008

My Least Favorite Rock 'N' Roll Acts

When I began this list in June 2008, I figured it might contain about 25 artists. But the damned thing's now up to 70 acts! If your stomach can handle it, you'll find the list here:

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/goldwax317/
my_least_favorite_rock_n_roll_artists/

Sometimes you're better off not knowing

I wrote this on June 21, 2008, but forgot to post it until now.

Last night, I was enjoying myself at the 3rd Thursday Street Fest in Willimantic, CT, when I happened to bump into a guy named Rich. Not only had he lived next-door to me at my old place in East Hartford, but coincidentally also dated a woman named Dawn, with whom I worked for five years (1999-2004).

I'm still reeling from what Rich told me: namely, that Dawn passed away last November. Dawn was all of seven months older than me!

Seems she was at work one morning and suddenly stopped breathing. Since none of her co-workers knew CPR, by the time the EMTs arrived Dawn's brain had been without oxygen for close to seven minutes, and her heart had stopped.

They were able to get Dawn's heart pumping again, but she was brain-dead with zero chance of recovery. So the next of kin instructed Dawn's physician to pull the plug on her life support. At 42 (my age now), Dawn was no more, and her two teen-aged daughters were now orphans. (Dawn's ex-husband is a junkie scumbag whose sense of responsibility is about what you'd expect from someone like that.)

A few weeks ago, as part of my new job at a group home, I was trained in both CPR and First Aid. If Dawn's employer (a pharmacy) had been that diligent, she might not have died.

Suffice it to say, during the ten minutes or so that I spoke with Rich last night, my mood spiraled from upbeat and festive to bummed out and depressed. I still haven't fully recovered. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm out of anti-depressants and the State of Connecticut has kicked me off medical assistance, because with two part-time jobs I now make too much to qualify. Never mind that neither job offers medical benefits. But that's a whole other rant.

You can afford to see "Batman," so quit your damned whining!

The original letter to the editor:

Gas prices are high…foreclosures are soaring…people are losing their jobs…oh my! But “Batman” grossed more than $155 million in its opening weekend, and 7% of the population spent over a quarter of a billion dollars on movies this past weekend. Boy, the economy must be in terrible shape.

And my response:

Regarding “Times Are Tough.” I was laid off from my last year-round, full-time job in June 2006. Despite submitting hundreds of resumes and applications, I’ve spent the last 26 months barely getting by on part-time, temporary and seasonal employment, not to mention the amazing generosity of my friends. I also am a diabetic who requires insulin every day. When I found a second part-time job, I was thrown off state medical assistance because I now made too much money to qualify. But since I managed to scrape together $8.50 to see “The Dark Knight” rather than spend another evening at home feeling depressed, that means I’m doing just fine and should stop my whining. Spoken like a true Dittohead!