Well, I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?
I'm going to go with the bad news, because it came first chonologically and also so I can end on a positive note.
This, for the most part, hasn't been a good year. I moved out of my son's apartment and into a house with an alleged friend of mine who used my name to scam people out of money and started a paypal account in my name and screwed up my bank account by passing bad checks to me. The result is that I can no longer have a bank account and can only cash my paycheck at check cashing stores (like Cashland, that charge high rates on check cashing.) I finally moved away from there thanks to an intervention from friends and family. I moved into a homeless shelter and stayed there until July 4th. Then I stayed with a friend for about 2 weeks until I finally had some good news.
A few days before I moved out of the homeless shelter, I finally got a temporary job with the Salvation Army. They were doing a Christmas in July donation drive and I was ringing the bell for them 3 days a week (Thurs,Fri,Sat) for the month of July and a few days in August. While working for Salvation Army, I got a call from an apartment complex and got an apartment with subsidized rent (which means that most of my rent is paid by the government.) I also currently receive food stamps and have medical coverage, which I didn't have before going to the homeless shelter. And I also have a part time job now and I spend weekends with my kids.
So my needs are met now, but my dreams and desires are still unfulfilled. I am not dating anyone and not really interested in dating anyone, but it still would be nice to not be alone all the time. I'm trying to do things to satisfy myself creatively, such as playing music or drawing or creating a TV show, but none of these things are happening as well as I would like. I am trying to start a band, but planned rehearsals have so far not happened. I am trying to create an internet TV series called White Trash Heroes, but we have yet to film any usable footage. I have several unfinished pictures that I have started and I have a tattoo machine that sits in a tacklebox collecting dust.
But, now that I am working, the portion of my rent that I pay is increasing, so I need to find additional sources of unreported income. In the past I have done things that may not have exactly been legal and I may have to do them again. I am not going to repeat mistakes from my past and spend all of my available time and energy on things that don't produce results. I have yet to actually see any money from any of my online stores (although we actually made a few bucks, it is far below amazon.com's payment threshold) or online dating sites.
But overall, I guess the good outweighs the bad for now. I have my own place and my future ex-wife rarely calls or comes around. And I'm a grandfather now.
