Former Member

Blueberry! ;–)

Sunnyvale (in Silicon Valley) has a combined police and fire Department of Public Safety. All of its officers are trained to do both jobs. Apparently there are at least 111 local jurisdictions in the US (including school districts and airports) that have combined police and fire services with fully cross-trained officers. For some reason, Michigan has 34 of these departments. In California, at least, paramedics are usually either part of the fire department or contracted out to private companies.

Rather than a steak meal, Troy really should have done laundry. He could have also celebrated with a more filling, but less expensive meal. It’s tempting to splurge on a fancy meal, but it makes me wonder if there were other times when he might have made more practical decisions.

Troy is being forced to return to his former home by financial considerations. It is extremely stressful and unpleasant for him. He’s not going to be his best when he meets Grant.

It’s a bit surprising just how cruel and heartless the bank was. I would expect them to have allowed Troy to remove personal items, including the tools in his workshop! Things like the china and homemade jam should not have been retained by the bank. It seems incredibly petty and atrociously vindictive to prevent him from taking his own tools and equipment. Was homophobia involved? Even in a repossession and eviction, the person being forced to leave their home has the right to take most of the items in the house, possibly even the appliances. Clearly the bank did not gain any extra income from selling the house complete with the china and homemade jam (which they probably weren’t even aware of). It sounds like they had a difficult time selling the house at all since there was significant gap between the end of the diary and the time Grant moved in.

And now that we’ve discussed PADI, are they ever going to get around to inspecting the hull? ;–)

You forgot to mention the chutzpah of the Italian merchant whose name got attached to two continents…

What? @Wayne Gray hasn't seen An American Werewolf in London? (It led to Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.) ;–)

So, not this? ;–)

I don’t think they have them in Canada either. I know the UK doesn’t have them. It’s not as efficient as other social programs. It seems targeted at the problem, but it’s really a band-aid solution to a symptom. A Universal Basic Income would be a more complete solution that covers not only food, but also shelter. It would allow people to get an education or other training without needing to struggle with a job at the same time. It would allow a parent or guardian to care for children or others who need assistance.

Some elderly people get more androgynous as they age. They choose comfort over style. And convenience over fashion. It’s also more difficult over the phone where some voices cannot be easily gendered. ;–)

I was already on CalFresh (aka SNAP or ‘food stamps) when I became homeless, so I had food, but I needed access to a kitchen or at least a microwave since the program does not cover hot food. Even the Safeway Deli sandwiches could not be coded as hot if I wanted to use CalFresh to pay for it (the Deli people would heat up the sandwich, but print up a label indicating it was cold so it would be covered). This is to prevent people from using CalFresh in fast food restaurants. When I ran out of cash, I went to a social services agency I had dealt with for health care and got a reference to the rescue mission. From the rescue mission I got referrals to other agencies, including the county-run shelter. Shelters kept me fed, but the CalFresh card allowed me to buy soda, snacks, and candy. ;–) Applying for Social Security Disability (clinical depression and generalized anxiety) allowed me to remain on GA (General Assistance – a cash loan from the county) while my case was being decided. This gave me cash to pay for a storage locker for my stuff. It also paid for bus and BART transit fares. I never got to the point where I had to contemplate alternative food sources…

I can imagine an elderly woman getting very upset that someone has questioned her gender by asking her pronoun gender preferences – how dare I ask such a rude and impertinent question, isn’t it obvious‽ (No, it isn’t if I’m asking!) ;–)

I ordered a case of disposable Red Shirts™ and had Amazon ship them to @Ivor Slipper, but he never uses them – do they need to be metric or something? ;–)

Okay, I only glanced at everyone else’s Comments. I think that @Mikiesboy’s idea of teaching Troy where homeless people get food might cause the same reaction that Mr Burgess’ offer did. I’m afraid that Troy would think that soup kitchens and similar venue are a form of charity. I also cannot imagine Troy dumpster diving. I think he’s too proud to do either of those things. I’m not sure how he’d have reacted if Mr Burgess had offered to share his meal with Troy, eating together might or might not have felt like charity. And I was thinking that Grant will discover Troy’s ad when he looks for someone to fix his fence. Grant could use someone to install his furnace too! I’m sure Grant could find lots of little jobs for Grant without them being merely make-work. But how will Troy feel? (I’m assuming that ’T’ is Troy, but this could be a red herring. You do have a known history of misleading readers!) Will he want to return to the site of so many past happy memories? Something happened to cause Troy's life to fall apart. Some kind of major financial catastrophe – did John develop a serious medical condition? I’m hoping that this is not a case of John dying with the house in his name and John’s relatives coming in and kicking Troy out, keeping the money from the sale for themselves! This happened many times in the past before Same-Sex Marriages became legal.

You know, when I first saw the title of this story, I was thinking that the protagonists were named Ash and Ember (because another story on GA has a character named November who has a niece named after him called Ember). ;–)

Charlie is going on an adventure for Author’s Day? Isn’t that awfully close to US Thanksgiving? ;–)

I think there are a lot of people who are homeless (by government definition, at least) who aren’t aware of the resources available to them. I wonder if Troy could get assistance if he only knew where to go? In the SF Bay Area, and probably other regions, calling 2-1-1 (toll-free) connects you to operators who can refer you to all sorts of social services (not just those related to homelessness). Once you’ve connected to one agency, you usually find out about others agencies that offer associated services that you need. But maybe it’s because of where I stayed when I was homeless, but I interacted with many rude, greedy, and entitled poor people. I always made sure to thank everyone I encountered. No one was required to help me and I wanted to make sure that they knew I appreciated their assistance. But that seems to be partly related to my suburban upbringing as well… ;–)

You could revisit them with another sequel… ;–)

I’m never gonna love the Titanic theme song! ;–)

Endlessly repeating a lie seems to work with some people…

Now that he's experienced it, will Jason be able to convince his girlfriend to let him repeat the experience with her? Or will he need to find someone else to plug? ;–) And how will they convince Jason to shoot the inevitable flip-flop scene? ;–)

There are only a handful of mainstream movies where the actors engaged in actual sex (Wikipedia has a list if you need to know). I’m not aware of any TV shows where this happened. It certainly wouldn’t happen in the US – the anti-sex protesters would be up in arms and there’d be Congressional hearings! There would be cable systems that would ban not only the show, but also the entire network. The South, Alaska, and most of the Midwest and Intermountain regions would be unable to see the show! Anti-sex groups would organize boycotts of all the advertisers. But they never stop to realize that they never buy those products anyway. The advertisers have already anticipated their reaction. (My boycotting hard cider, for example, means nothing since I never drink hard cider to begin with.) On the other hand, the PornHub leak guarantees that copies of the show will be extremely popular torrents all over the world! ;–)

Well, Wayne, I can understand why you’d notice that I hadn’t Commented on this particular story! I can imagine much of what Troy is going through even though I never tried living in a vehicle. I can remember feeling like I’d never get warm again in the relatively balmy Bay Area winter. The rescue mission woke us up early in the morning and chased us out of the dorm. We had to wait outside in the cold at least 30-45 minutes while another group ate before they’d let us back in to eat breakfast. When I stayed in the Berkeley Men’s Shelter, there was another program that used the building in the morning. That program offered free showers and laundry, so there were lots of people who slept on the streets or in vehicles who took advantage of the services. We figured out how to connect to the internet through an ethernet connection, so lots of us with computers would hang out. I had an ethernet switch and a couple cables, so I was able to splice my equipment into their line (the outlet was on one wall and they had a long cable to their office). But the central Bay Area offers a lot more services than even the suburban cities further from the San Francisco/Oakland/Berkeley core. Whenever you’re tempted to complain about the stench of an unwashed homeless person, ask yourself where they are supposed to shower or do laundry? If they can barely keep fed, how can they afford to pay a gym membership (for the showers) or a laundromat? How do you wash your clothes if you only have a single set of clothing? And why are homeless people less entitled to use public spaces than anyone else?

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