I left my housing at the Fountain Place Tuesday, after having lived in my old renovated Fountain Place building for only just over six months. Now I'm sleeping in a makeshift modular lean-to made of tarps and a sleeping bag and air mattress carabinered to a fence next to the old Esco property in Northwest Portland.
I guess I just stubbornly decided to be an asshole to Home Forward and to Pinehurst Property Management, knowing it would undo me. I could have been diploamtic in my complaints and criticisms, but I consider it inappropriate to kiss the hand that slaps you, and I firmly believe those who hold the cards in American society slap our faces constantly in underhanded softly spoken ways (just spend enough time talking to Amazon customer service reps on the phone!). I also consider it important for us to rise up against those in power and their underlings who wield authority over us and stand up for ourselves, even if it results in calamity; being convenience-obsessed narcissistic cowards has enslaved us to predatory Big Business and to a corrupt and dysfunctional not-all-that-democratic government, while simultaneously empowering all the devils of our natures into becoming belligerent, deluded, violent Stasi informants. Being a nice guy and having good manners and treating others with civility has nothing to do with sticking it to The Man, whomever that person may be for each of us (for me it was the local housing authority and their property management contractors).
Besides, why should I have been sweet on the povery pimps and their slumlords? I was thrown out for talking shit and being a jerk, but as I type there's punk kids in unit #403 disturbing their neighbors with fights and loud music on a daily basis, and I know for a fact there's at least two highly active drug dealers in the building. Kicking me out was an act of spiteful revenge, not a calculated response to a threat to the property or to my neighbors' physical and mental well-being. Not only that, but the construction company in charge of the Fountain Place renovation abandoned the project before it was complete! There's gaps between the floors and the walls, also the walls and the ceilings, throughout the building; there's exposed wiring visible here and there; the fountan and the entrance marquee were never replaced like they were supposed to (because it's now on the historical registry); the courtyard is still hazardous to walk on when wet; and the back entrance is full of street-trash dopers and freaks whenever it gets dark out, making it unsafge to use half the day. I had a feeling I would be disapointed or worse when I returned: this is what I waited three years to return to!? The entire time I lived there I felt like a squatter instead of a dweller.
lol Of course I got completely soaked my first night outside! I was smart and paid for a public storage unit (no way I'm going to lose all my bike frames, parts, and tools!) and Friendly House membership and one of the lockers at the community center...but I was pretty dumb and got wasted with Gino that night and failed to properly batten down my lean-to hatches. Were it not for the public strage unit I wouldn't have been able to dry out my sleeping bag, also were it not for my Friendly House membership I wouldn't have ben able to shower and change into dry clothing and warm up to a hot cup of tea. Alas, I'm going to be broke until I receive my SSI on the 27th, so I won't have many opportunities to repeat my folly...though, really, I'm getting tired of drinking. One thing I must say, however, is that I lucked out and have a couple "neighbors" I don't have to worry about; one of them even has this crazy cool shaggy dog that's a mix of Pomeranian, si tsu, and Chihuaha.
Still, it gets awfully boring out here! And, thanks to being both homeless and disabled collecting SSI I have no idea when I'll be able to return to work part-time. I'm going to have to start volunteering, if I'm to engage in life a little more fully than just siting at the Friendly House all day eating Chef Boyardee and putzing around on the computers waiting for my electronics to charge.
