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december_solsticeI'm exhausted - it's been a good weekend. Probably the best weekend I've had in a really long time. I've also been writing and staying busy and active. I'm starting to feel myself again, feeling more like a person, a human, and like a normal member of society. With life as we know it being ripped apart at the seams, the smallest glimpse of normality is a huge deal, I've noticed. Today I plan to do quite a bit of writing, job searching, and self-care. I just want to re-connect, to get involved, and just do things.
We've been out of the house almost non-stop since arriving here. The good thing is I'm getting a lot of exercise and I've been feeling really good physical because of it! I just wish I could say I was eating healthy too. I am making an effort, though. We don't have much wiggle room and are super limited. We can't cook in our apartment, and technically, we aren't even suppose to have food, but we do anyway (pantry crap, nonperishable - just building a small stockpile).
I'm also trying to save money, and so we rely heavily on food stamps. I try to find ways to eat fresh fruits and vegetables as often as I can, and avoid fast food. Last night, for example, I had chicken, brown rice, and a salad, as well as steamed edamame. I'm happy that I was able to eat some real food, and *almost* not break the bank for it. We've been doing SO MUCH walking and spending hours on end outside because it's better than sitting in a room twiddling our thumbs. We also saw Beauty and the Beast, which I liked.
Been spending more money than I'd like, but I suppose it's unavoidable. We lost everything. The shelter doesn't give you ANYTHING. And, it's your responsibility to buy everything yourself and clean your own unit. More or less just like your own apartment. So, yeah, we're more or less starting over. Everyday I realize something we need that we don't have because that's just how it goes when you move into a new place. Since we don't have a lot of money to spend, we have no choice but to buy things for the apartment very slowly. Regardless, I think we're making good progress. We have the absolute bare-minimum, but it's enough. I should really put together a list - we still need cleaning supplies. I got a broom and dustpan, but I need a toilet brush and a non-bleach cleaner. I have to take another look at the rules to make sure I don't accidently buy something contraband.
We're down to about $200 in cash and $200 in food stamps which is more than enough to get us through the next 2 weeks. It's also likely I can ask my Mom to help us out if we really absolutely need it. Also Thomas gets paid next week. We're in a good place considering we did quite a bit of spending this month.
We met with our social worker for the second time this morning. She more or less told us that it's a waiting game from here on out, we've fulfilled all the requirements (not including the medical results we're waiting on). We don't meet again for 2 weeks. I explained to her what we've been up to, and how we're making an effort to seek resources and information elsewhere, but in a lot of ways, it feels out of our control (because we can't do much of anything until DHS finds us eligible or not). She more or less said, "at least you're trying because most people here aren't". Which is kind of sad.
So, the plan is to take it easy on the rental vouchers until our next follow-up because I'm more or less wasting my time until I find out what happens next with DHS. I got a job interview for a job that I also can't do because it's night shifts and I can't even get all the way back here on public transportation because I'm literally in butt-fuck no where. I'm just going to keep applying for jobs with hopes that I can get an interview for one that actually works for me.
In the meantime, I'm working on the same writing project I've been working on since earlier this year (series of mini-memoirs...I skimmed it over and was really impressed with what I've written so far), and also writing articles for Hub Pages. Earlier I thought maybe I could pull previous things I've written off my lifestyle blog or elsewhere but fuck it, I rather write fresh stuff. At least then I won't have to worry about pulling it off the web elsewhere. So far, I really like Hub Pages. You can earn a small income through Google AdSense and Amazon Ads. Apparently, it's very possible to earn an upwards of $400-600/m of passive income, however, I'd like to assume that depends greatly on the long-term relevance of your content. The idea is to write helpful/how-to/informative articles. Before I can start actually earning income, I need to have an average of 10 well-written articles published. So that's my current goal, while also working on my other writing project.
Oh! And, in other news, I've deleted my *other* Dream width account (opened specifically for a guild community/page), and also my old LJ. I am also thinking of getting rid of/deleting Tumblr because it's dead and pointless. I actually tried to do that last night, and again today but couldn't make it work. Since it linked with Yahoo it's like...the passwords get all messed up. I'm not sure but it's a pain in the ass.
We've been out of the house almost non-stop since arriving here. The good thing is I'm getting a lot of exercise and I've been feeling really good physical because of it! I just wish I could say I was eating healthy too. I am making an effort, though. We don't have much wiggle room and are super limited. We can't cook in our apartment, and technically, we aren't even suppose to have food, but we do anyway (pantry crap, nonperishable - just building a small stockpile).
I'm also trying to save money, and so we rely heavily on food stamps. I try to find ways to eat fresh fruits and vegetables as often as I can, and avoid fast food. Last night, for example, I had chicken, brown rice, and a salad, as well as steamed edamame. I'm happy that I was able to eat some real food, and *almost* not break the bank for it. We've been doing SO MUCH walking and spending hours on end outside because it's better than sitting in a room twiddling our thumbs. We also saw Beauty and the Beast, which I liked.
Been spending more money than I'd like, but I suppose it's unavoidable. We lost everything. The shelter doesn't give you ANYTHING. And, it's your responsibility to buy everything yourself and clean your own unit. More or less just like your own apartment. So, yeah, we're more or less starting over. Everyday I realize something we need that we don't have because that's just how it goes when you move into a new place. Since we don't have a lot of money to spend, we have no choice but to buy things for the apartment very slowly. Regardless, I think we're making good progress. We have the absolute bare-minimum, but it's enough. I should really put together a list - we still need cleaning supplies. I got a broom and dustpan, but I need a toilet brush and a non-bleach cleaner. I have to take another look at the rules to make sure I don't accidently buy something contraband.
We're down to about $200 in cash and $200 in food stamps which is more than enough to get us through the next 2 weeks. It's also likely I can ask my Mom to help us out if we really absolutely need it. Also Thomas gets paid next week. We're in a good place considering we did quite a bit of spending this month.
We met with our social worker for the second time this morning. She more or less told us that it's a waiting game from here on out, we've fulfilled all the requirements (not including the medical results we're waiting on). We don't meet again for 2 weeks. I explained to her what we've been up to, and how we're making an effort to seek resources and information elsewhere, but in a lot of ways, it feels out of our control (because we can't do much of anything until DHS finds us eligible or not). She more or less said, "at least you're trying because most people here aren't". Which is kind of sad.
So, the plan is to take it easy on the rental vouchers until our next follow-up because I'm more or less wasting my time until I find out what happens next with DHS. I got a job interview for a job that I also can't do because it's night shifts and I can't even get all the way back here on public transportation because I'm literally in butt-fuck no where. I'm just going to keep applying for jobs with hopes that I can get an interview for one that actually works for me.
In the meantime, I'm working on the same writing project I've been working on since earlier this year (series of mini-memoirs...I skimmed it over and was really impressed with what I've written so far), and also writing articles for Hub Pages. Earlier I thought maybe I could pull previous things I've written off my lifestyle blog or elsewhere but fuck it, I rather write fresh stuff. At least then I won't have to worry about pulling it off the web elsewhere. So far, I really like Hub Pages. You can earn a small income through Google AdSense and Amazon Ads. Apparently, it's very possible to earn an upwards of $400-600/m of passive income, however, I'd like to assume that depends greatly on the long-term relevance of your content. The idea is to write helpful/how-to/informative articles. Before I can start actually earning income, I need to have an average of 10 well-written articles published. So that's my current goal, while also working on my other writing project.
Oh! And, in other news, I've deleted my *other* Dream width account (opened specifically for a guild community/page), and also my old LJ. I am also thinking of getting rid of/deleting Tumblr because it's dead and pointless. I actually tried to do that last night, and again today but couldn't make it work. Since it linked with Yahoo it's like...the passwords get all messed up. I'm not sure but it's a pain in the ass.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-25 10:34 am (UTC)How many pages do you have written already? You might have enough to publish a short book already, then can just expand it for a second edition or follow-up book.
I kinda assumed you guys can't keep any food... that's so awful. What are you supposed to do, live off fast food?!
I joined some communities here on DW and made a couple new friends who're lower-level in Japanese than me, one of them's an absolute beginner and I don't want them to quit learning so I've started writing lessons (again), this time I'm going to just post for "them" a little bit every few days and then when I have enough I'll put it in a book. I think being limited to "what one person will read in a blog post" and stuff will force me to make the chapters short and actually finish things...
no subject
Date: 2017-04-25 05:43 pm (UTC)There used to be decent communities on there but it's been a really long time since i communicated with anyone or even posted anything. It's really shit now. lmfao.
That's actually a decent amount of followers! I used to have like 250 max, EVER. LOL.
Hm, total pages? I'd like to say somewhere in the 10-12p range. Maybe? I have it all broken up in this app called Gingko.
I was thinking the same thing - doing these 10-20p little mini-books. Part 1, 2, and 3. Ect. But, the issue is I've written chapters that are...not in order?
Yeah, having no food, not being able to cook (like there isn't even a community kitchen we can use) really limits us. I'm assuming it's to keep the place free from roaches and rodents maybe? I don't know, I've heard this shelter is one of the "tougher" ones.
I don't really know what they expect from us - especially when you consider a handful of these folks probably have food stamps they can't even use. It's stupid.
Like, they do serve "food" on site, but it's hardly "meals" and no one really touches it. A lot of people have warned us not to eat it. It's often microwaved meals, but perhaps how it's stored or cooked, it makes people sick. Or the food in general is just really bad quality. Shit, I think school lunches and prison food is better quality than this.
That's a nice gesture - helping people on here! I think you really got something going on. Really. If the language lessons I've had in the past were similar in style to yours, I would probably feel more confident.