r/homeless on Reddit is one of my regular reads. There seem to be some common causes for people to become homeless.
They have car trouble and in the US you are only human if you support one or more cars. No car = no life.
You have pets you won't give up.
You have drug or alcohol dependency.
You have an utter shit personality and/or no skills.
The people with skills and some kind of personality others can stand, are not posting on Reddit.
A last category is people who are 17-18 years old and have been kicked out by their parents to sink or swim because that's standard in the US. It's just one of many, many reasons why the US and its shitty culture are self-destructing.
So what are ways to avoid becoming a homeless non-person? Get by without a car or pets if you can. This is tricky because in some situations living in a car or van is the best you can do, and in many situations a dog is a life-saver because a good dog understands that it must be willing to give its life to save yours or else you'll both be dead. When we were poor as shit when I was a kid in Hawaii, having a collection of rescue dogs that were utterly loyal to us is the reason I don't have any horror stories from that time.
Try to have an acceptable personality. This is not possible if your brain is burned out from drugs/alcohol or you've been hit in the head too many times. So try to avoid these things.
Have some kind of a skill and do NOT fall for the college scam like I did. By skill I mean something that was a good skill 500 years ago. Barbering, house-cleaning, making or repairing or cleaning shoes, playing a musical instrument, doing decent artwork especially portraits, etc.
Unless you're from a wealthy family who will pay your way you'll never become a doctor, but there are tons of other medical jobs that can be learned in a trade school so there's that.
In my own case I like to think if I needed a room to rent, I might be able to put out a sign saying NEED ROOM TO RENT when I'm out playing music and find something that way. I still have the number for this one building that supposedly is cool with people living in the offices; I just haven't called them yet. Mainly because if I have to leave here in a hurry I feel I'm better off heading right back to Hawaii. An instant 30% decrease in the cost of living will be nice.
I thought I had 10 more things to ship, but it turns out they're 10 things bought by the annoying type of customer who buys each thing separately and pays the shipping separately, then of course expects a discount on the shipping when I just everything in one box. That could wait for later!
I took the things I'd packed and sent them off, picked up a few odds and ends for shipping, then wrapped the cornet up in its towel and put it in the messenger bag, and took off for downtown. I bought a couple hard boiled eggs and a can of coffee at Nijiya. I've found that I'm surprisingly good at making a cup of genuine Doutor pour-over coffee the night before and putting it in an empty can I've saved and putting it into the fridge, but I am incapable of taking the cold can of coffee and putting it into my bike bag to take with me. So I'll have to resign myself to buying one each time.
After eating the eggs and having some coffee, I took off for downtown. I stopped at the Amazon place for a few bubble mailers first, then went over to Whole Foods and set up. It was now 7:20 which is really early for me and a result of having had an early start.
I got a $10 tip right away, then after a while a $1, then nothing for about 45 minutes, then tips started pouring in. By this time I was getting tired and it had been an hour, so I played a little bit more and called it a night. I'd made $61.50.
I bought some vitamins to use up the $1's I had a lot of, and then rode around downtown a bit. I got a few more bubble mailers from the Amazon place and then, riding past Leroy's old location, there was Leroy and another guy, John, who plays guitar.
Leroy had finally bought himself a new saxophone, a Selmer "Axos" which I've just looked up and it appears he's spent about as much as I just spent on my cornet. A lot. But, as I was saying to a guy I talked with at Whole Foods, I'm a grown-up and I can treat myself.
I got back here and the guys next door are having a nice noisy party with lots of kids running around and a live band. The band is pretty cool; they've got a tuba, trumpet, clarinet, one hell of a drummer, etc. After putting the bike away I walked over to check the band out and listen to a number or two, but one of the ladies came up to me and kept saying "Soldat! Soldat!" and I don't know what that was all about (I'd been invited, earlier today when someone had knocked on my door and said they were having a 5th anniversary party and it would be loud, and I was welcome to come over for tacos etc.) so I just shook my head and went in here and buttoned the place up.
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