Week 1 - Status: Annoyed

First week down, and I'm still alive. 

This week consisted of finding out where in this podunk 'burg I can get something to eat without having to spend any money... which is helpful, seeing as I don't have any money. Only place I could find was the local Salvation Army, which gives out lunch every day around noon. The only problem with this is getting there every day; see, it is frikkin' cold here. On Sunday, it snowed all day long, and winter isn't even officially here yet. 

This does not bode well for my future. 

On the plus side, I was able to get a shower and wash my clothes at the same Salvation Army center yesterday, which is good, as I was beginning to gross myself out with my own stink. And washing my clothes is vital, as the only clothes I have are the ones I'm wearing. 

As for sleeping arrangements, I've been "camping out" in an unattached garage of an empty house. It's not much, and all too often I wake up in the middle of the night shivering, but at least it blocks the wind and keeps me out of sight. If I can get some blankets or something along those lines, I might even be able to make a usable nest of sorts. Now before anyone asks, yes, this is technically breaking and entering... but the garage is totally empty, as is the house, and the friggin' door into the garage wasn't even locked. And given a choice between freezing to death in a park while it snows or freezing not quite as much in a garage, I'll take the garage. So yeah, I don't particularly care about my horrible crime of sleeping 5-6 hours in the corner of an unused garage. It's far from ideal, but it provides one of the Three Vital Elements for surviving on the street. 

What are the three things, you might be wondering? Allow me to explain... 

#1) Shelter 
Basically, protection from the elements so you don't die of exposure, or catch fucking pneumonia from sleeping outside all the time. A roof and four walls. That's it. 

#2) Food 
Self-explanatory. Now, while homeless, your stomach will shrink down to a tiny little ball, as you won't be eating very often. If you're lucky, you'll get the rough equivalent of 1 meal per day... if you're lucky. There will be plenty of days when all you put in your body is tap water, so plan to drop a few pants sizes while on the streets. I had already built up a fair amount of fatness before I was tossed out here, so I can manage for a while on very little food. 

#3) Sanity 
This is really the most important one of the three. While you're homeless, a massive depression will sink into your mind; this is unavoidable, no matter how optimistic you may be. Stay out here long enough, and you will either end up begging God to kill you in your sleep so you don't have to face another day of this miserable despair (Me! That one is me! I do this! =D), or you'll turn to self-medication to cope, namely in the form of booze or drugs. Now, since I will never rely on such outside substances (I don't smoke cigarettes or even drink coffee, for God's sake) to cope, I need to maintain my grip on sanity in some other way. Finding some manner of entertainment is vital: books, some kind of handheld electronic game like those pocket poker games, or in my case, hitting up the local library all day and fuckin' around on the Internet. Now, this serves a dual purpose, as the Internet also lets me stay in contact with the scant few human beings I would regret to see get hurled into the sun... all one of them. In the end, how you stay sane isn't really important, as long as it's nothing that will get you arrested by the fuzz or killed by a drug dealer. 

Week #1 is down. How many more weeks are there to come? More importantly, do I really care at this point? 

...enh. We'll see.