Hmmm. Interesting question. Let me see.
I woke up at 2:50 yesterday morning. Couldn't sleep. Decided to catch up with some reading.
A good decision. The lounge/dinning room, the only place where I could use my laptop in this shelter, was quiet. I did some reading until 6:30 - the only productive period, as it turned out, for my whole day - when people started coming in. I started drawing attention, which was not a good thing.
(Have you ever lived with homeless people? Do you know how to live with homeless people?)
I packed up my laptop and had some breakfast. I went back to my bed to try to catch up with some sleep.
But I could not. Maybe it was because it was too bright and the blinds were stuck and I could not close them.
Got up around 8:00AM. Had some more breakfast.
(Have you ever lived homeless? -- You don't refuse food. You never know when you might go hungry.)
Decided to go to the library. But it would not be open until 9:30. So I waited in the lounge of the shelter.
Got to the library at 9:35. Soon after I sat down, I felt really sleepy. After all, I had only slept for less than four hours the night before. I almost dozed off around 11:00. It was then that I decided I needed to get back to the shelter because we were allowed into our room between 12:30 and 2:00. -- I had planned to stay in the library until close to get some real work done. (I needed to prepare for my court appearances. Besides, I knew you all were waiting to be entertained by my blog. Yes? No?)
I had my lunch at the shelter. As soon as the door opened at 12:30, I got back to my room. But you know what? My sleepy bug was gone! I got up around 1:30 frustrated, knowing my whole day would be toast.
Indeed it was.
I hesitated to go back to the library again because I knew I would not be effective in my half-awake state. Besides, it would take me 20 minutes to walk to the library.
Having let some of the people see my laptop, I decided to use my laptop in the lounge. I would just have to be extra careful lest it got stolen. (The first day I checked in Ottawa Mission in 2005, I saw two guys stealing a laptop. I made a statement with police and indicated my willingness to testify. I heard that they caught one (?) of the guys but did not recover the laptop.)
But no, you could not possibly work in this environment. They were too many distractions. Besides, working on my laptop made me seem aloof and not fit in. After all, I am one of the homeless.
That's it. Since it was against the rules to sleep or snooze in the lounge, I decided to take a walk. I went to a nearby shopping mall and wandered around a bit in my half-awake state. And there came the highlight of the day: I made 10 bucks by participating in a market research!
It was the first time I had any money in my pocket since I turned myself in to the police last Sunday night, except for the two quarters the jail staff gave me when I got back my personal belongings from them last Tuesday evening.
(Do you know what it is like when you are homeless and have no money in your pocket? Do you know what it is like sleeping in a public place when you can't find a shelter? Do you know what it is like being hungry for more than 24 hours? And above all, do you know what it is like fighting in these kinds of conditions, all by yourself, an all-powerful government who would use the dirtiest tricks on you? -- Purely rhetorical questions.)
With money in hand, I went to a dollar store and bought myself a pair of slippers. I had been wearing the same pair of sneakers since I left for Ottawa on May 12 and I needed to treat my feet better.
I got back around 4:00, watched TV in the lounge, had dinner around 5:00, took another walk and went to bed early around 8:30. Had a relatively good sleep and got up around 4:30. And here you are, another blog just for you.
Have yourself a nice day.
Update 20070713:
A staff member told me that this homeless shelter is actually the best in Canada. Having lived there for almost three weeks, I do not think he exaggerated.
I did some editing to the blog as well.
Update 20070806
My 30 days is up tonight at this shelter in downtown Vancouver. I don’t know where I am going to sleep tomorrow night and I really don’t want to end up in a shelter in downtown eastside.
Depressed.
