Posted: 8/8/2005 10:01:40 PM EDT
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I have.......Not to a serious extent, I wanted to live in a tent on the beach for months at a time, but I always have had a fall back.... Have you ever been homeless, no home, no place to go, no where to go but up, hit bottom? How did you get back up? |
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Been real fucking close a few times. Spent a couple months in an abandoned apartment in the winter (Iowa) with no hot water. I was lucky to have running water (set records for shortest ice cold showers) and some rigged up electricity. Luckily I was able to save up enough for first, last and deposit and got a real apartment. Not sure I'd have been "homeless" homeless if I didn't find that place but no guarantees. Getting out on your own for the first time can be pretty rocky. Here's a tip for your kids, tell them to get jobs in a restraunt if their prospects suck. Still will be broke but it's hard to go hungry working in a restraunt. |
For damn sure!!
I'd have to say my morning job at the gorcery store produce department was one of the best I've ever had, barring pay. I ve never eaten as much fruit as I did there. 
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Lived in a car for about a year, growing up....whole family bounced from relative's place to place and mostly in the car. 3 kids & my mom. It was humbling, to say the least. Thank god mom found a sympathetic guy who gave her a job and helped out with finding us a house to live in. Thank god, as an adult, I've never been without. |
That's some tough business there. I lived in a tent in CO. for a few months over the summer and it was a pretty easy gig. Hang out, fish, take a nice bath in the stream on occasion. Cook up what i catch and generally be a bum. Wouldn't have wanted to try that gig through the winter though. Having grown up in Colorado, I can remember some winters that would have killed a man pretty easy. My mom got 8 feet overnight a few years back. I couldn't imagine having to have been homeless in those conditions. Other than the one camping gig, there was only one other time, but my friend put me up and helped me get my shit together. I've spent the better part of the last decade returning the favor to him through various different hard times he's had. He's a hell of a friend, don't know what I'd have done without him. |
| I had a roommate who went to a youth reform camp in Arizona called "Anasazi" where they take kids on drugs/suicidal etc... and shape them up by making them learn responsibility and hard work. He ran away a few weeks into it, walked along a stream in the desert for a couple days, and hitched a ride to Phoenix where he was homeless for about 6 months. He said the Anasazi camp didn't change him at all, but being homeless worked like a charm! Guy hasn't touched drugs or anythign like it since. He had some crazy stories to tell. |
Yup.....sure have and it wasn't a picnic...  Many different cities and towns in summer and winter.Knew no one,had no money. In fact.....i am sad to admit ages 17-30 were lived like that  The nightmare begun at age 17 when i went to the hospital and seen my Dad laying there fresh from an operation to remove a brain tumor, that killed him months later The huge scar was from behind an ear to back of neck where they tried to remove tumor.Maybe 5"-7" long.It freaked me out and my journey begun...... Spent MANY a night freezing my ass off,being attacted by mosquito's,about killed,hungry,etc,etc,etc and only called home 1 time to ask for money,which i was offered $20 by my mom. Social calls made collect to different family members were made about every 6 months.Like they didn't care.... Without a doubt mucho damage took place but luckily i am alive.... Ate (survived) by eating from MANY of dumpsters.McDonalds,Domino's,etc,etc. Usually stayed in a city 6 months or so then hitch hiked elsewhere.I finally was rescued 13 years ago (was homeless) when i met my wife whom i am still married to....  Mainly my travels were done hitchhiking but once in awhile Greyhound took me to my new destination if i worked day labor and had cash... I wouldn't wish my experiences on my worst enemy............................  |
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thankfully never, and pray to God I never will be. The tip about working at a resturant and going out on your own.....BIG THUMBS UP! I worked at a Cajun Seafood Resturant. Kinda upscale but not too fancy. I NEVER went home without a full belly! Besides pay and tips, if you worked (on the clock ofcourse) 1 hour extra you could have any meal on the menu (except dinner entrees and specials) free! |
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Not exactly Homeless , but I did wander around the country for around 9 months back in 79-80 . I lived off $3000 I won at a Jai-Alai game outside of Miami where I was going to school . I was supposed to be heading back to NY , but I got a little side tracked . I had a great time and learned a good deal about human nature and how to read people . Yet as I look back on it , I was a dumb kid . Especially since I now have children almost the same age I was when I did it , and there is no way in hell I would let them do it today . If they give me the choice that is .......  |
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I spent a few months in the back of my mustang. before joining army. Taking showers from a hose in my girlfriends backyard. Very humbling experience. At the time i was working part time at the college cafateria so i didnt go hungry. Those days are long gone....whewwwwww! |
Reminds me of my mother living in one in Montana for some time, she was one of those natural people however I guess when she was younger. Not a hippy she worked etc but was kind of nutty about the outdoors etc, and no not a tree huger just odd
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Lmao, you had a grilfriend and she didn't let you use to actual shower
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Not thats homeless. |
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I've been pretty damn close.. too close for comfort. I feel for those who REALLY are homeless do circumstances beyond their control. (divorce and layoff at the same time got me) speaking of which, I saw a guy at the local intersection yesterday holding up a sign: UNEMPLOYED BANK ROBBER, NEED MONEY FOR BULLETS like someone is really going to give him anything??? |
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Came close a few times. But that was aways back. I did move in with this nice woman that used to live in a tipi in Montana for a while, when she was younger just to do some thing different. A real outdoorsy type of gal. Her son moved in with us a while back to save on rent and such to work on some envestments. Decent kid. I don't think I could kick him out considering how hard it is to be homless. |
+1 on that. The "homeless" beggars in Minneapolis work in shifts on the highway corners.  You see a different one every couple of hours in the same location. They all leave in the winter, though for some reason... 
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+1 Tho I hasten to add, there are people that are homeless by choice and either don't mind being homeless or are just too lazy to get a job -- and then there are people that are nuts - unemployable and not easy people to be around. That should be institutionalized frankly. I do have pity for those people. They're not usually the ones you see panhandling IMHO. |
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Fortunately, no. However, when I first moved out of my house during my separation and only had (expensive, no matter how you slice it) hotels as an option (and we were near bankruptcy at the time), I got as much of a taste as I ever want to get. For people who are truly homeless (not those who choose to live that way), it must truly suck, especially with children involved. |
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Various times growing up, me and my mom lived in homeless shelters, battered wives shelters, and various friends homes until they kicked us out, sometimes for months at a time. She would get fed up with my physically abusive stepfather, and light out with me in tow. We lived in her car some, too. As a teenage ne'erdowell, I lived homeless for short stints...a few weeks to a couple of months...strung out on meth, eating out of dumpsters, cleaning up in the mall bathrooms, etc. Thankfully, those days are far behind me now. |
That is the 5 percent or so of the homeless that are truly helpless to do anything about their plight. As you said, they should be institutionalized. The rest are just lazy assholes. |
Now, that's a dumbass, blanket statement if I've ever seen one. I spent the month of Feb. '95 homeless, in Sanford, Maine. Let me tell you, that's no frickin' picnic. I crashed and showered at friends' apartments whenever possible, but did have to resort to a night or two spent on a park bench. However, I wasn't a lazy asshole. I worked 40 hours a week at a restaurant. Finally, after a month of homelessness, a friend offered to let me move in with him at his new apartment. A year and a half later, I went back into the Army. Not all homeless people are lazy assholes. Some have just fallen on hard times and are struggling to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Luckily for me, I had a friend who was willing to help me out. |
Lmao hahahaha 
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