homeless

Back After Semester Finals and Sickness

It has been a couple weeks. I am still alive. Although a lot has happened. First, finals always tends to be something that takes extra energy from me and I have done well in my classes, and that makes me happy. There has been some health issues that took some time of course, when your body runs on caffeine and spite sometimes you need to recharge every so often. That or the nerve damage gets the better of me sometimes.

The city is still a shit show, and while I can tell you how, there are others who do it better then me just look up on twitter PDXReal1 does a lot of good work showing how things are, People4Portland on twitter and now it seems more and more that people are getting the word out that we do have a problem in the city. So people are knowing, but now we have to make some impact, and that is been something that I have mused for the past few weeks.

Portland business journal recently had a survey of businesses where no one, I am sorry “99% do not feel supported by the city’s elected officials.” Damning by any count when almost every business believes they are not being supported by the city. That means you could go and throw a rock in the air and the sidewalk it lands on you got almost 100% chance that the business closest to it thinks they got no help from the city. Not like anything has been done to change that, Measure 110 has gone a major calamity because the government has not been fast enough to get the support out there. ( Big shocker, it is almost like someone called it.)

The city is in rough shape and the state is worse, but you know what sometimes it just takes a spark, a chance to get things rolling in the right direction. While the more well known businesses are running away from the city there is a chance to make it better, and if you can survive in the harshest conditions then it should be able to survive in friendlier conditions. It may be looked at as a bit of trying to find the sunshine in the dark clouds, but there is something to be looked at when bad things happen. One can always look at it more as a challenge to be overcome. Just seems honestly, that there are a lot more challenges then times of smooth sailing. These times will test those of the city I love, because there is a lot that seems to be wrong.

Try and stay healthy and hopefully I don’t need to do this again this week. I am sick as a dog.

Stay Strong.

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Choppy Waters

Welp, it’s been a couple of weeks again. Sorry about that. Unfortunately, some numbers have come out based on the city where it has to be said. Portland is now in a position where the problems they have constructed for themselves will be fixed slowly, which is unfortunate. This was brought up by KOIN 6 news and reported on by the News for Reasonable People channel( A name I get a giggle from whenever I watch their videos). Also, they are a channel with a view on more of the business and property lens. However, human issues make enough appearances to be counted on being shown.

So, what am I talking about? Currently, the violence in Portland has been growing, and the cost of living has been rising throughout the country, even more so in Portland. More drugs, less quality public education, and less business have been happening. Now we have a business vacancy rate getting close to a third. That means that about 73% of spaces are filled. Which would be good, except most people need to learn that cities account for something like 95% to be filled on a bad year for tax reasons. If businesses are not in buildings, they aren’t making money, no money, no tax, and the budget is reduced, and while a lot of places have had to deal with many of these things, Portland has been ranked third last in recovering from the pandemic. We are ranked 60 out of 62, with a wild guess being able to figure out the two below us.

This has now reached a point that, save for a miracle of high-class thought and action from our city commissioners, this will not be good for a while. Five years, maybe ten, maybe thirty. The time frame depends on how shit others are after this. What will be something is that now we are in a position where it will most likely be this way for quite a while, and a lot of Portlanders are okay with that.

Not because there is a wealth of ideas or thoughts. Actually, it’s because most Portlanders only know or care to know once they have to. As a result, portlanders generally boil down into two groups.

  1. They are in a position to ignore everything until something happens, as they get robbed, their children are in danger, or their life’s work is destroyed.
  2. They are so poor and just trying to hold it together; unfortunately, they just had to get used to it.

This is sad because what comes next is not going to be fun for a lot of people. It will not be able to be fixed quickly because people do not want to see it. It won’t be the end of the world, but for those who think Portland is going back to the 2000’s era dominance, this will be bad news.

Good times will come at some point, but we have some choppy waters.

Stay Strong and Carry On.

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Weapons Grade Stupidity Gets Rewarded

I wanted to have this be the end-of-year post where we look back at the time and what has been done and bring some hope to the future. That is what I wanted. However, some things happen that make you feel like you got to take yourself out of whatever mood and deal with some weapons-grade stupidity.

For those who did not know, there are some problems with the D.A. of Portland. The work put forward has caused many of the city’s woes, and there have been many posts based on lousy decision-making. Things get worse for an entire year, having the area break records you do not want to break if you are in those positions, crime rate, murder rate, and gun violence are things you want to keep down.

All of this may be news to those in the offices of the city commissioners and the county district attorney. Still, I like to think it is that journalistic integrity that makes you stay, and I wrote all of that with only half of the usual sarcasm. This has to do with the D.A. specifically because I went to the county website and found the papers for the compensation or pay rates for everyone hired through them. Now, it is government, so you would expect some egregious, shocking, or brain-numbing numbers, and here is what was found.

Despite the work being a cavalcade of failure, despite it being some of the worst any D.A. has put forward in position for the county and the cost of everything up going up due to horrible financial decisions on almost every level of government. It would look bad if everyone had gotten a cost of living increase, but that would be at least understandable to a degree. Looking at the papers, you can see that it seems very much across the board there is an increase in spending.

After all, these people have to work for the government and to do it without hitting the escape hatch on life because all their work goes to very little, at least in this area. Some compensation is at least in the realm of possibility. There is one specific case thought that I would like people to look at. Now, as you can see from the pic above, the pay rates are active on July first. Looking at the difference between the two sets of paperwork, it would look really bad for someone to get a large raise, like 10% or 12 % even would be really bad.

How about a raise of almost 50%? Below is where I got the evidence, straight from the horse’s mouth

A 30k raise in the salary for some of the worst work that a D.A. has put on record. Failure so shocking it has brought down the whole county. This is someone in charge of charging people for crimes who push sentencing, and for all that was done, his office has been so soft that marshmallows look to it as a goal. A pool of water has more of a backbone than that office and the fact that with more death, more gun violence, and fewer things to charge for because now one can carry a small amount of any drug, those charges are gone. Antifa has been slapped on the wrist, often getting low bail or a misdemeanor when their records would dictate they should be in for years. Andy Ngo did a great set of explanations on that on Twitter @MrAndyNgo

Between 21-22 and 22-23, the Multnomah County D.A. has gotten a raise of almost 30k in their salary for work that would be best described as abysmal, and I wonder what they believe the reason is they earned that money.

21-22 salary table for District Attorney (D.A.) at 63k
22-23 salary table for D.A. at 93K

I would like anyone to explain why that raise was a good idea, to explain it because I am lost. I would rather give that money to the waffle house employee who decided to give everyone who hopped over the counter a free sampling of hands. Most likely, she would get something done versus what we have now.

Stay Strong and Happy New Year

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Homeless in Portland

Portland has an issue with the homeless situation and one of the biggest questions is how can we fix it?

To see how we got here we need to realize a few things, one is something people have been wanting to do and that is who is to blame for this whole affair and three parties once can look at Portland’s problems and all of them will lead to something that the citizens will not like to hear. Those three parties are the city council and all the people who had been on it since Wheeler got into office filling in for Hales when he left. Hales leaving by the way has got to be the biggest dodge this side of the matrix because if he knew it or not this cannot be tied so much to him.


Every city commissioner whether they were on before or came on after has to look at the major portion of the blame because for all the power and privilege they could not get any less done without a plan. Jo-ann Hardesty who ran on a campaign against the homeless boulder project trying to craft herself as their champion has shown to be one of the biggest failures to her position in recent memory from how she has bungled the riots with the rest, how she has not been able to get the educational capabilities up to the quality and despite asking for more power she has not been able to handle her normal business in position.


Ted Wheeler, is someone that I thought had to be trying to burn the city down, but since those moments years ago. I wish I could say his quality has also gone up but that would be a bit of a stretch by most standards and even his most ardent defenders have so little to stand on that any time dealing with them online would bring memories of screaming children as both would have no idea what the situation would entail and is just mad because they are on the wrong side of the emotional exchange. Let me say it clearly, I do not think the mayor of Portland is doing this out of spite. I think from his actions in an office he is either very emotional or very stupid and while not pure malice can sometimes look like it at times. His time dealing with the riots as they began, the attack on Andy Ngo, the clash of pro-trump and Antifa groups, the pandemic, the riots, and the side effects have been nothing but a complete failure and one where he still got re-election because the only other person running ran on a campaign dubbing herself the Antifa mayor, from the same group of people that the group never existed and it was just an idea.
So we have the city commissioners and two of the greatest hits among them, but we also need to look at the Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt whose work about trying to make the justice system fair has led to the most murders in recent history, the most gun violence in recent history, the most assaults n recent history and is such a rampaging buffoon I honestly think that Hitomi Tanaka or any other busty porn star with six weeks of training and an effort to do a good job will do better, and just for the record Hitomi Tanaka does not have a law degree either. Mike Schmidt will go down as the worst amongst everyone who has committed to the position and save for people trying to outclass his glittering capstone in the processes of legal failures upon a community I doubt it will ever be overcome. Under him, there has been a loss of prosecutors that Portland has ranked in the bottom third of prosecutors per 100,000 people according to KATU.

https://katu.com/news/katu-investigates/portland-multnomah-county-playing-catch-up-reducing-violence-da-says

Few people would like to talk about how the police are just blaming without remembering one thing. In the setup, we have as of this writing and the one that has been used for the past decade or so the last word on the police department is the mayor. We have also lost enough police officers that even the Daily Mail is picking up the story and even did an article six months ago expounding upon it.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10186699/Portland-PD-788-cops-lowest-number-1989-amid-violent-crime-surge.html

On top of these two parties in Portland’s power structure being as useful as a wet fart in a toilet paper shortage, we have to move on up to the governor of the state who could be outclassed by several things one may work within a day like a cheese sandwich, a pencil, the previously mentioned wet fart, and that is to name a few. Kate Brown could only be called a success if her goals were to destroy education, raise suffering and actively try to make everyone less skilled and more miserable. In that metric, she has actually done a half-decent job.

Now the most painful part, all of these people have been elected and the city commissioners including Wheeler have not one election but two. That means the people say their work and thought they are good for the ob and that makes me wonder. Do people know what these people do? Kate Brown has been in since 2015, JoAnn Hardesty since 2019, Schmidt was placed in after the previous DA retired, and Wheeler since 2017 after the previous mayor retired and then won his own election.


Mind you some may take all this and see all the democrats and think I am anti-democrat, I am not. I am however very much anti idiot and both of the big parties are filled with zealotry that their own beliefs are the proper ones. Let me explain, no, the party line is not the code to live one’s life Further away from that there is some issue in the citizens that people in some portion want to support all manner of action as long as it makes them feel good in the short term. This will wreak havoc in the long term and while some see that we have to get away from the soft feel-good way of voting and people need to spend a little time to figure out what needs to be done to go from where we are to where we want to be. Otherwise, the people we will have to blame the most for this are ourselves and while I have been trying through various things among everything else and I am doing more about it now.

I think it is clear that we need to get a better quality of the person in the office and we need to realize as citizens that doing something good sometimes will not be easy.

Things that would be more effective in office than the politicians and day listed above.

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Unfashionably Late

I had plans to get something out talking about the progress on projects and about how it all was building to seemingly more and more and it was going to be very warm and fuzzy. Except for those why may know the history of this blog may remember that this was originally established when due to family issues I was forced out with very little notice.

Then the plan was to do a pat on the back because despite learning of the homeless situation and learning what has built into it, there really wasn’t much to crow about. I was right. There are problems and people really dragged their heels to work on it. I will however still post this gif because some people really wanted to argue about how right I was.

Sometimes it does help when some people actually listen to what is being said.

With that out of the way now we have some issues, I have been trying to stay away from the homeless situation to some degree because I am no longer homeless, except something that has been sticking in my craw has come to be a full-blown annoyance and I feel I have to write about it here and that is I would expect someone from the portland scene to write about the situation and nothing has been done of it since then. I did not want to be the loudest voice trying to talk about my home city on this subject but it has been two full years since I wrote more in-depth on it and I feel that I need to again, especially with how the city has failed its citizens both in housing and not.

I am not going to say that I will be doing so many articles a day but there are some things I think need to be looked at and my place is as good as any. On top of all that it seems that no one really wants to talk about how the problem will need to be handled for the sake of as many people as possible. Right now, what I am worried about is a group of people in Portland trying to make decisions quickly to make up for years of inactivity and going too far on it making their efforts that much of complete failure.

Does this mean that I am stopping anything? Nope, in fact, provided I can get my list of smaller things done I will see how people can just be subbed to that as it seems some of you really like to hear about that subject.

You know the drill, stay strong.

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Writer 404 Error – Venom Spitting Mad

A dozen pages, thousands of words, most of which I am being less of an educator or explainer and more of a yelling yahoo. It didn’t sound right so I did not pull the trigger and because of things going on in my city that meant I was guilty by something I hoped those reading this would not be and that is overly bound to emotion. I am glad I didn’t post what I had written it wouldn’t have helped anybody and so we continue.

Where do we go from there? Plenty of things have come up that as either changed or through the venom I was spewing in my own anger that we still have not gone over.

We may as well start with how the homeless situation has changed, and it has been changed for the worse. Section 8 the usual last bastion of hope is enough to do if you have the time, but if you are single you must realize that you are at the bottom of the list no matter what gender you are. Section 8 goes to families first and of those minorities, disabled and veterans push them up higher. I would say do the paperwork to get on the list as it does not take very long, but do not expect it to save you.

Through the new presidency the amount cut from section 8 had not been replaced and states have not been able to figure out the problem per each of their borders. Portland has gotten much worse and you can count dozens of tents on your way to work in the city. It had a major homeless problem and between the rent issue, the pay issue, the pandemic and the lack of health care, mental care or beds for those who need it, the population has led to many turning into simply living in trash heaps or small tent towns that go down inlets or sidewalks.

Commissioners of the City and of the state have failed at the problem, and it is only getting worse so as we go forward make sure to best equip yourself with the skills, tools, tips, and tricks to help yourself get out of there.

Stay Strong and Stay Calm

If you like what I do please let me know, it does put a smile on my face to know people read these. There are things I have not done to these pages and soon their will be more then just these blog posts and I hope you enjoy at least some of them.

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Fight Club From Homeless Camps

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It is unfortunate but fighting does exist in the homeless community and as I said before, everyone of them will have something to make them be able to do more damage, a stack of quarters, a stick, a blade, a needle, mace just for some examples. Considering everything going on with the Portland riots, and don’t worry I got a bit of a thing on that coming later.

When people are passionate, on drugs, or think you are Satan and want to cut others short better be ready to learn quickly when and how to fight because you will get stuff stolen at least once. Camp or pack no matter how you have it if you are out long enough you will need to defend yourself or you may find your life made much more difficult as someone tries to separate you from your gear.

A few tricks that you need mentally will make any attempt a little better if you keep it in mind. Being threatened with a weapon you want to figure out how to control the situation. Doing so is first figure out your capabilities and where you need to run away, and where you need to stand and fight. This is something of a thought exercise and one that takes absolute understanding. I am not going to win a fist fight just as it stands. I am crippled I have nerve damaged and if one my extremities is flaring then I need to be. I do have a pretty good head on my shoulders so defending that I can usually think up something a little more brutal then a punch, a kick to the bollocks is a good start.

Rule two, this is not being graded. You are not in UFC this is what some people would call a street fight so by that let me go over the rules. Win, that is it, just win. Do what needs to be done to get the point across when you have to.

Number three, never feel like you need to fight everyone. Honey will get more then vinegar sometimes, and it very well could be the anger is based out of misunderstanding. Figure out what is the difference between needing to step up and seeing if there is another way, and for each person it will be different how it is graded but knowing is half the battle on that.

Four. Pick your gear. Often you want something light enough to be used without it being taxing or small enough it doesn’t take a whole lot of space. Try something that would be legal to own, because there is a chance the cops may be involved and you do not want.

Finally be aware that some times you will be in a no win situation. This is something where you need to keep your head on the swivel and to keep in mind figuring out where it is good to defend yourself and needing to bail. This may sound mental, like all of this will take more of your mental faculties then if you are just thinking you would roll up, arm up and get ready to start up against anyone.

Last. This is more in reference because of riots and people who may need to defend yourself. Do not under any position use a weapon that could make your life worse. Baseball Bats with glasses is a no-no and baseball bats with high heels is absolutely not good, and if you want to wear heels go for a low comfy flat, otherwise someone cant take the back of your she out and you go to the earth

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Chaos Never Changes

There is something to be said when the world and its circumstances are whipping about you like a gale and you know not only who you are, but can keep your bearings while the world around you loses theirs.

It is something so simple it is almost lost, it is the single thing you look at would never expect but having such things in your head giving you a path can make things easier when you are in a positions you never have been in before. From previous articles, the point of learning that will be important to only as a person but in whatever situation you are in. When you push yourself to the new and unknown situation you have that inner dialogue that gets you to actively guide with a moral compass, and it gets you to think in ways that some may deem out of the box. The more experience through the process the easier it gets for you to do so, and then we have where the new may not seem so new and you feel more in your element even when it isn’t the case.

Chaos has its place as does order and to find your best you need to be aware, your reaction to chaos will be how you can grow from it or shrink from it. This war of a letter is going to be something where we can all learn something to better ourselves, not because we are bad people but because no person is perfect and to learn is to grow.

The point right now is just to take things one thing at a time because no matter how much you want to think about everything the human mind can only focus on so much. Cut the problem down to sizable bits that are easier to manage and you can find yourself through it much easier then if you just looked at the big picture all the time. Look at the big when you want to find your best target, but after that just take to the path and go from there, one step at a time, and you will go far.

Even if you are not homeless you will find yourself growing much more when you try to do new things and grow as a person. That bad ass you always liked in the books and movies could very well be you after a couple of months of years and really applying this. Learn how to pack better, pick up some survival tactics, keep it all in the bag of tricks so when you need to get through the unknown you have just the trick for the occasion.

When you want to make the world better, just better, you need every trick you got to get it done. Everything how it is online and in the real world, without learning from the moral compass and trying to learn we will all fail.

Now, I have begun seeing this hashtag on twitter #generalrevolt and saying how the homeless situation is on the republicans. It is not. It isn’t all on the democrats either, its not big city or small town, its a problem. Unfortunately, we have all gotten caught up with using it as a political baton that we forgot how to handle it.

Just talk with people and stay strong and I will do the same, with how my city is going, I feel that I may need some of that strength you all have. I feel that this will be done the hard way because of people being so stubborn, and seeing what is coming in Portland currently.

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The Brink of Madness

One thing about this quarantine specifically is you need to find ways to use your time during this period or you will find yourself going cuckoo for cocoa puffs. People often do not know the certain strength can be found within sometimes more then you ever thought possible based on the simple admission that you survived it.

redesign

After Seth Rollins had his knee injury because I thought it fit. 

Going through this there will be times where you will be at wit’s end. Stretched to insanity but much like great martial artists this trains the mind, if you make it through the exercise. Considering how many of us are still locked down or barely getting out of it this could very well be something useful.

You learn what you want or are ready to do so with how comfortable you are in learning or acting on it. Trained eyes from nights trying to spy shelter from danger will notice flaws without guilt because that is simply what is needed to survive.

Body power used to much higher fatigue with a spirit to motion will curry you closer to goal then you thought possible and what scares a lot of people the most when you go to sleep despite everything you may be fatigued Pleasantries can be pushed much further apart with smaller steps feeling more momentous because it is progress.

Night after night of near exhaustion just carrying my bags having been shunned out in the cold. Doing everything from rationing food stamps to just trying to get the family to see the reason of the mistake they were making. (Hint: They never did)

What is the secret? How do you take homelessness, or even lock down, or any moment and keep focused?

First, you need to be okay with saying that something sucks. People need to be aware and to grapple with a situation honestly, and it is okay to say that you aren’t happy for one reason or another, this does not mean having a tantrum but just accepting the situation.

Next after that and expressing some emotion you need to create a plan, what do you need to do and what will be needed to pass the time. Skills you wanted to learn, abilities you want to practice, physical capabilities you want to train. These things are where you can sink your time and come out of it better and having it being in things you are excited to learn.

Establish a routine, you do not know how much you want that routine until you finally get started. Stick to the routine of bettering yourself and have moments to decompress, eat, and take care of yourself and just take it day by day until you finally get your bearings.

Do not lose yourself thinking about the future. Do what you can break down what is needed to make your time better and let it go day by day where you just worry in the moment and do not hassle yourself with the future until you can do something about it. Making the present as good as possible and enjoying the time is so simple but it is something that you need to keep in mind to make it through.

It is much easier to break down the problem.

Can you run a mile? What about ten steps? Five? You may not do a mile but you can do five steps again and again until you are done. That is the biggest trick, break it down to something small enough that you can easily achieve it and keep going. After that you will be able to come out of this better on the other side.

Sorry I didn’t have another one this week, my health has been quite crap still. Find your hobbies, grow your mind and stay strong.

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Winter’s Bite

The cold can be a bitter rival when you have no safe harbor and this is for homeless people as well as those enjoying the wilderness. Even for a mild winter hypothermia, frostbite, and pneumonia can put you down when you thought you were fine.

Here are some of the basics and some tips when dealing with the cold.

Portland 19The possibly biggest thing to worry about is staying dry as the winter brings down precipitation in various forms. Steam, snow, rain, and fog are some of the most common example and with a hard chill it can come back to haunt in multiple ways.

When you get wet it will be under conditions, that will as soon as it happens, make it so much worse. Adding weight to whatever moistened it could be the difference of making a nice wool sweater a scratchy, chilling, gripping maw that you have to escape from often shivering all the while.

Most tents will have outer coverings that are water resistant, but will have pieces that retain temperature. It is important to make sure you do not get cold water in your shelter whether it be a tent or just a covered sleeping bag, getting water in it may lead it to getting much heavier, so you will have more difficulty carrying it, or if it is cold enough for that water to freeze may damage it or even cause mold, and it can cause more damage to your lungs long term.

What happens if you get wet? Your clothes follow the function I set earlier for your shelter, but be ware your body is more capable of fighting the cold. Shivers are a sign where the body will try to make its own heat through subconscious processes, and this makes it much more difficult to stop if you already fatigued through hunger or effort. You will find that shivering will take it out of you faster. Deciding to go light, remove your glove only to find that hypothermia trying to have a party with frostbite doing the tap dance on your digits

Cover your hands and feet with as many layers as comfortable without losing movement and if you need to then double up on layers. The last thing you need is to take a chance because frostbite will come in the extremities first and work its way in, if you need more heat consider taking one of the hand warmers and putting them between the layers, I would wear two pairs of wool socks and when it was really bad I would get some hand heaters between them. All this can be boiled down to a proactive defense because it is much easier to keep warm then it is to get warm.

First and best option is always logically, but if there is none than being stealthy will be needed. Get a large mass of land without police presence or find a corner of a building that will work especially you get drenched to bad because liquid is not your friend in any cold situation when it is freezing, being wet may be signing your own death warrant. When you are in the forest or in the caves try to stay covered without keeping your back to the structure because you can lose a lot of heat that way. Stay dry, stay alive, water ,and other fluids can freeze on living flesh. That could be you reader, don’t

TL:DR: Stay dry, Stay covered, Dress in layers, Pack smart, Cover your extremities, Don’t over do it.

Stay warm and stay strong.

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