****NAMES CHANGED TO PROTECT PORTLAND'S STREET KIDS****
The biggest complaint I hear about the job readiness program is that it feels too much like school. This is what I'm most looking forward to.
Bernard warns me my dearly beloved ginger kids will be in JRT too. Guess those kids just can't get enough of me. He tells me he warned the instructor of our issues so she'll keep an eye on us. I head over to the program as soon as we're done talking and get there right in time. It is tremendously like school but I'm thrilled about this. I miss being a student. I miss learning.
The program times itself so that it lines up with the day program. We work on job applications and go over basic work place information that is almost juvenile but I understand not everyone has had job experience. Most of these kids have their GED at best so I try not to be irritable when it gets redundant. Instead I use it as time to crochet. I'm almost done with the baby blanket which is a good thing. There's only thirteen days left until Mr. Cire's birthday.
I have to miss afternoon class to see the ear doctor. I still have whatever it is OHSU got stuck in my ear stuck in my ear. It's a walk to get there and it's ninety outside but it's not too far behind shelter which is a nice surprise. The doctor has a chair that looks like a dentist chair and all kinds of crazy contraptions that I haven't seen before. While I wait for him to come in I hear the receptionist on the phone explaining a surgery to someone.
It makes my stomach turn and my body shudder. Just the word "surgery" is very much a dirty word to me. It's been almost a year and I'm still recovering from my ordeal. I get nervous that maybe the doctor won't be able to get whatever it is that's stuck in my ear and they'll have to cut me open again.
I don't need to worry. When the doctor comes in he uses his fancy contraption to look in my good ear. He says it looks perfect, almost too perfect. Then he looks in the bad ear. It's not ear wax. It's a Q-tip. He wets it and pulls it out with tweazers. It's all over. A month after OHSU screwed up my ear I can now hear again. Hallelujah. And all it took was two minutes.
I spend the rest of the day working on my housing application. I get it until it's absolutely flawless then print it. In shelter Director Lady decides to hold a meeting between me and the ginger clan. I use it as an opportunity to tear the ginger kids a new asshole. In my defense though I've been as mature as I can with this whole situation.
When I catch them staring at me I smile and wave. When I hear them talking shit about me I roll my eyes and ignore it. When I hear them talking loudly about how they are prioritized for transitional housing because she is pregnant I remind myself how pathetic it is to get pregnant just so you can have access to resources. I try to bite down my abortion recommendations I would like to give them. I've been a good little girl. My case manager has even commended me about how I've handled this whole thing. The poor guy is stuck with all three of us for case management.
So when I ask him for help getting a restraining order against them he tells me, "We'll figure it out if this is what you want to do." He finds the information online and tells me to ignore what they are saying about being prioritized. He lets it slip that they haven't been meeting with him like they're supposed to. It's just more to smile about. What I want most right now in this situation is to beat them into housing. Ginger Kid is always saying that shelter is supposed to be the place you come to work on getting out. He says that you don't have to be homeless if you work the program.
He's been in shelter longer than anybody in there.
I just want to throw it in his face that I worked the program and got out so he should take his own advice. Don't worry, I'll be nice about it. I'm thinking I'll just send them a thank-you letter once I'm out. I figure I owe them for keeping me motivated and helping Bernard prioritize me so I don't have to deal with their harassment anymore. I really owe them.
Director Lady has to shut down the meeting I'm so mean. I just needed to let it out.
In shelter I put it in sheet protects and bind it in a folder. I'm joking with my shelter group while I'm doing this and we're all having a good time. This gets the Ginger Kids all riled up but I'm having an excellent time with my friends and my application. I get to go back to school. I get to go into housing. My life is finally looking up.
--mm
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