(click pic)My G.P. (General Population) roommate Antony and I both have Wednesdays off from work. Yes, we live in a homeless veterans shelter, but you still have to pay rent in a homeless veterans shelter. So we work. Me as an off-white security guard in an Asian neighborhood and Antony as the only black man in an Arab airport taxi security company.
This Wednesday, Antony bought six science fiction movies on DVD and we had a science fiction marathon. We loaded our little illegal dorm refrigerator with sodas, stuffed our unapproved microwave with popcorn and hot dogs, went down to the Vets Store on the first floor and stocked up on chips and dips and all manner of snacks and from 7 in the morning until 7 at night, we pigged out on our bunks watching movies like “The Core”, “Dreamcatcher”, “Signs”, and “The Ring”, all the while celebrating our ability as G.P.s to do so.
(Down in the Veterans In Progress Program, vets are not allowed to be in their own rooms from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., but Anthony and I have 'graduated'.)
“The Ring”: brrrrrrrrr. That was a scary movie. I think the water well scene was stolen from a movie called “The Changeling”, but the images shown on the “killer videotape” were . . . well, killer. Those spooky images are still lurking around in my mind. Brrrrrrr.
Antony and I get along great. Antony sees me as the luckiest homeless vet he’s ever met and I think he’s studying me to find the source of all my good fortune. He says that people around me who I like seem to have good luck and people around me who I don’t like seem to have bad. He’s noticed his own luck dramatically improve since he moved in to 404B with me. My homeless attorney agrees. I AM 'Topshelf', the Ghetto Riley, as Anthony has deigned me.
You know, now that I think about it, I HAVE had a lot of blessings. If I’m lucky, it’s ‘reflexive’ or ‘boomerang’ luck. If I get food poisoning, I meet a really cute nurse at the hospital (by the way, this IS going to happen to me in the near future if I keep eating that delicious “dumpster” sushi my homeless attorney keeps bringing me).
If I get a flat tire, it’s right in front of a tire store that’s having a sale. If my car blows up, it’s out in the desert where I can safely walk away, not in the middle of heavy traffic where I could get killed.
I guess it’s all how you look at things that makes them good or bad. I’ll tell you one thing, though. Considering my vets’ shelter population of recovering crackheads and paroled prison felons, I sure was lucky to get a good roommate like Antony. I could've got some psychotic crackhead felon who didn't like science fiction.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration, outsourced homeless services, homeless veterans, veterans shelter, homeless, veterans, U.S. Vets, L.A. Vets, U.S. military, general population, airport security, L.A.X., Los Angeles Airport, science fiction, Vets Store, The Core, Dreamcatcher, Signs, The Ring, Veterans In Progress, Revver, videoblogging, video arcade, funny videos, The Changeling, ghetto Riley, ghetto, blessings, boomerang luck, dumpster, dumpsterdiving, dumpster sushi, my homeless attorney, recovering crackheads, paroled prison felons, good roommate, psychotic crackhead, jarvis, marquisdejolie
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