I came to belief in astrology by a very strange route.
MY “MONTHLY”
Sometime between 1985 and 1995, I became aware that, for years, roughly once a month I had faced a personal crisis; and some of these were pretty severe.
Continue reading * Why I believe in astrology
(Originally posted 05/27/12 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reblogged 04/12/18.)
Sunday, May 27, 2012
I wasn’t going to mention this, but then this happened at the shelter.
This might not have happened at a different shelter.
For about a week, this young boy’s been coming here who keeps one hand on his pants at all times. If he didn’t, they’d fall down completely. Normally his drawers are all showing.
I don’t know how many times they asked him to fix his pants, but tonight they finally told him if he doesn’t fix his pants he can’t come in.
If you wear your pants hanging off your butt to put yourself outside the mainstream, congratulations.
It works.
You’re not welcome in the mainstream.
You may not be welcome at the homeless shelter, either.
(Originally posted 05/19/12 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reblogged 01/18/18.)
Plan that, after you obtain your high school or college diploma, you will work continuously until you retire.
At all costs, do not allow yourself to become completely jobless.
It’s much easier to find a job if you’ve got a job already. Among people who make hiring decisions there is tremendous prejudice against people who are jobless. And any gap in your employment history will provoke pointed questions in an interview.
If you find yourself in an unacceptable job situation, do your best to endure in that situation until you find another. Don’t leave the first job until you have found the second. Otherwise you’ll not only have no job, but you’ll also have no income.
Walking off a job, the several times I did so, was the one specific thing I did that has the most to do with my becoming homeless.
(Originally posted 05/18/12 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reblogged 12/28/17.)
To get from Point A to Point B, you must move.
At this moment, as I write this, I am living in a pit.
I am homeless.
I face a choice: do I want to get out, or stay here?
Continue reading * Work
Adam Grant, The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman, An Antidote to the Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence
Dilemma: a hammer can be used either to build a house or to destroy priceless heirlooms. Possessing the tool of emotional intelligence does not mean one will use it favorably. What makes the difference?
In anticipating this post, I searched for a traditional term for “emotional intelligence.” I decided that the traditional term for it is wisdom. The Old Testament consistently refers to people who have emotional intelligence as “wise.” Those who lack it, it calls “fools.”
In the previous post, we saw that emotional intelligence, or wisdom, is a major determinant of personal effectiveness and success in life; in short, of prosperity. To the extent one wishes all people to prosper, it seems desirable that all people be wise.
In short, the wise prosper.
But the wise aren’t necessarily good, and the good aren’t necessarily wise.
Continue reading * The dark side of EQ
Bookmarks:
Job search update
Crisis for D.C. homeless families
(Composed 2014-02-01)
Things are moving full steam ahead on my application for a Secretary II position with the City, as I’ve probably described in previous posts. The hours are 8:30-4:30, which under normal circumstances will let me get to the shelter in time to (1) actually get in and (2) take a shower each day. I will need to phone the office Monday morning 02/03/14 to confirm that all’s in line, and possibly find out a start date.
Continue reading * Job search update, 02/03/14; and other news
In the process of “recycling” old posts on Wednesdays, I am now coming upon a number of posts with which I’m not completely comfortable. I probably would not write them, now or in the future, the way I did at the time; but I’m also still not sure exactly how I’d write them differently.
At the time I wrote those posts, I supposed my homelessness would be brief, and William Tell would soon enough become a public figure able to speak to what he saw as the pressing social issues. My homelessness continues eighteen months later, and my perceptions of those issues have changed.
Continue reading * Issues with upcoming posts
When I get my own place, there’s no need to move in all at once. I can do it in stages; the shelter’s still available. And this will make less for me to have to carry at any one time.
So, here’s my daydream of the sequence of different things I can buy on different occasions. Lucky for me, I can probably buy all these items at Family Dollar. I don’t plan to be extravagant, but with the income I’ll have, relative my needs, there’s no need to be cheap, either.
Continue reading * Shopping list
The mission principally serves two groups.
First (in too many ways) are the “clients,” 450 men enrolled in the 12-month residential drug-and-alcohol treatment program; for which reason they are commonly called “programmers.” Each of them has a permanently assigned bunk and some form of closet space, and can use the mission as a mailing address.
I need to keep in mind that, but for the program, most of them would be homeless.
Second (in too many ways) are the “guests,” no more than 60 homeless men on any day, who are provided accommodations overnight; for which reason we are commonly called “overnighters.” We must vacate the premises no later than 6:00 a.m. daily, cannot leave anything behind, and cannot return until 3:00 p.m. We cannot use the mission as a mailing address.
Note the distinction between “clients” and “guests.”
At the end of the work day one day last week, I walked toward the parking lot carrying my two heavy bags. Programmer W____ P__ came toward me, walking in the opposite direction, and said, “Bill, you look like you’re taking off for the weekend!”
I said to myself, even programmers don’t get it.
He can take off for the weekend; I can’t. I have nowhere to go and nowhere to come back to.
The way he saw me is the way I look all the time.
(Originally posted 05/10/12 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reposted 10/05/17.)
Links within this post:
The Gospel vs. George Will
Divisions in South Sudan’s liberation movement fuel war
Phil Robertson
Housing update — important, personal
David Farenthold – Attempts to reduce wasteful government spending show austerity is a hard nut to crack – Dec. 28
George F. Will – 2013’s lesson for conservatives – Dec. 28
Farenthold asks what’s best for the country. Will asks what’s best for conservatives. That difference illustrates what Trojan Horse Productions and The William Tell Show are all about.
I will develop that at length in a later post.
Continue reading * The Gospel vs. George Will, and other stories
The Homeless Blogger 