Tag Archives: Stewardship

o Job search update, 12/01/14

December 1, 2014Get on your feet, Job search/Job prospectsStewardship, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED IN NOVEMBER 2014:

Sr. Administrative Assistant — Transamerica

SEE ALSO:
Announcement: I’m working!
Announcement: I’m not working after all.

POSTSCRIPT, 2014-12-06:

Several weeks ago, I decided to become pro-active in the specific search for work as “William Tell.” As this blog required some enhancements in order to serve its role as a tool for marketing myself under that name, I updated the Playlist to include audio copies of all the items listed. My next project on the blog is to upload Stuart Chase’s Guides to Straight Thinking, which is mentioned on my Resume.

An interesting twist occurred when I began the latter work: I couldn’t find the copy I had made of that text anywhere. Not on my flash drive; not in my e-mail archives; except one, an attachment to an e-mail I sent DLD in 2006. Who ever would have guessed that that e-mail, which probably seemed so trivial at the time, could prove to be so important to me now? It has all the material. The source files in Word date from 2004-2005, which indicates how long I have held these ambitions for William Tell.

I invested $110 in a digital recorder, which is crucial to my being able to make my demo tapes. In other words, I spent that money on a tool to advance my own career. At this point, it may be well to note some things on which I did not spend that $110:

• liquor
• weed
• lottery tickets
• clubs
• cooch
• grillz
• bling
• swag
• bail bonds
• crap games

I anticipate devoting one day a week to my job search in radio. Initially, that one day will go principally to creating my demo tapes. After that, I’ll have to find other pertinent ways to use that time. In the meantime, my posts on this blog may be shorter and-or less frequent.

* When you can’t get what you want

September 17, 2014Get on your feet, Motivations, The Way of PeaceChoosing feelings, Choosing thoughts, Delaying gratification, Forego, Get on your feet, Here - Now - Can, Sacrifice, Stewardship, The Homeless Blogger, Will habitsWilliam Tell

(Originally published July 5, 2013 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reblogged 2019-12-19.)

There is a song from The Sound of Music that relates; it concludes, “… I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad.”

Wednesday morning I stood outside McDonald’s having my last smoke before leaving. I considered that as soon as I got to the library, I’d need to count my pennies and plan spending for the rest of the week. I pondered whether or not to buy a soda on my way there. I’d had some unusual spending earlier in the week, and faced some more unusual spending in connection with the 4th of July (The library’s closed.). The wisdom of having bought or not bought a soda at this time would depend on the outcome of that planning.

Continue reading * When you can’t get what you want →

* A simple lesson

September 10, 2014Dependency, Get on your feet, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, Qabala, SqualorAutonomy, Chaos, Delaying gratification, Infantilism, McDonald's #2763, Sacrifice, Stewardship, The Chaos Factor, TohuWilliam Tell

(Originally posted June 22, 2013 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reblogged 2019-11-14.)

My normal day runs as follows. After breakfast at the mission, at 5:45 I head for McDonald’s, where I drink coffee ($1.06) and do my prayer routines. Around 9:15, I head for the library, stopping at a convenience store en route to buy smokes ($2.75) and a soda ($1.69). From 10:00 to 2:00 I’m online at the library. When my time’s up, I go to the Wi-Fi café, write in my diary and have another cup of coffee ($1.00). Then it’s back to the mission, where I have to pay admission ($3.00).

Sunday mornings, I am normally left with bus fare to church ($1.60) and pennies. I meet my patrons at church and obtain an allowance for the next week.

Continue reading * A simple lesson →

* The power of presence

May 21, 2014Get on your feet, The Way of PeaceChoosing feelings, Choosing thoughts, Here - Now - Can, Prayer, Presence, StewardshipWilliam Tell

(Originally posted 08/15/13 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reblogged 11/29/18.)

[Note, 08/15/13: Releasing this now as I will have another post on similar topics in the very near future.]

Wednesday afternoon 07/03/13 I stepped into the shower and said, “OK, what will I think about?” The answer came, “Think about nothing. Give yourself completely to this activity, this experience.”

And at once, for the first time in weeks, I felt the boost that comes from conserving one’s energies, when they are no longer being drained by attention to things distant from here and now and what I myself can do.

This is the power of presence.

[Notes to follow up on in the future:
– Scott Morrison
– Brother Lawrence: silence; feelings
– Forgive us our trespasses
– Take no thought
– The needle’s eye
– Just for today
– Serenity prayer
———
– Be here now
– Wherever you go, there you are
– Conspiracy Theorists: America’s Lost Sheep?
– Was There a Jesus? If So, What Was He Like?]

* “Just how bad do you think you’ve got it?”

May 10, 2014Bible, Get on your feet, Homelessness, Poverty, The Way of PeaceAttitude of gratitude, Bootstraps, Life force, Parable of the Talents, StewardshipWilliam Tell

At the shelter, we’re required to attend chapel for an hour every night. I normally find it just as edifying as a traffic jam.

The group from “Guilford” presents on the fourth Monday every month. About a dozen of them come. Their leader is J_____ R__. Different ones preach in different months. When J_____ R__ preaches, the message is always the same.

“Just how bad do you think you’ve got it?”
Continue reading * “Just how bad do you think you’ve got it?” →

* Easily breakable

May 7, 2014Bible, Get on your feet, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, SqualorParable of the Talents, Stewardship, Why have nots have notWilliam Tell

(Originally posted 08/25/12 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reblogged 09/13/18.)

06/25/12 I had to buy another flash drive.

I was downloading the music for The William Tell Show. I backed up the .mp3 files by attaching them to e-mails to myself. Problem: some files, such as the first movement of Tchaikovski’s violin concerto, exceed 25 MB and can’t be attached to a Yahoo! e-mail. What to do? Get another flash drive, to back up just those files.

My current flash drive consisted of an aluminum sleeve wrapped around a flat plastic stick. The stick had the USB contacts at one end, and the other end was shaped into a hook. By moving the sleeve back and forth, you could either expose the USB contacts for use, or hide them and expose the hook, to clip the drive onto, say, a key ring for storage.

The clerk offered me a different kind, with no hook or loop or anything that would let me attach it to something for storage. I don’t want to carry the drive around loose in my pocket or bag. So I asked for another like the one I already have. She said people have had trouble with those because “they’re easily breakable.” She said the staff at the Public Computer Center had seen this so much that they asked for the new kind instead.

I smiled and said nothing.

The drives aren’t easily breakable. Rather, some people easily break them.

Continue reading * Easily breakable →

* Issues with upcoming posts

January 29, 2014Get on your feet, Homelessness, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, Squalor, The Way of Peace, The William Tell ShowOn air talent, Self care, Stewardship, Talk radio, Talk show host, The Homeless Blogger, Wealth creationWilliam Tell

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 →

o Jacob’s Ladder 12/21/13

December 21, 2013Get on your feet, Homelessness, Jacob's Ladder, Poverty, SqualorArrogance, Focus, Generosity, Gossip, Greed, Infantilism, Prayer, Selfishness, Stewardship, Turn the other cheekWilliam Tell

Prayer for myself often takes the form of imagining myself climbing up a ladder out of a pit, the pit being my current circumstances of poverty and homelessness. Getting out at the top represents a return to the normal life of the American mainstream. I didn’t start with a ladder in there, but I decided to add one to symbolize the various structures and tools that others have made available to me — and eliminate the possibility of clawing at loose earth.

Here begins a list of “rungs” on the ladder that I’ve become aware I need to “overcome.” Each one takes effort, exertion, to get over. I will update this list from time to time as I learn of others.

1.	Fear of the unknown. See From my diary: Learning to pray.
2.	Jealousy of others who seem to be prospering more quickly than I am. Details here.
3.	Times of despair. I guess, from time to time, they’ll happen. Details here.
4.	Incidents of utter selfishness. Details here.
5.	Moments of unusual hardship and sacrifice. Details here.
6.	Cut loose the losers. Details here.
7.	Smoking. See posts tagged “Smoking”.
8.	Shame. See “(3) Baby steps.”
9.	Attributions of arrogance, selfishness and greed. Continue reading o Jacob’s Ladder 12/21/13 →

* Smoking, part 1

October 31, 2013SqualorFree will, God's plan, God's will, Integrity, Parable of the Talents, Smoking, Stewardship, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

(Originally published 09/28/13 at Trojan Horse Productions.)

(Saying “part 1” just in case. There may or may not be a part 2, etc., in the future.)

My patronage has changed, and as a result I must quit smoking. As of 09/27/13, I have not managed this very well. As a result, I’m now in a terrific financial bind.

Forget about not having any more money for smokes; in this coming week, for financial reasons, I may have to spend several nights at a much less desirable shelter; where I don’t want to use the bathroom, haven’t figured out how to shower, and clean clothes aren’t available every day. Then there are the issues of getting prescriptions filled and buying disposable underwear, of which I’m almost out.

Motivation doesn’t matter when one’s facing necessity. However, I have had ample reasons for motivation:
Continue reading * Smoking, part 1 →

* Gimme

October 25, 2013Bible, Dependency, Homelessness, Poverty, SqualorDependency, Homeless, Infantilism, Stewardship, Takers v. Makers, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

Proverbs 30:15: “The leech has two daughters. Their names are ‘Gimme’ and ‘Gimme.’”

———— ♦ ————

Saturday 05/12/12, 3:00 p.m. — I tired today of strangers asking me for things when I was on smoke breaks out in front of the library.

Other homeless guys have talked with me about this in the past, expressing similar frustrations.

People talk about “What goes around comes around,” but when it comes to this stuff, I don’t see it. In my years in the ’hood (Barclay area, 2006-2011) I got the definite impression that it’s always the exact same individuals asking, asking, asking, and the “blessing” never gets passed on, nor do they ever give back.

They’ll bleed you dry.
Continue reading * Gimme →