Hollywood Homeless Registry - Day 2
This morning I got up at 3am and then my team and I headed out to do our second day of homeless surveys. This time, I wanted to get down to the southern half of our area, which included a lot of the Media District BID area. The first people we came across were in a parking lot on Vine Street, and out of the three of them, only two wanted to participate. The third, a lady, was very upset with us for waking her up and she even told the other two people not to talk to us, and that the questions on the survey were "none of our business." Then we proceeded to Santa Monica Blvd. and throughout the entire BID area, we actually only found one homeless person and it was a guy I've known for a long time, named Lewis. I've had many run-in's with Lewis through my job, as at one point I was asked to circulate a petition to ask Lewis to 'stay away' from the businesses in the BID as he was known for harassing people. However, I had talked to him a couple times when I went out with the HERO team and found that he was a nice enough person who admittedly has anger management issues. So, I approached him casually and called out his name, and then told him I had met him before and I told him my name. He politely but firmly said he did not want to take the survey but that maybe if we came back tomorrow he would.
Later, Jenna and I talked to a guy on Santa Monica Blvd. who said he wasn't homeless, but that he was on drugs and was having trouble breathing. He said he called an ambulance, which came, but wouldn't take him to the hospital and the only advice they gave him was to "get off drugs." I called my BID security team and asked if they could bring him water and help him, and we waited with him until they showed up.
All in all, it was a pretty slow morning as we only interviewed a few people by the time we finished at 6am. I went home, took a nap, and then went into work.
I tried to come home and sleep a little more after work, but it wasn't happening, and I had to get up at 7:30pm anyway to get ready for Tristan's karaoke memorial that Ben had planned at C Frenz tonight. They used to go there for karaoke all the time so Ben thought it would be a fitting tribute. I hadn't been to that bar forever, as it's way out in Reseda which is why I never went to karaoke with them before, which of course now I regret (Ben had asked me several times). It used to be called Bananas, and it was actually the first gay bar I ever went to after I moved to Los Angeles, and it was very awkward because I was so shy and scared that I just sat at the bar and got really drunk. When someone finally approached me, I didn't know what to say, mumbled something about how I had just moved here from Kansas (in an explanation of why I was so quiet) and then I got up and left. As I was leaving I ran into a couple of lesbians and a transgendered woman and told them the whole story, even though they kept looking at me like they wanted me to leave them alone. I've come so far!
The first song I sang was "Ordinary World" by Duran Duran since it's such a great song about loss and pain. Then I sang "Viva Forever" by Spice Girls because I said Tristan would live forever in our hearts. It was a really nice night and the host was very good about mentioning Tristan and how much fun he had been, and how much he loved to sing. She opened the night by singing a Tina Turner song for him.
It got late and most everyone had already gone home except for Ben and I and finally we decided to call it a night. I was going to take a trip down memory lane and go drive by my first apartment over in Winnetka since I was so nearby, but Dylan called to say he was locked out of the apartment because he couldn't find his house keys, so I had to just go straight home. It was so late that I didn't go to sleep because I was afraid I wouldn't have been able to wake up at 3am if I did, so I just watched TV.
Hello 2010, goodbye junk!
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 115
"Notorious" by Duran Duran, cassette tape. This is a pretty good Duran Duran album, although the title track is not one of my favorite singles the band has put out. I really like a lot of the non-single tracks, "Hold Me" in particular. I definitely own this on vinyl, but it's one of the few Duran Duran albums I don't own on CD.
Later, Jenna and I talked to a guy on Santa Monica Blvd. who said he wasn't homeless, but that he was on drugs and was having trouble breathing. He said he called an ambulance, which came, but wouldn't take him to the hospital and the only advice they gave him was to "get off drugs." I called my BID security team and asked if they could bring him water and help him, and we waited with him until they showed up.
All in all, it was a pretty slow morning as we only interviewed a few people by the time we finished at 6am. I went home, took a nap, and then went into work.
I tried to come home and sleep a little more after work, but it wasn't happening, and I had to get up at 7:30pm anyway to get ready for Tristan's karaoke memorial that Ben had planned at C Frenz tonight. They used to go there for karaoke all the time so Ben thought it would be a fitting tribute. I hadn't been to that bar forever, as it's way out in Reseda which is why I never went to karaoke with them before, which of course now I regret (Ben had asked me several times). It used to be called Bananas, and it was actually the first gay bar I ever went to after I moved to Los Angeles, and it was very awkward because I was so shy and scared that I just sat at the bar and got really drunk. When someone finally approached me, I didn't know what to say, mumbled something about how I had just moved here from Kansas (in an explanation of why I was so quiet) and then I got up and left. As I was leaving I ran into a couple of lesbians and a transgendered woman and told them the whole story, even though they kept looking at me like they wanted me to leave them alone. I've come so far!
The first song I sang was "Ordinary World" by Duran Duran since it's such a great song about loss and pain. Then I sang "Viva Forever" by Spice Girls because I said Tristan would live forever in our hearts. It was a really nice night and the host was very good about mentioning Tristan and how much fun he had been, and how much he loved to sing. She opened the night by singing a Tina Turner song for him.
It got late and most everyone had already gone home except for Ben and I and finally we decided to call it a night. I was going to take a trip down memory lane and go drive by my first apartment over in Winnetka since I was so nearby, but Dylan called to say he was locked out of the apartment because he couldn't find his house keys, so I had to just go straight home. It was so late that I didn't go to sleep because I was afraid I wouldn't have been able to wake up at 3am if I did, so I just watched TV.
Hello 2010, goodbye junk!
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 115
"Notorious" by Duran Duran, cassette tape. This is a pretty good Duran Duran album, although the title track is not one of my favorite singles the band has put out. I really like a lot of the non-single tracks, "Hold Me" in particular. I definitely own this on vinyl, but it's one of the few Duran Duran albums I don't own on CD.
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