Roland Yeomans's Blog, page 59

A very INSECURE WRITER: an IWSG Post

Roland here again.

Age has gotten to my car now. 

I will have to deplete the rest of my savings to buy a replacement.

and try to find some way to get what few belongings I have left to my new apartment come January 6th ... 

if my center will let me stay that long.

Thanks to those of you who gave to me on PayPal ...

I was able to pay all the horrendous fees and deposits to lease a new apartment for January 6th!

And if I can't keep from being re-infected by this new surge of Covid as I walk down the germ-infested hospital halls

My blood center will have to evict me from my little room in its back ...

No place to shower ... 

sleep in my car until the police arrest me ... brrr.

I am sorry if my blog of late has become a litany of non-stop whining.
Try living it! Ouch!

With my laptop destroyed, all that I had written on my latest novel is gone.

With my seven book shelves destroyed and their 1000 books with them, my research is back to square one.

When my latest audio book, my doing a Charles Dickens A CHRISTMAS CAROL French Quarter Style comes out ...
Would you consider buying it and perhaps giving it to a friend?
I could use a Christmas Miracle right now!

THANKSGIVING

 "Hard times do not change you, son. They reveal you."

- Samuel Clemens

You ever talk to your characters? I do. 

All the time ... especially during this season of homelessness.

Mark Twain cuts me no slack ... but he does make me smile ... laughing is too hard these days,

"Why did you lose your home, Roland? 
So that you can find a new one. 
So that you can see the concept "HOME"  with new eyes and extra colors.  
And the people around you will be seen differently, too. 
Coming back from a loss is not the same as never having lost ... 
it is the caterpillar blinking its eyes as it emerges from the cocoon."  - Mark Twain
Wherever you find yourselves, my friends, during this holiday season ...
May the colors, sounds, and "little" blessings come more alive for you.

STILL ALIVE; STILL LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO LIVE

 

You're reading a very insecure 

writer right now!

I do not know how much longer

my blood center will let me stay.

They have been gracious 

to let me stay this long.

Poor Midnight is still being boarded.

Every apartment I check is still being renovated.

Those about to become available

are charging $1800 a month for a 1 bedroom, 

sometimes that much for a studio!

Except for those in crack neighborhoods!

The rent controlled units, 

still being repaired, 

insist I make no more 

than $29,000 a year GROSS.

(Including my Social Security)

If I lose my job,

then with only my S.S.

I would not make the 

minimum  required.

Sigh.

Say a prayer for me, will you?

HOMELESS BUT STILL A FRIEND

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LSR8HSD/
Being homeless makes it near impossiblefor me to market my own audio bookabout to come out.

But Heather is a good friend, and I just have to help as best I can.
Amazon bullocked her pre-order --releasing her newbook NOW --
so Heatherhas now offered the novella that launched thiswhole series for only 99 cents!

How neat is that?
Would you considerbuying both booksnow?

IF YOU WERE WONDERING

 

As you know from my last post. 

I was alone at the center 

when Delta hit.

When the power went out that night, the generator kicked on, but did not feed power into the center.

I called the Safe-in-Shreveport Generator Supervisor to inform him of the situation.

He asked me to climb the storm wall one-handed with a flashlight in the other, fighting 96-110 mph winds, 

Take off the middle panel one handed, 

put my hand into a running generator as torrential rains poured into it through the open panel,

and turn the Toggle Switch, whatever the heck that is, 

from Auto to Run, while standing on top of the storm wall, 

trying not to be flung off the slippery stone by the tremendous winds.

"Trust me," he said.

He said that three other times in other suicidal orders during the weekend.

I politely refused each time any of his orders seemed hazardous to my health.

An inspection group is coming this Wednesday to inspect our center, 
whose head took a week's vacation during the hurricane, 
leaving me alone to handle situations for which I was not trained.
The team may have words for me, and I may not be here Thursday ... 
but I will be alive ... 
and out on the streets.
Say a prayer for me, will you?

LAST MAN STANDING

 

I feel a bit like Gordon at Khartoum ...

though it happens to be hurricane winds and water surging towards me.

Or more like HOME ALONE!
Since I had nowhere to go, my blood center graciouslyallowed me to rideout the storm here.



The flood walls are up,and I am safely inside ...

unless the storm surge is higherthan they are!

Say a prayer for me and Midnight, will you?
Once again we areseparated.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G8VMMYD/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=french+quarter+requiem+audio&qid=1597932635&sr=8-1

My excellent narrator,Scott O'Dell,

deserves to be heard and appreciated.
I am privileged to have an award-winningtalent doing my book!
Would you considerbuying his and myaudio book?
If I survive,I would like himto feel appreciated enoughto do its sequel.

ONCE AGAIN in the path of a Killer HURRICANE

 

 Heck of a birthday present for the 9th!

I could use a prayer or two.
I have nowhere to run to.

If the city is ordered to evacuate,Midnight will be expulsed from the vet!
What to do then?Lifeshare will not accept him with me.
I AM TIRED OF HURRICANES.

WARZONE Living

 

Life is still a war-zone affair.

Lake Charles is not quite as bad as the city of which I wrotein the above book unless ...
You are out after curfew and look like you have more than the homeless predator who spies you alone.

I am down but not out.
Still apartment-less, Midnight-less.
[image error]
He's boarded at thevet's now ...
for as long as I canafford it.
He had to get a completecheck-up and get caughtup on all his shotsbefore the vet wouldtake him.
I don't know what hurt more,Midnight's bottomor my wallet!



But what is within my ability, I do:
I deliver needed blood to those who desperately need it ...
like my supervisor still fighting for his life,though just out of the
intensive care unit.
Covid-19 is a true hazardfor rare blood couriers ...
And you can catch it twice!

We do not know how precariously our lives are balanced on the razor's edge ...
until life removes the support we took for granted.
Appreciate the blessings around you, my friends.

HOMETOWN HERO

We just had a blood drive entitled HOMETOWN HERO.
Only 6 donated but they are heroes to me.

Each day is Christmas Dayif we choose togive more than we take.

The ghost of Mark Twain reminds me that
"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up."

We both still miss Midnight.
He snickers: "A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way!"
Need a Hometown Hero?
Mark suggests to be one yourself:
"Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
Have a great new week.

Am I Silly?

 

On my blood runs to Beaumont and all around Louisiana, 

I am currently listening to Robert Rossmann's wonderful narration.

Is that silly of me?

As the ghost of Mark Twain says: "Son, he makes you sound good!"

He misses "Bambino" as he calls Midnight.  

Me, too. 

Maybe a miracle will happen and we will be reunited soon.