Job Search Stuff, part 1 (9.26.15)

I applied to a bunch of modelling gigs, a couple of Office Admin jobs, and a small store recently. Please note that, because of the format of the blog, you may have to click on some of the pictures to read them properly.

This, I just got a response for today. Here is the original post (seen and responded to 9/26/15):

Here is my response to that post:

 (I also sent in some face and body shots, which I won't share here because redundancy)

And here is their response to me:

There are 4 other applications that have responses so far! Let me show them to you. I'll note that the editing to get everything into an acceptable frame was kind of clumsy, but I didn't cut anything out of the actual messages other than the pictures.

Firstly:

Original post, written 9/26/15. 

My impression of this post was that this guy's probably an amateur sketch artist. he seems more interested in the personal connection aspect than the artistic aspect, but I figure it can't hurt to throw my name in the pot. The "We can first meet for coffee" bit made me think, "oh, looks like he doesn't get many hits on OkCupid". Anyway, my response is below:

 [pictures expunged] As you can see, I wasn't kidding about the clumsy editing, but as I said, nothing except the pictures were removed.

His response:

 Oh, okay. Thank you, Thomas. Because I really thought, "Golly gee, what if he minds that I'm a PLUS size???!!!!" I tell people that for the sake of honesty about my body type, not so they can tell me whether or not they "mind". As for seeing a nude shot first, well, you didn't put that in your advert. And why would you imply that you'd leak the shot onto the Net? Very bad, Thomas. No cookie for you.

My response:

This is true. And I did send a couple pictures, which are floating around on one of my old Tumblrs somewhere anyway, so it's not like no-one on earth has ever seen them before and it doesn't make a difference to me if anyone sees them now. My impression was that he just wanted some fap material, but I don't care overmuch.

He did not respond (this entire conversation took place on the 26th). I'm not sure whether it's that my body type isn't what he's looking for, he's annoyed that I can't give full nudes, or he's annoyed that I have a husband. Either way, guys, this person was not the way to go.

Day to Day: Sleeping in Burnside (9.27.15)

On the one hand, it's a lot more open to houseless folk than some other parts of Portland. On the other hand, many of the houseless there are very hostile and territorial. Apparently, some of them steal other people's things when they're sleeping.

Not much got taken, just my purse, which had my ID, social security, CPR certification, some envelopes, some stamps, my index cards and small stationery, some hand sanitizer, a tube of lipstick, possibly a crochet needle and a pen. Most of those things can be replaced with a small bit of hassle. But the thing is, I was not expecting it at all.

See, in Northern California, we were a bit more wary, but we also grew to trust the community around us. No-one stole anyone else's stuff (not in Northern California, anyway; the Slabs were a different matter). People respected each other's privacy and property, and no-one told you, "You can't sleep here because I don't know you."

So you know. I felt safe taking my two sleeping pills (first time in a while I've done the full dosage) and just nudging my purse into our sideways cart. Apparently, that was a mistake, and you're supposed to sleep hugging your purse here.

That kind of sucks, really. I'm a little irritated. Now I've got to find the Social Security Administration and the DMV, and I go everywhere on foot. Oh and I have to memorise an address in Oregon so I can put it on my ID application -_- Meh.

I mean, you can tell that I'm not really angry about it. I was just sort of numb at first. Most of the things I actually value are scattered through various parts of our luggage, and they blatantly didn't go through all our stuff. They just saw "a thing that usually contains money" lying at the top of a pile and nabbed it. They didn't know that the debit cards are at their withdrawal limit, my credit's too bad for them to apply for a bank account in my name, and I don't carry cash in that purse. My spare Clipper card, with the pictures of my sister and me from high school taped to it, was in there, but no-one uses Clipper here and there was only about $8 left on it anyway. So it's not like they can actually steal my identity-- or not that it would do them any good.

I can go by my deadname for a few weeks before I get my new ID card, and it might even protect me a little bit. I don't much like it, but hey, at least I kept my passport in a different area than my purse.

The thing I'll miss most is the tiny little chibi-Loki card I made. It's about the size of an ID and it features an exasperated Loki saying, "What am I going to do with you?"

Day to Day Gallery: Hollywood and Burnside

Hello, everyone! I thought I might share some thoughts with you all about my life here.

Right now, I'm in the Central Library in Burnside. Yesterday we spent in Hollywood District. I ran around town answering an agency call that, you may remember, turned out to be a scam. On the way back, though, I popped into several stores and asked for employment applications.

Here are some pictures o--

Wait. I have pictures from the night before.

Okay, so, basically, we've been wandering around Portland looking for viable places to sleep and charge our stuff. I've been taking lots of tourist shit pictures and shall now present to you a gallery.

This is for a picture I sent to Loki to tell him I was on my way back from the "agency" yesterday.

In the face of the gluten-free fad, I guess.

We're thinking of attending Oktoberfest for the free food.

TINY LIBRARY! I LOVE TINY LIBRARIES!

Another free food event.

This was on the sidewalk. Pretty neat, huh?

LOOK AT THE COLOUR OF THIS HOUSE!

Inexpensive pets at the pet store ;_; Couldn't even afford one of them (though I doubt I could maintain them even if I could.)

Pet store had free coffee; I had two cups.

This was a pretty cool gimmick in a furniture store.

As I said, I went and applied to everywhere that had a "now hiring" sign. This was for a dance supply store. Kiiind of hope they don't actually look up Evindub Productions.

I love artistic graffiti and murals.

I got REALLY excited about this... but then it turned out to be just a lounge or dance hall -_- Ah, yes, this and the rest of the pics were taken today.

Lookit the cool bike parking space.

On our way to Burnside

Bees care.

YOU ARE A BANK. WHY DO YOU NEED TO BE FANCY?

And finally, Momo in honour of my brother ♥

We got a large haul of food yesterday. I'm quite happy about it, though much of it is highly perishable and needs to be eaten today. We weren't bothered while we were sleeping, another blessing, and the adult store across the street was very friendly and let me use their restroom in the morning. (They also had an excellent selection. Guys, if you're ever in Portland, on Sandy street, check out Fantasy. It's amazing. They have a large selection of male toys, plus-sized women's lingerie, WIRELESS RECHARGEABLE VIBRATORS!, tiiiiny pocket vibrators-- oh, it's heaven. But make sure you've got a few hundred dollars of spending money.)

Because we got so much food yesterday, it's actually too much to fit in our designated food bag, so the miscellaneous food is in the cart. I'm only here long enough to charge the phone and the pocket charger (so, basically four hours) and Loki's outside playing with his computer. We'll probably switch off before the full four hours so he can come in and charge his stuff while I watch the cart. We can't just leave the cart alone in this neighbourhood,but at least so far the other houseless seem to be pretty mellow. There's the odd random yelling person, but they don't bother us. I'm happy just as long as I'm near a power cord XD

Unfortunately, I forgot to borrow the headphones, so there's not much I can do in terms of uploading video today :'( Oh, well.

Scam Watch: Craigslist (big surprise)

Greetings, friends! Today, I am going to share with you my experience applying for modelling gigs on Craigslist. I'm doing the thing because why not? I search for gigs and reply to any that look interesting with my name, height, experience, and some shots. Anyway, one replied right away with an address and, well...

Here's the initial post (SLIGHTLY doctored to fit in frame):

Not much information, but it doesn't exclude plus-size models, so I send a response:

They didn't say what they wanted, so I didn't include my reel or any pictures. I figured if they weren't interested, they wouldn't bother, and if they were, they'd ask for more information.

A couple of hours later, I got the following response:

Now, I thought this was great! He didn't mention anything about a fee, so naturally, I assumed this might be free. I called the number, left a message, got a call back immediately, and wrote down the following information:

I did think it was a bit odd that he was asking me to come in the back door, but anyway, I went and called that number when I got there. It was a refreshing walk and there were some cute things to take pictures of (which I'll post later as Loki has the phone right now).

When I got there and was directed to the right office, there were two clients already in there, a man and a woman, plus David. David seemed a bit distracted, or maybe just multi-focused, as he was explaining how the gig worked to the woman.

Essentially, we'd be expected to pay $250 up front, then $10 for subsequent modelling classes, to be part of the agency. Please note that none of this was mentioned in the Craigslist ad or the email that followed. I called him out on it not being mentioned in the ad, and he said that he wasn't allowed to. That's all well and good, but why not mention it in the followup email? Why waste our time?

Throughout the whole encounter, he was also condescending. He told us "most people don't understand what copyright means, so I'm telling you right now" and "A lot of people think this is a scam, but it isn't, and they don't understand that things cost money. I'm not asking you to pay for our building, just for these modelling classes, and X-amount of expenses are already paid up, so you just need to give $250 today if you're interested." Oh and, "I often ask people if they're here as a job-searcher or a SERIOUS actor. I only want SERIOUS actors."

The woman asked if there was any way she could just pay from her first paycheck, and he explained that that's against Oregon law. Again, he should have mentioned the cost up front instead of having us go all the way there. He also insulted her, asking her if she's a g*psy (which, please note, is a racial slur that I'm uncomfortable using even in censored form, but I want you guys to know what I'm talking about) and saying "Because that's how they bargain." She didn't seem to take offense to it at the time, but when he answered his phone while she was talking, she looked much more affronted.

Also, on our way out (she said "Thank you for your time" and stood up; us other two followed her lead), I laughed aloud and said, "I just hitchhiked here from San Jose; I've got maybe 3 cents in my pocket right now." David took that opportunity to be insulting, again, and said, "Wow, I shouldn't let people from California audition. Maybe I should have asked over the phone how much you had in your pocket."

Scam, guys. Scam scam scammity scam. Because even if he couldn't share that information through Craigslist, there's no reason he couldn't share it through the followup email or over the phone.

Travel Blog: From Grants Pass to Portland!

As you can see in my videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU1eXsmegCY , namely), we have had to deal with some "authority" figures during our stay in Oregon so far. A surprising number of businesses are very hostile about poor people loitering and/or flying signs (which I have dubbed "spangephobia"). The police are nice, most business owners are nice, but they still have those rules, and it irritates me because, like, I'm sorry I'm existing near you as a person with no place to go. Unless you can offer me a job, though, or something tangible like that (I type at 110 WPM, thank you very much), please quit your bitching.

Anyway, we had some mishaps with the laundry. I accidentally put my inhaler through the washer, Loki put my teddy bear through the dryer, and I discovered all my socks were missing. On the upside, though, someone gave us $27 to get new socks, which we did :D

So, we went back to the shopping center where we'd been hanging out after doing our laundry. Loki bought a large bag of burritos and won me a bag of cinnamon twists. So he's a paying customer, right? We're sitting outside, minding our own business, eating burritos and talking about life, and a Taco Bell employee comes out and tells us that an irate customer called the police because we're hanging out, outside, on the lawn.

What...? WHAT IS THE LOGIC OF THAT? I mean, she was nice about it, but what the fuck was the Irate Customer™'s problem? We weren't bothering him. (I assume it's a 'him', a male preppy, because most women we've met have had some measure of compassion.) I wrote about it in my diary, which I'll excerpt for you here:

The shopkeepers and police here are nicer, but there are still spangephobic people who will complain to shopkeepers and the police and make them ask us to leave when normally they'd rather not even bother us. There are also businesses that make it clear upfront how inhospitable they are, with "No loitering" and "No panhandling" signs, and those are places I'd prefer to avoid. I don't want to deal with the police. I don't want them taking our names, no matter how nice they are about it. I just want us to get where we need to go, hassle-free.

One thing I did notice was that police were patrolling the shopping center a lot more than they were yesterday. There were also a few more spangers. Honestly, I don't understand spangephobia, especially against young, healthy travellers. Oh, you have a job making $50/hour to sit on your arse and do nothing? Good for you. Not everyone has your advantages and we shouldn't offend you just by existing as housefree individuals. I have a resume. It's letter-perfect. If you want to actually fucking help me by hiring me, then please, by all means, do so. Otherwise, stop acting like you're a Concerned Citizen™. You don't give a shit, you're selfish, completely uncompassionate, and have no right to complain about our presence if you won't do something to help us.

Another thing I hate is when people pretend that they're well-meaning, but they actually don't give a fuck and they're just trying to pass us off as someone else's problem. They won't listen to our individual situation; they just throw shelter pamphlets at us. We're a married couple, okay, we're not sleeping in "men's" and "women's" sections at a shelter. We just want a safe, quiet, out of the way area to set up our sleeping bags without fucking worrying about wakeup curfews or cops or disgruntled corpgov wage slaves.

And that about sums it up.

Later that day, we got a ride with some other travellers to Merlin, and after that, we got a ride to Portland. It was initially going to be to Salem, but it turns out that our driver, Jude, only had to make a pit stop there and then he drove us up to Portland. My friend Alys (an awesome writer and social commentator who wrote a subversion of Twilight-like books called Sacred Blood and runs a blog where she writes essays on problematic elements of Fifty Shades of Grey) gave us some tips on where we can camp and told us that the job economy is... not really that promising due to the large influx of people who have come here for work. Oh, well, hopefully we can still find our niche.

Note that we are not really that interested in "finding jobs" in the traditional sense. We would like to do things that actually contribute to the world around us and to travellers like us. We would like to further our own research and projects without becoming part of the corp-gov-wage-slave machine. So not being able to find work really isn't that big a problem for me XD

Anyway, you probably want pictures, right? So here you go!

Us on our way out from Grants Pass

Loki holding up a sign for a ride

Me in my new socks. I love this aesthetic; it makes me feel strong.

At Burnside Skate Park.

Travel Blog: From Orick, CA to Grants Pass, OR

On September 19th, we made it to Orick, a tiny little town with a tiny little corner store with a very nice staff. We spent the last of our food stamps there, but I did get some hummus (very good for my cough) and, with cash, some Benadryl. I wrote a lot of silly fanfic stuff that day, which I may or may not share. The owner of the corner store let us use the power outlet in her office and the bathroom whenever we needed to.

We asked everyone who came through if they were going north. Most were going south and the few who were going north were packed to the gills. We were just about to give up at closing time, and were packing to leave, when someone pulled up in a large van and they said they
1) were going north and
2) had room for us.

Loki was so excited, he gave the guy (Joey) our last $3. It was a pretty comfortable ride. Joey's friend Hailey gave us a couple of very nice-scented patches as promo for her other friend's band, and it turned out that the drive to Oregon was really short, only a couple of hours.

Before I tell you about our time in Oregon so far, here is a brief list of California cities we liked and disliked.

LIKED:
Berkeley
Richmond
McKinleyville
Lafayette
El Centro
Niland/Slab City.

Those cities are all very permissive, friendly, and generous.

DISLIKED:
Brawley (cute lil town in Imperial County that thinks it's a real city)
San Jose (RAIDS! RAIDS EVERYWHERE!)
San Francisco (impossible to spange, cops cracking down on "homeless *~problem~*")
Eureka (BUMBLEFUCK TOWN WITH ASSHOLE COPS AND MOST BUSINESSES DO NOT ALLOW THE PUBLIC TO USE THEIR RESTROOMS.)
Oakland (uninhabitable shithole, according to Loki)
Los Angeles (lol same)

On September 20th, we woke up somewhere on Redwood Ave in Southern Oregon, a bit south of Grants Pass. We walked for a while and I really enjoyed the scenery. We got a ride to Rogue Community College and hung out there for a while until some prep called Security, who was very nice and said he wouldn't have bothered us if someone hadn't bothered him. Walked a bit more-- a lot more, actually, and by sundown we came across a Pentecostal church, which excited me to no end because that's my denomination. I made it in for the evening service to give thanks and a few people prayed with me and for me. We slept outside a Salvation Army.

On September 21st, the lump in the side of my throat had almost completely cleared up. It's gone now. I still have coughing fits triggered by sugar, but that night when we were praying, my throat actually did heal up a bit, so I'm quite pleased about that.

A volunteer saw me sitting there with our stuff while Loki was going to the food bank for food and she gave me some free tampons (yay!) and well wishes. We spanged outside of WalMart for like ten minutes, which got us a couple dollars and a bag of pretzels, so we had snacks and we were able to buy rubbing alcohol to fuel our can-stove. The rubbing alcohol is cheaper here, but also comes in smaller bottles. We bought 2 for about the price of what 1 would cost back in California. It was REALLY hard finding a good place to sleep.

Some particularly annoyed dock workers for Big 5 Sporting Goods woke me up and shooed me away on the morning of September 22nd, but the rest of the day went well. We spanged for enough money for food and laundry. There was a festival in the afternoon that Loki assumed was a Christian festival and he was afraid to get any closer because of how he'd stand out, but it turned out that it was an addiction recovery celebration festival. They had free food, free pens, free haircuts, free massages-- it was great! I got there at the tail end of it, so I got a whole box of pastries.

When I came back from the festival, Loki was chatting with a man who's opening up a youth center and wanted ideas from us. Oh yes, and also, I was able to buy some yarn to continue knitting my shorts (since I ran out of clothes before laundry day) and some scratch paper pads (since actual sketch pads are ridiculously expensive). The man talking with Loki bought us some food and offered us a ride to a mission, but their shower was closed and Loki and I would have been forced to spend the night sleeping apart, so... nope, we just stayed in the area and, with permission, loitered by an Arby's and watched Lord of the Rings.

After Loki went in to ask permission to loiter, someone came out and gave him $20 just for being a polite young man.

Today, we're doing laundry. Actually, it's just about finished. The laundromat has Wi-Fi and outlets, so that's how I'm able to be with you today, and I'm just so happy about it :D Oregon is great. We don't know if Portland will be as hospitable as Grants Pass, but this is amazing and we're very happy to have made it this far.

Pictures from our trip!

Arcata and McKinleyville had gorgeous scenery:

and then we got to Orick:

The bathroom at the Orick convenience store had some really cute, kitschy decorations. I am a fan of kitsch:

There was also a map, which we thankfully wound up not needing:

Oregon so far!:

This is the little pocket angel I bought at the first thrift store John and we went to. She broke :'(

This is me after my free haircut! I'm not trying to look angry or menacing; I'm just tired XD