287 posts
Princess-zinnia - Untitled - Tumblr Blog
power’s been out since early yesterday morning and i have nothing but my work laptop, harrow the ninth and the long way to a small angry planet to keep me sane
Holy shit, I have a blog! I have a safe space in this hell scape of couch surfing!! IMMA USE IT!
So based on my recent misadventures, imma call this
“What I was prepared for, and what I wasn’t when moving in with a single father of three”
What I was prepared for!
Constant noise. Constant. Think of it like a mosquito that just won’t leave you alone but instead of a buzz its the sound of TikTok’s and YouTube videos on loop. Not even the good ones, the really obnoxious ones like “I try to stuff ten candles in my nose, and you won’t believe what happens next!!!”
Constant mess and always needing socks cause floor is bad texture tm
Dishes always being missing, because they are lost to the unknown abyss called “the kids’ room”
My younger dog falling absolutely in love with one of the kids because they will play with him for as long as he wants
Exclamations about how the kids eat everything
“Soooo, how’s the new house search going?”
Reminders of the deadline to do taxes
Dad jokes
Dad jokes hidden in dad jokes
Yelling of “GO TO BED!” At night when the buzz of YouTube and tiktok exceeds past curfew
Overhearing heated discussions about childrens movies
The dad constantly judging my own dad, and it leading to ‘Dad Rants’ tm (ex: “what do you mean you didn’t learn how to read a clock till 8th grade?! That is a failure on your dad. No I’m not apologizing.” “You’re 20 years old and you can’t do taxes? What is wrong with your father that he told you you didn’t have to do them??” “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WERE ALMOST GROUNDED FOR TRYING TO TALK TO HIM WHEN HE WAS ON THE PHONE AND YOU DIDN’T KNOW!?”)
What I wasn’t prepared for!
The dad falling head over heels for my older deaf dog (like incredibly head over heels, he would die for this 20lb dachshund)
The kids reaction to just how short I am (its very)
Having to walk my dogs every morning first thing before I even know I’m alive because they don’t have a yard to do business in
Being overly confused when the house is quiet for a change
Accommodations for my height????? Like what??? Thats never happened before!
The dad constantly being scared of scaring me because hes big and loud and shaped like my dad, when he knows that I have The Trauma
The kids looking at me like I’m a ghost walking through their house
“Seriously, I’ve seen your old house, all your dad could do was build shelves.” “I mean he built tables too and my loft bed-“ “THOSE ARE JUST BIG SHELVES, NO MAN NEEDS THAT MANY SHELVES, AZ!! THERE WASN’T A SINGLE WALL IN THAT HOUSE THAT DIDN’T HAVE AT LEAST 3 SHELVES ON IT!! HE HAS A SHELF OBSESSION AND IT IS NOT HEALTHY, MUCH LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE I’VE HEARD ABOUT YOUR FATHER!!” (He’s not wrong.)
Every living person in this house being a gamer and speaking languages I don’t know (i play Genshin impact and mobile games and thats it, idk about stats and buffs man)
‘Dad Rants’ tm about how he wants to help me grow a spine three times, like the grinch with his heart. (This was the actual analogy used)
The long winded yet cool ramblings about wood working and how the dad wants to make tables for a living
Long winded yet interesting ramblings about how chairs are really hard to make
“WHY ARE YOU SO SCARED OF ME I JUST WANT TO HELP YOU IT HURTS MY HEART TO SEE YOU SO FRIGHTENED!!”
Being beckoned to the kitchen thinking my dogs did something when really the dad just wanted to give me food cause he made too much (like he didn’t even say hi he just called my name fog horn style, told me to come closer in a gremlin voice then handed me a bowl of fried rice. It was good fried rice but boy was i confused)
Long winded yet cool ramblings about Christmas plans for his children
Overhearing heated discussions about methods of removing a loose tooth
And last, but certainly not least because I blue screened when I saw it
Finding a baby tooth, bloody side up, on the bathroom counter centimeters away from my toothbrush.
Hey, I am just wondering if anyone has some advice or resources for me and my friend.
A friend of mine has been kicked out by her guardians (she's 18). She's coming to stay with us for an unspecified amount of time. We aren't very close, but my family is willing to do what we can to help.
Are there any resources for her? What should I know living with a new person? How can we support her? How do we communicate with her? How do I cope as someone who gets overwhelmed by being around people too much and struggles with change?
Any help would be appreciated
Today I piled everything I need day-to-day into my car to start couch surfing until I can find permanent housing. Is this what it feels like to be a stray animal that people feed and let sleep under shelter?
I live in a zoo...and am currently couch surfing cause the tourists have descended.
so tired of posting about housing shit lol i feel like if i rot into the earth it is what it is. but i don’t have a place to stay past thursday again. going to a youth resource center to do a screening but i feel like nothing’s gonna happen in time and that my option is just gonna be shelters for the night and wandering during the day.
still having a chronic illness flare up. meds i was on was causing horrible side effects so my doctor told me to stop taking it and i have to wait until my appointment with a derm next week to start treatment, long process.
i feel so hopeless and alone and tired. i just want housing and i hate that this is so hard. i literally just want to work and have a place to sleep. and i don’t have the money for anything, let alone a hotel again. i don’t even have money for my chronic pain meds when i see my doctor because i’ve been out of work for the week and will probably have to be out this week as well.
why does it have to be so hard? i didn’t ask for chronic illness. i just want to live a normal life. i don’t have the support team or anything to have stability if i started the process of applying for disability if i stopped working. but i like my job, a lot. my body just hates me and i hate it.
anyways. venmo chaseallxn paypal.me/chxseallen whatever whatever i don’t think i’m gonna make it out of this one alive folks
Meet my new friend Ben.
You see it’s actually a pretty strange coincidence how Alex and I met up with Ben in Amsterdam. Alex, who is from Germany, first encountered Ben in Paris at a couch surfing hangout. For those of you who do not know, couchsurfing is a site which connects travelers to locals or to other travelers. One may stay at a person’s home and or they may just meet up with others.
Anyways, Alex and I decided to have a reunion in Amsterdam. We both were searching for a couchsurfing host and lo and behold Ben, who is originally from the U.S., showed up. She didn’t even remember that he was living in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a hold of him in time, so we opted to book a hostel. We ended up booking seperate hostels that were thirty minutes apart due to availability.
Surprisingly, we actually did end up staying at Ben’s lovely home. We decided to meet up with him Saturday night and he offered for us to stay there since it would be way more convient. So yup, we paid for our hostels and ended up not even staying the night in them. Instead we were hosted by the amazing Ben and had a wonderful time.
The above photo is the brunch Ben whipped up. It’s definitely funny how somethings work out. Spontaneous meetups with people who have the same passion of culture exchange always makes for a memorable time.
Anywhere I travel to, walking probably ranks as my number one activity to partake in. There’s so much to absorb and take in from simply being present and keeping your mind open to what surrounds you. Try doing it in your own city or neighborhood, you might just suprise yourself. Open your eyes and take the long way!
How do you start couch surfing? My parents are homophobic and I'm a lesbian (still closeted to everyone but my therapist) and I'm disabled and burntout. It would take me 10+ years to graduate college and I don't know if I could get that far.
Inktober 06 - HUSKY . . . . . #inktober #inktober2019 #inktoberday6 #husky #sleeping #spoon #couchsurfing #bandontour #illustration https://www.instagram.com/p/B3RiN-ziQ0O/?igshid=ydw0rdxge8w
honestly millennials r sleeping on this housing solution.. why buy a house when the world can b ur house??
Houseist; houseism
•Prejudice, stereotyping, antagonism or discrimination against unhoused/homeless people.
•The material or idealogical discrimination against unhoused/homeless people.
• I coined this term to describe my lived experiences of being discriminated as a homeless/unhoused person.
• Just as saneism is a subset of ableism, houseism is a subset of classism.
• Homeism/homeist was created by a PhD researcher— not by our community.
• I’ve spoken with many other unhoused/homeless/houseless people who said this term was helpful to them
Fenton stood in front of them, looking confident and calm, despite his roiling emotions. At 34, he was brown-haired and heavily freckled; he looked like what he was, someone who grew up on the border between Maine and New Hampshire, where the line between preppy and shaggy is thin. His enthusiasm and nervous optimism had a profound effect on all of them. “He’s really intense, in good ways and uncomfortable ways,” says then operations manager Colleen Sollars. “He’s one of those people who made me want him to like me.”
Next to Fenton stood Daniel Hoffer, one of the co-founders. It was the first time many of the Couchsurfers had seen Hoffer front-and-center. He’d visited the collectives before, but had held jobs outside of Couchsurfing and had less time to be actively involved. Fenton and Hoffer told the Couchsurfers that they couldn’t stay a nonprofit. They announced that the company was raising $7.6 million in venture funding from Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network and that Hoffer was going to be CEO.
Ben Hanna, then the user experience and design team lead, remembers “shock and awe and tears.” Couchsurfing was the rare internet project that seemed like it lived beyond the dictates of capital. To use the site, there was no required exchange of funds. Users would jump into the system and host when they could. They’d review references left by previous surfers, send hosts requests, and, if they accepted, stay on their couch or in their spare room and meet someone they would never otherwise have met. It was a utopian vision. “We all believed in it so much,” says Meredith Hutcheson, then a communications and community manager. “We were losing that, and it was brutal for everyone.”
Homesteading for the Homeless:
How Converting Empty Commercial Spaces into Indoor Farms Can Address Food Insecurity and Unemployment
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to high vacancy rates for commercial spaces in metropolitan areas, especially malls and skyscrapers. At the same time, homelessness remains a significant issue, especially in coastal cities. One solution to address both these problems is to convert empty commercial spaces into indoor farms and communal living areas for homeless Americans, owned and operated by their workers.
Indoor farming has emerged as a sustainable and efficient method for producing high yields of crops in a small space, regardless of weather or climate conditions. Vertical farming, a method of growing crops in vertically stacked layers, has gained popularity in recent years as a way to maximize space and improve efficiency. Repurposing vacant commercial buildings could create a new industry that addresses food insecurity while providing employment for the homeless.
According to a report from CBRE, the United States had a 16.4% office space vacancy rate at the end of 2020, the highest it has been since 2011. The retail sector was also struggling, with a national vacancy rate of 10.5% in the first quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, homelessness remains a significant issue in coastal cities, with an estimated 580,466 people experiencing homelessness in January 2020, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Startups in the vertical farming industry have been on the rise in recent years. According to AgFunder, an online platform that connects investors with agtech startups, there were over 60 vertical farming startups that raised over $1.2 billion in funding in 2020. These startups are using innovative techniques to grow crops in urban areas, close to consumers, and reduce transportation costs and emissions.
Converting vacant commercial buildings into indoor farms using vertical farming techniques would provide employment for the homeless and communal living spaces. However, these indoor farms could also be operated as worker-owned commercial enterprises. Communal living spaces for homeless individuals would provide a sense of community and stability, as well as a chance to learn valuable skills through participation in the farming process. By operating the indoor farms as worker-owned enterprises, homeless individuals could take ownership of their work and have a say in the direction of the business.
Homesteading using vertical farming is an opportunity to work with individuals who share the same interests and values. For young people, WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) provides opportunities to travel around the world and learn about sustainable agriculture practices. Similarly, converting commercial spaces into worker-owned indoor farms could create new opportunities for homeless individuals to participate in the farming process and learn valuable skills, while also taking ownership of their work.
While there are challenges to converting commercial buildings into worker-owned indoor farms, such as significant investment and expertise, the benefits are significant for those experiencing homelessness and the wider community. By creating worker-owned indoor farms, we could create a new industry that provides stability, food security, and employment opportunities, while building a stronger sense of community.
The conversion of vacant commercial buildings into worker-owned indoor farms using vertical farming techniques and communal living spaces for the homeless could address the challenges facing our society. We have the potential to create a new industry that provides stability, food security, and employment opportunities, while building a stronger sense of community. Let us consider homesteading with worker-owned indoor farming as a solution for the future.
Playlist rec: "peoples apartments & couches & clothes" aka "I've been been chronic couchsurfer since 17; I'm 30 & trying to settle down but my bones & the universe/credit score won't let me, let's sing about how it's fun instead of stressful" ? <3
Okay, so, it’s not all strictly about couchsurfing, but it does mostly have to do with moving around a lot. And there’s some melancholy tunes in here, along with the more raucous numbers. I tried my best. (Also, you get a bonus song, because I obviously had to include the W/IFS song which you gave me as a prompt.)
other people’s apartments & couches & clothes
World/Inferno Friendship Society - Hothouse Flowers (laments and rowdy songs / hymns about sin / high lifes and reels / a tarentell violin / other people's apartment's and couches and clothes / young again / lost again / here we are / here we go)
Enola Gay - Sofa Surfing (I’ve got this weekend comin’ and it’s on repeat / I’ve been sofa surfing from suite to settee / From dusk till dawn now it’s blinding me / Gotta get off my hole and order my taxi)
Friendly Foes - Couch Surfing
The Replacements - Here Comes a Regular (And sometimes I just ain't in the mood / To take my place in back with the loudmouths / You're like a picture on the fridge that's never stocked with food / I used to live at home, now I stay at the house)
Peter Case - The Open Road Song (I'll seek my fortune in the wide world / Take my chances in the cold / Come what may I'll be okay / If I could only find a stretch of open road)
Jolie Holland - Poor Girl's Blues (I got a couple of foodstamps / And a caffeine buzz / I got a couple of foodstamps / And a caffeine buzz / So I'd be set for right now, darling / If I only knew / Just where she was)
Some info about Point In Time counts and statistics around homelessness in the United States!
[ID: Slide 1 of 9, White text on a grey background reads: "Any statistics around homelessness are greatly under-represented, here's why" next to an arrow directing to the next slide, at the bottom, it reads "chronically couchbound"
Slide 2 of 9, in the same style, reads "The numbers that tell how many unhoused people are in the United States are done using something called Point In Time (PIT) counts." the bullet point below it reads: "PIT numbers are used to identify needs for services, and help shelters qualify for funding." The last bullet point reads: "PIT numbers only count people who are legally considered homeless (couch surfing isn’t considered homelessness, legally) This means PIT counts are only counting people in shelter beds, and those visibly sleeping outside."
Slide 3 of 9, in the same style, bullet points read: "Pit counts are the only required count of unhoused people in the US across the country." the next reads: "Every other year, official PIT counts include people not living in shelters, however, many communities try to count both sheltered and unsheltered people every year." The final bullet point reads: "These counts are the closest to an accurate representation of homelessness we have in the united states, and still is lacking."
Slide 4 of 9 reads: "Why?" at the top of the page, below reads bullet points: "PIT counts are done on a random night in January every year." the other bullet point reads: "On this random night in January, it’s often freezing. When I was unhoused in New England winters, I can tell you I wasn’t sleeping outside. I’d stay up and walk around if I couldn’t find a place to crash, and sleep in the daytime. I knew sleep meant death. Most people who do sleep outdoors are usually hidden well because that means warmth and safety."
Slide 5 of 9, in the same theme, bullet points read: "Most shelters simply do not have the funding to staff outreach workers to go out to do full PIT counts. Even if they have the funding, it’s hard to find unhoused people, so staying out the whole night as an outreach worker is difficult." the next bullet point says: "From unofficial counts done similarly to PIT counts in warmer months, it’s easy to see booming numbers of unhoused people. More people aren’t unhoused in the summer, it’s just less dangerous to sleep outdoors."
Slide 6 of 9, in the same style, bullet points read "PIT counts especially misrepresent unaccompanied youth, disabled people, and other marginalized people, because they’re often couch surfing or more hidden from the public while homeless. Couch surfing is not legally considered homelessness." The next bullet point reads "Many communities report zero unaccompanied unsheltered youth, which is often inaccurate in reality." The final bullet point reads: "Lack of youth shelters, and beds in youth shelters, play a huge part of this discrepancy."
Slide 7 of 9, in the same style, bullet points read: "The lack of knowledge, safety, and support in accessing services makes it harder for youth to be connected with service providers and less likely to be counted in PIT numbers." The next bullet point reads "Increasing awareness of PIT counts, and local service providers could help give more accurate counts, but we need more youth-based services that have active outreach teams in order to achieve better (and more accurate) counts of unhoused youth."
Slide 8 of 9 reads: "What can you do to help?" at the top of the page, below reads three bullet points: "Share this post & comment to spread awareness" The next bullet point reads: "Volunteer with a local homeless service provider, such as a shelter, nonprofit, or soup kitchen to help with PIT counts" The final bullet point reads: "Share, contribute to, or create local resource guides, or add or verify information for resources online (such as on Google or the shelter app) to ensure they're up to date."
Slide 9 of 9, the text reads : "Follow for more: Chronically Couchbound" Below the text is the logo, a white silhouette of a house, in front of it, a black silhouette of the disability symbol, and behind it, a light grey "prohibited" sign. The logo is on a black square background. End ID.]
Another parody !
And what could be better than magical girls ?!
I don't have any regrets 😎
I just watched a Princess Tutu amv and cried. I really needed it because it often feels like I'll never get out of here. Hopefully I can befriend the theater kids. Back to studying.
Drawing inspired by « Espresso » by Sabrina Carpenter ☕️🤎💭
This turtle has a bit more than algae growing on its shell
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but here’s Molly, the love of my life.