Home Sweet Homeless

Updates???

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:07:00 +0000

Sorry about the delays with keeping you posted. I have written down a lot of thoughts over this past semester about my experiences and about homelessness and certain revelations I've had, etc., but have been either to busy or too brain-fried to organize my thoughts into well-constructed blog posts. So if you have been wondering whether Hobo Eric hath disappeared, fear not. I am alive and well and will soon be moving back into a house and will have some free time to update and back-log and reflect and reminisce and all that jazz. Check back soon and you can read more.

Outdoors

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:26:00 +0000

I've been sleeping outside quite a bit lately. It has been both good and bad.

A few weeks ago, I began sleeping on a bench on campus in an undisclosed location where it was highly unlikely I would be seen. When it started getting cold, that soon became miserable. I would wake up freezing (mostly because I was dumb enough to wear sandals) and shivering and usually unable to go back to sleep. So usually I gave in and went to sleep in the MSC. Finally, I wised up and brought out my sleeping bag out.

The next issue I had to deal with was insane mating grasshoppers. One night a grasshopper was flying around like crazy so I crawled all the way into my sleeping bag. The next night, there were 3 or 4 of them swarming around me, which really freaked me out. I had to mummify myself in my sleeping bag again. The next night when I went to my spot, there were over 20 grasshoppers on the wall and flying around! There was no way I was sleeping there, so I found another bench. I didn't sleep much that night though. Moving around is actually kind of tough.

Last week, I spent a few nights sleeping outside at Kyle Field with hundreds of people camping out for tickets. Most people had tents, but I just brought a sleeping bag. Ryan joined me for a night as well. It was fairly decent... except for the morning when people decided to exercise (with whistles) right in the middle of the camp at 6 am!! There were a lot of angry Aggies that morning to say the least. The t.u. campout was fun though.

Unfortunately, sleeping out in the cold caused me to catch a minor cold, which has limited the amount of time I have slept outside the last week or so. I actually kind of miss it. When I stay outside, there is not much to do to keep me awake, so I read until I fall asleep. Then when the sun comes up I can't really sleep anymore, so it's rise and shine time. Sleeping outside really helps me stay on a slightly more regular schedule. However, hard ground and concrete or metal benches are not comfortable. It is hard to fall to sleep and even harder to sleep completely undisturbed. There are a lot more loud noises (like trains) that wake me up in the middle of the night, and then it takes forever to get semi-comfortable again. I love camping out, true outdoors, woodsy, backcountry style... but this is waay different. I can't say I enjoy it all that much. But it is very nice on occasion.

Next goal: Hang the Hammock

Also, during dead week, Tyler and I will commence project Hobo. Pure authentic homelessness for a week. We will not be sleeping in the MSC nor using the Wesley building as a base, nor storing stuff in our cars. We will live off what we can carry on our backs. Get food that people are planning to throw away at campus restaurants. Sleep on benches, even under bridges. Try to really experience the homeless life. We are both very excited and hope you will pray for us. It should prove to be very enlightening, even more so than the rest of this semester thus far.

2 MONTHS! (Looking back, then ahead)

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:12:00 +0000

I have been homeless for two full months now. It has become just a normal accepted part of my life. When people find out I am living this way, they are often still shocked (and awed). But I have gotten to the point where that reaction almost surprises me. I think, "oh yeah, I guess it's not that normal." The newness is gone. As I have said before, part of the reason for me living homeless is the adventure. It was a great adventure at first, but it has become routine and the sense of excitement has disappeared. To be completely honest, I am not really enjoying it anymore. I really did enjoy it at first because it was different. I was learning things about myself and others. But that aspect of my homeless lifestyle has faded away. I find myself just wanting to go "home" each night. The main reason I am still continuing with the homelessness is the financial advantage. I am raising money to go on a mission next spring break to Alaska, and the longer I stay homeless, the more I can save for that trip. I have been spending on average less than $50 per week everything included, and if I made wiser financial decisions, I could cut that in half. I actually do enjoy living a simple, poor lifestyle. It has never bothered me when people call me cheap, and now less than ever. Yet, money was never one of the main reasons I chose to live this way. Why has it become the primary motivation for me remaining homeless?

I think a huge part of it is that I have lost the sense of adventure. I am not learning anything new about life, I don't feel like I am stretching my faith, and homelessness has become ordinary. I am not genuinely "homeless", nor have I ever claimed to be. I usually sleep indoors on something soft, I shower a few times a week, I don't have to worry about the next meal, I have an enjoyable place to hang out with close friends during the day, I have family and friends that support me in so many ways. These are all great blessings in my life that I have come to appreciate even more over the last two months. Even as a "homeless" student, I am still very blessed. But if I am so "blessed" and I have come to recognize and appreciate that, why am I still dissatisfied? Perhaps I need to more fully experience what it is to be someone without all these blessings. I have spoken with some people about living authentically homeless for a week or so, just depending on God to provide food and a place to stay each night (not in a campus building), living off of what I can carry on my back rather than out of my car, and not using the school or Wesley as a crutch to avoid the real difficulties of homelessness.

I just read an incredible book the other day (all in one sitting, couldn't put it down) - Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski. This book moved me deeply, in much the same way as The Irresistible Revolution. These two college students, Mike and Sam, left everything to live on the streets of cities around the nation for 6 months. They slept in parks and under bridges, got meals from homeless shelters and by playing their guitars for spare change on street corners. They sought to have a greater understanding of homeless life and compassion for homeless people and to experience their faith as a real minute-by-minute dependence on God. I saw myself in their story. Or rather, I saw my ideas, my desires, my deepest contemplations of life. Yet they really lived it. I have taken but a small step, and I am now stuck here with two conflicting desires. One is to turn around and take that small step back to the comfort of the easy predictable life I have always lived. The other is to keep walking and see where God takes me.
I have come to a crossroads in this journey. I can quit now, move back into a home, try to raise funds for my Alaska trip some other way, enjoy the community of "home" once again, and enjoy my memories of my brief homeless experiment. Or I can take the next step toward a radical realization of God's provision in my life. I can become even "more homeless" in many ways, trying to experience more of what people on the streets do every day.

I am going to continue to ponder and pray about this, but I think I will be moving outside soon. At least I enjoy the cold!

Bring on Month Three.

"oh, we will never be the same"

"the whole world's about to change"

- David Crowder

www.undertheoverpass.com
www.irresistiblerevolution.org
www.churchunderthebridge.org

Crazy week!

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:10:00 +0000

Well, it finally happened.

Before my homeless semester even began, I had all the answers. People would say, "Where will you sleep?", "Where will you shower?", "Where will you keep your stuff?", "Where will you eat?", etc. And I always had the answer ready. In buildings on campus or outside in my tent. At the Rec Center. In my car and a locker. At Wesley. Etc.

And then it hit me. The question I couldn't answer.

"What happens if you get sick?"

Crap.

I had never thought that one out. Wesley would not be an option - I would get everybody else sick and make people mad. Maybe I would get lucky and someone (such as an ex-roommate) would let me stay over for a night and get better. The MSC seemed like a crappy place to go. SCC and WCL even worse... What would I do? I just kind of shrugged it off and hoped it wouldn't happen. I rarely get sick anyway.

Well.... fast forward to Wednesday. I think it was due to something we ate coming back from Mexico. At least four of us from the trip were at least a little bit sick. Justin and I both had a few pretty nasty days. Luckily I only puked once and I was outside so I did it in some grass, but I really felt like crap for a few days. I hung out at the MSC all day while I was sick, took a nap, took a shower that evening, and slept at the SCC near where my midterm was the next afternoon (which I barely woke up for). I was still sore and extremely exhausted the next day. It was rough. Not having a home to stay at made it worse. But I made it through alright. I guess I passed the big test.

On another note, Wednesday morning was possibly the most awkward moment of my homelessness yet. I slept at the MSC, in the upstairs lobby, on Tuesday night. And apparently there was some kind of late-morning banquet scheduled for the next day. I woke up when I thought I heard voices, but I didn't even open my eyes. I just went right back to sleep. Then I woke up a little while later to my alarm ringing loudly. There were definitely a lot of voices. I opened my eyes and looked around. There were well over a hundred people dressed in suits and fancy clothes in the lobby. There was a long buffet table set out that ended about 5-10 feet from where I was sleeping. I was curled up, my alarm had just gone off very loudly, and my hair had not been washed in nearly a week, so I looked pretty nasty without a hat on in the MSC. I felt so out of place. Yet it was pretty awesome. And then an incredible thought popped into my mind. I noticed everyone was getting food and heading into an adjacent room. I thought about waiting til everyone was in there and grabbing some food for myself. I have never felt more homeless in my life... Unfortunately, the situation never presented itself. The catering crew started taking stuff into the room with the people. Oh well. It was a good thought. And I got to experience pure homeless awkwardness. Nice.

Encounters with "Enforcers"

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:03:00 +0000

I had my first encounter with an "enforcer" this morning. I stayed at Wesley until around 4 am playing Halo 3 (which is freaking awesome, by the way!)... oops. I left and headed to what had become my new favorite sleeping place on campus - The Commons lobby on Southside.
I went to sleep right away, and about an hour later I woke up with a guy I did not know standing over me. I'm not sure whether I woke up because he said something to me or I just sensed his presence. Either way, it was a very odd feeling having this stranger looking down at me. He then asked to see my Student ID. I was very tired and very out of it, but I managed to find my ID and give it to him. He took a look at it, then said, "alright, thanks, have a good sleep." Then he gave me my ID and walked away. It was weird.
Then it took me a really long time to be able to go back to sleep. And then when I did, I woke up very soon because they made the Commons absolutely FREEZING! That is pretty much the least comfortable condition to sleep in... maybe they were trying to freeze me out... which eventually worked. Last night pretty much sucked at The Commons. It is not my favorite place anymore. I am disappointed that it let me down... maybe once it gets cold outside I can go there...

Anyway, I had come to kind of take for granted that nobody ever really says anything to me when I'm sleeping on campus. I guess I need to start looking out for "the enforcers". It is not fun to be woken up and questioned like that. Imagine if some random person came into your room and woke you up and made you prove that you lived there. You wouldn't be happy. Neither was I. I realize it kind of "comes with the territory"... but I like to sleep undisturbed so I think I will do my best to avoid those confrontations from now on. I'll let you know if I have anymore similar encounters.

Why Choose to Live Homeless?!?

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 08:53:00 +0000

**I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get this post finished. I know I promised to answer many of you in the fullest sense possible. I began writing this in mid-August, but I am just now finishing my explanation. It has taken me a while to get back to my reflective thoughts on this whole experience, and even longer to finally put those thoughts into words. I hope this helps you understand me a little more.**

"Why would you actually choose to live homeless?" I have been asked this question more times than I can possibly even count. Most of the time I actually am left feeling overwhelmed by the question. The truth is, I don't even fully understand at times why I am doing this. I have had many different ideas flow through my mind over the last few years as I have planned this out. It has taken me a while to try to bring them together into a somewhat coherent explanation of why I am willingly taking on this lifestyle. Even after reading this, many of you will still probably think I'm odd, crazy, stupid, lazy, arrogant, insincere, irrational, or just overly ambitious. I confess I am probably a little of all those things. All I claim is that this adventure is important to me and is something I am called to right now. Let me attempt to explain why I'm going homeless...

1) Save money. I am gonna save a buttload of money doing this. I had cheap rent before, but even so, I will be saving over $200 a month between rent, utilities, etc. Since Wesley will be my main place to hang out during the day, I am more likely to eat meals there, saving money on food, too. I won't exactly be making a lot. But I'll be spending even less. I am gonna be able to actually save money this year. Wow.

2) Have an adventure, say "screw the plan". One of my profs used to talk about how everyone had the good old "5 year plan" or whatever. He would always say "screw the plan". I agree. Who says I have to have a house to be happy or successful? Why? I disagree. Plus, moving out into the unknown is a huge adventure. I love the unknown. It is ridiculously scary sometimes, but it's exciting! Nietzche once said, "Live dangerously! Send your ships to uncharted seas! Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius! The key to getting the most out of life is to live dangerously!" I don't necessarily agree with Nietzche on most stuff, and that whole Vesuvius thing didn't work out too well... but it is definitely inspiring. It is true, a risky life is definitely gonna be more exciting than a sheltered one. Not necessarily better. Maybe for some people like me. But certainly more exciting. Homelessness is definitely not the norm, but that is cool with me. I know it will be a great adventure!

3) Get some cool stories for later in life. I have always enjoyed great stories. I love to hear about my dad's cross-country bike/hitchhiking trip. I love to hear my great grandmother talk about her days growing up in the 1920s. I love hearing inspirational stories, funny stories, all kinds of stories. And I am excited about someday gathering my grandkids around and telling them all about when I hiked through pure untamed wilderness in Arkansas and when I spent the night in a swamp and when my football coaches thought it would be funny to put me up against all the huge fast guys and I got clobbered and smothered into the ground. And now... when I lived homeless on campus by my own choice.
Also, I am pretty sure my life calling is in full-time ministry, and one thing that has always helped me connect with God and better understand how others connect with him is through outrageous stories. Hearing of bizarre adventures or crazy activities people did and how they found God in that is something that has always enlivened my daily life of worship. Some people seem to have a ton of these crazy stories and through them they are able to communicate God to people in a relevant and significant way. I am trying to live life to its fullest by going out and creating some of these stories.

4) Learn what "Home" really means to me. I hope to come to a greater understanding of what it is to have a home and what that word signifies. Is home just a place to sleep? A place to come and relax after a long day? A place to connect with family or friends? Is home something essential to survival? Is it a basic human need? Why? And is home the same for everyone? How is it different for me? I have no answers to these questions yet. But I am excited to learn through this experience. I guess you could say I am developing a "philosophy of home". Cool.

5) Make faith real, not just a word. Faith and hope and trust in God are all easy things to talk about. It is easy to have faith in a concept. It is easy to have faith in spiritual things. But to make that faith practical in everyday life is quite another issue. I want to learn to be always depending on God. Depending on God to provide some sort of shelter or protected place to sleep each night, especially the weekends when everything on campus is closed. Depending on God to keep me focused with school and work in spite of distractions. Depending on God for rest for my soul when I have nowhere to go to get away. Depending on God to sustain me emotionally through difficult times without a home. I want my faith to be real. I want to understand how Paul could endure persecution and sleepless nights and constant moving from place to place because of his faith and hope in Christ. I want this experience to make my faith alive in me, so that when I speak about my faith, my life and my emotions and all that I am will testify with my voice and point to Jesus as truly all-sufficient.

6) Endure through tough times, flesh out Christ through simple living. In Colossians 1, Paul says, "I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church." This is a passage I have struggled with many times. How the heck can anything be "lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions"? The entire rest of the new testament seems to point to Jesus' suffering as being fully sufficient to cover all sins. So what does this verse mean? I believe, thanks to some helpful interpretations from various theologians, that what is "lacking" is a living human example of Christ's afflictions. People who were around Jesus got to see him actually living out all that he taught about suffering. But all who came later did not get to see that. They were going on the witness of others who had. And later, on the secondhand witness of others who had heard the gospel of Christ's afflictions accompanied by a disciple of Jesus living that out. When people see Christians truly willing, even desiring, as Paul does in Philippians 3:10-11, to share in Jesus' sufferings, it fleshes out the concept of God's grace shown through Christ's afflictions.
I know there will be tough times in my homeless experience. I am not doing this because it will be easy or comfortable or fun. I am doing this because I know it will be challenging, sometimes painful, but always worth it. I am doing this because Jesus is real to me. He was a real man who willingly suffered in all kinds of human ways for the redemption and restoration of people. I want to flesh out that out to people. I want God to use me to show that he can truly be sufficient - that I don't need a house or apartment, I don't need a place to lay my head. As I have pondered this, "home" seems to be one of the greatest fundamental needs of all people. If I can faithfully put aside even this need in order to passionately follow Jesus, I know it will flesh out God's grace in a real way, at least for my own spiritual growth, and hopefully for others as well. I hope that God will teach me, as well as others, what he taught Paul so long ago - "My grace is sufficient for you."

So there you have it. The basic summary of why I am living homeless. It has begun. It will continue. I hope you'll follow me along on this great adventure God has placed in my path. Please keep me in your prayers, and keep encouraging me to update this blog thingy. Also, always feel free to comment or question me about certain things I say or do. Feedback is always nice...

Feeling Homeless

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:10:00 +0000

I felt really homeless last night. I slept outside on a concrete bench in a very deserted little hidden area on campus. I saw a ton of bugs and there was tons of trash in the corner. Fortunately I did have a pillow for the first time, but the bench was still really hard. I woke up at one point and looked down at my backpack on the ground. There was a freaking GINORMOUS roach on my backpack staring at me. That was weird. The roach was probably wondering what this big dude was thinking stealing his habitat. But I fell right back to sleep. Later I realized how homeless that felt. At home if there had been a roach on the wall by my bed, I probably would have freaked out and jumped up to get rid of it. Out there though, I just accepted it, knowing there were about 100 more where it came from and that they were probably crawling all around the bench anyway.
I had to wake up early because I committed to help put out American flags across Bryan with St. Luke's people in remembrance of 9/11. I was supposed to meet Jason at Fish Pond (I was sleeping around Rudder). So I woke up and went down there. He was really late, but in the meantime, I fell asleep again on another bench. And I had just picked up the school newspaper and I was in a much more visible place. So I really felt homeless then, sleeping on a bench with a newspaper across my chest unaffected by all the people walking by. I felt weird when I woke up and thought about it.
I kind of had this thought in my mind that I would somehow enjoy this true sense of homelessness, at least in the sense of knowing it is just an "experiment" or whatever. But I really didn't enjoy it at all. It was extremely uncomfortable on the benches and pretty disconcerting to have bugs swarming around me all night, and I felt really lonely out there. And it didn't really feel like just an experiment, probably because this is something I am committed to for at least another month and a half. I really felt homeless. And it kinda sucked. For the first time in my life I think I had a little understanding of what it feels like for people who really live out on the streets.
Along with all the stuff about home and community and faith and dependence on God and all that jazz that I hope to learn more about through this experience, I know I am going to have more of a heart for homeless people. Even though I didn't enjoy last night, I have decided that I would like to spend a week of authentic homelessness at some point this semester to better feel compassion for the real homeless. I will sleep outside, only use and eat what I can carry on my back, not use the Wesley building or my car as a home base to store stuff or go to when I have nothing else to do. I would go showerless, too, but I think Kristin would kill me, haha. It is amazing she puts up with me doing crap like this anyway.
Anyway, homelessness is hard. And it sucks sometimes. But such is life in any setting. I am going to embrace it and try to learn and grow from it. I'll keep you posted.

Swansketball and other fun camping stories!

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:07:00 +0000

This weekend I had a freaking sweet time camping out! Tyler joined me out there so it was way more fun than the last couple times. After the most ridiculously exhausting day in my entire 12th Man experience (the 3OT win over Fresno State), Tyler and I headed out to Kyle Field around 11pm. When we got there and signed up as #3 on the group pull list, a girl actually asked us why we were coming out so late... What the crap, haha? Late? Camping on Saturday for a Monday ticket pull? Seriously? We thought that was pretty funny.
After we set up camp, we wandered around for a while and found some random crap like a giant coffin-size cardboard box and some 10 foot long PVC pipes. Then we went and got a bunch of random crap out of Tyler's car and decided to make up a game. We had a plastic swan thingy (used as a flower pot maybe?), an 8 foot rope, a squash ball, a scuba mask, some big solid packing styrofoam pieces, the two pvc pipes, the giant box, and some other useless stuff. The end result was "Swansketball", which we are sure will catch on and become one of Aggieland's most beloved games.
Swansketball is a game where opponents attempt to score as many points as possible by shooting the foam pieces (or a ball if available) through the goal (constructed by cutting a hole out of the box and hoisting it up with the long pvc pipes). One player at a time is on offense, and multiple people can play defense. The offensive player ties one end of the rope around their waist and the other around swan's neck, and they drag the swan about 3 feet behind them. The defensive player(s) are trying to throw the squash ball into the swan, and are also allowed to block the offensive player's shots within a certain range close to the goal. The defensive player is also required to wear the scuba mask, which blocks nearly all peripheral vision. Once a defensive player gets the squash ball into the swan (without touching it), that person becomes the offensive player. The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the alloted time (yet to be determined). A team variation of Swansketball could also potentially be played if more than one swan was available. Swansketball is a fun and hilarious game to play. I think I was laughing deliriously the entire time I was chasing the swan while wearing a scuba mask. What an awesome game!

Sunday was an interesting day... I woke up early and went to church, then came and held down the campsite while Tyler left for the day. I was there by myself from 1:30 til 8:15 with not much to do. I tried to take a nap, but it was unbearably hot in the tent. I tried to read but was too tired to focus. I mostly just sat around sweating bullets all day. Around 5:30 I went to get some food from Rumours and it started raining really hard while I was inside, so I decided to wait it out. Unfortunately, the wind blew the rain fly aside on my tent, and water started pouring in. Once the rain let up and I got back to the tent, it looked more like a pond. There was literally a pool of water on my sleeping bag, and everything in the tent was wet, including my textbook, which I was later able to squeeze probably a pint of water out of. So now all there was to do was sit there and wait for Tyler to show up again. It was boring as crap.

Later that night, Chad and Justin came to hang out with me and Tyler. We tried to play Swansketball, but our box was destroyed from the rain. So instead we made up a few more games near the tunnel under Wellborn - Ganderball and Swanball - completely separate from Swansketball.
For Ganderball, all that is needed is the swan, a volleyball, and a plastic sled. One player is the batter (using the sled as a bat) and the others are fielders (including one pitcher, throwing the volleyball). Pitching and batting rules are primarily the same as baseball, with balls and strikes, fouls, etc. When the batter hits the ball, they must run and grab the swan from the field and run back home before being pegged by a fielder. If a fielder gets the batter out, that person is the new batter. Also, if the fielder catches the ball in the air, they are credited with the out. Various point values are assigned depending on where the swan is placed in the field before the batter hits (1 point, 2 points for farther from the batter, 3 points for even farther, etc., up to about 5 points, with a homerun counting for 10 points). First player to 20 points wins. Additional rules can be used such as extra point opportunities for getting a player out before they touch the swan, etc. Overall, another fun game!
Swanball is a team game and is basically a combination of baseball, kickball, and cricket. There are only two bases - home plate and the swan. On offense, one player bats while the other stands at the swan. When the ball is hit, each player must run to the opposite base while the defenders try to get them out, either by catching the ball in the air or by pegging a runner between bases. Each time a runner touches home plate, a run is scored. The runners can decide to run back once they get to the other side, giving them the opportunity to score another run, but both runners must run - two people cannot be safe on the same base, even home plate. Homeruns count as 5 runs. Also, whatever player is standing at home after each at-bat is the next batter, regardless of who hit last. There are two outs per team in each inning, and 3 innings in a game. The highest score wins. Although Swanball is not really based around the swan, it is yet another sweet game!
Apparently, camping brings out our creative qualities. We made up some awesome games. It made me feel like a little kid again, haha! It was a very fun weekend for the most part. Sunday afternoon sucked, but I would probably camp out multiple days again if other people would share the burden of the long Sunday out at Kyle Field. It was really great to have Tyler out there as a "co-hobo" for the weekend. We not only had our fun games, but also explored the campus and dropped keys and coins from the top of an 11-story staircase and got 1st row tickets on 3rd deck, WHOOOOP!

Being homeless this way, with people hanging out together, is actually pretty awesome. Really the main thing I am missing being homeless is community. When that sense of community is there like it was this weekend, I actually really enjoy living this way. I am really starting to see how important community is and how unimportant an actual home is in my life. However, I think "home" is where community is often fostered and without "home", community can be much harder to create and maintain. I don't think it is impossible. But it is much more difficult this way. However, community is important to me and is something I am seeing opportunities to be much more intentional about. This seems to be the first lesson I am really learning from my experience -what community is, how important it is, and how it relates to the concept of "home". I do miss that home community, but this weekend was a great time for me to experience homeless community. I'll keep you updated with more thoughts on homelessness as they come. Please give me some comments about your thoughts on these concepts of home and community. I would really like to know what others think and experience with this as well.
Welp, I'm off to find me a bench to sleep on. Have a good night at home in your bed, you non-bold liver, you!

Gross

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:09:00 +0000

I just came up to Wesley to get my stuff and head out to find a place to sleep. I was getting some crap out of my car and a Tahoe full of Northgate people pulled into the Wesley lot. I heard a door open and the sound of liquid pouring on the ground and I swear I thought some guy was just peeing out onto the ground. It's awkward that I looked... but I just had to... and it was not a dude peeing, but some girl leaning out of the car door, puking her guts out all over our parking lot. Sick. After she blew chunks everywhere, they shut the door and drove away. Drunk people are ridiculous.
I just decided today (or yesterday) to spend a week outside. So now I get to go find some ground to sleep on, thinking about the fact some random drunk could have puked in that exact spot. Not my favorite thought to fall asleep to...

Roommates!!

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:05:00 +0000

I have roommates at the MSC!!
Haha, last night there were 4 other people sleeping in the upstairs lobby when I got there. And then I saw 2 more people sleeping on couches this morning. I think most of the people were just there for the night... but if I start seeing the same people there, I am gonna meet some of them, and they can be my home(less)ies.
Actually, I scoped out some good outdoor spots today, and I think I am gonna try to spend at least a week outside. Probably starting this weekend, maybe sooner. It's gonna be pretty awesome. I found an outdoor staircase to sleep under, a ladder up to a roof to sleep on, a random deserted balcony at the MSC, and a few other cool places. I already know of a sweet gazebo I can sleep under, and I haven't really even gotten to check out Research Park or Spence Park yet. I am excited about staying outside next week.

The MSC couches are pretty dang comfortable though... the night before last I slept on a couch at the SCC... holy crap, those things suck! I hope I never have to sleep there again. When I got there, I saw some guy with his legs dangling over the arm of the couch and his feet propped up on a desk chair. But I decided to go fetal-style and curl up into a ball on the 4 foot long couch. Which has hard, wooden arms on both ends that hurt extremely bad to bump into or try to lean against. I woke up in the morning with stiff legs and a very stiff neck. It hurt to stand up and I couldn't move my neck around. That was by far the worst night of sleep I have had since going homeless. I felt like crap yesterday. But today I felt much better, thanks to the glorious, comfortable, sleepworthy MSC couches.

Fresno State Campout

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:52:00 +0000

Last night, I camped out at Kyle Field again for the Fresno State football game this weekend.
First, we had our fantasy football draft at Wesley until around10:30, and it was freaking awesome. It was amazing how much fun pressure there was. We all had a pretty sweet time. But afterwards, I had to type in every name off the draft board. What a freaking pain. Not a fun part of a live draft.
Meanwhile, John went to set up camp at Kyle Field and put our name on the list. I piddlefarted around at Wesley for a while, so when I finally headed over there, John was already asleep in his tent. But I didn't know he had a tent. So I looked for him, then went back to Wesley to look for him. My phone was dead cause I lost my charger around Thursday or Friday, so I couldn't call him. I rummaged through Wesley and my car again to try to find it, but still no luck, and still no sign of John.
So I went back to Kyle Field and set up my tent and went to sleep by myself again. It is really lonely with nobody hanging out with me while almost everyone else camping out is having a sweet time with their friends. I guess I could go meet some of the people out there, but when it is already 2 am, I just want to sleep. So maybe some other time if I get there earlier. Which I definitely want to do next week.

I'm starting to really feel homeless. It feels like everyone else "goes home" every night and I am left alone and just have to go find somewhere to sleep.
I am starting to miss the community of "home" a little bit... having someone to talk with about anything and everything at night before bed... having people to share life with at any given time.

At this point I think I am beginning to really develop a personal philosophy of "home". I do not miss having a bed to sleep in. I don't really even miss having a constant place to go to each night, or knowing each day where I will be later. I am not missing the comforts of home like a non-public bathroom or a kitchen all that much. But I am missing the sense of "community".

Ironically, I am speaking at Wesley on Wednesday on a topic that God has really put on my heart for a while now - "community". Maybe God is trying to speak to me through me. That happens sometimes, where I talk about something I don't really have figured out, and through that, God reveals something to me. So I am excited about that.

Sleepover at ManHouse (.6)

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 06:05:00 +0000

Last night around 12:30, Justin called me up and sang one of my favorite songs of all time:
"Dun, Dun, doo-doo-doo-doooo-doo-doo-doo-doot doooo, doo-doo-doo-doooo-doo-doo-doo-doot doooo, doo-doo-doo-doooo-doo-doo-doo-doot doot doot doooooo.... Ain't gonna stop until the Woot-off is done."

A freaking WOOT-OFF!
In case you have no idea what this means, go check out woot.com right now. It is basically a nonstop barrage of intriguing products sold at incredible prices at outrageous speed... an event filled with anticipation, excitement, disappointment, LOL Cats, and late-night deliriousness. Plus it is hilarious to watch people buy things they don't even want just to get to the next item sooner. It's a can't-miss event. So I was obligated to head over to the ManHouse (.6).

Justin and I wooted off for a while. It was awesome. And then Justin pulled his famous trick. (The Champ's famous trick! The Lamp's name is Rick!... ask me about that one, it's hilarious!) He convinced me to watch a movie with him. We put in Nacho Libre, and as always, he fell asleep in the first 30 minutes. Of course I watched the whole thing, and finally dozed off on the couch around 4 am when it was over.

It was a really weird feeling sleeping at my old house. It truly doesn't feel like home anymore, which is kinda strange and kinda sad, cause I really loved it there. But at the same time, it really hasn't sunk in yet that I am homeless. I am still struggling to figure out exactly what that means for me. Life doesn't seem all that different right now. Maybe it won't be. Maybe everything besides the location where I lay my head each night will still be pretty much the same. I don't know yet. But I have a long way to go. It's still just August...

Montana State Campout

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:56:00 +0000

My second night of homelessness was very different from the first. I camped out at Kyle Field last night to get tickets for this weekend's Fightin' Texas Aggie football game, WHOOOP! There were actually a bunch of other people out there (mostly Fish Camp groups) camping for tickets. I was #14 on the list for groups. I set up my trusty backpacking tent and then it took me freaking forever to fall asleep... it was really bright and loud and the ground was hard and the air was hot and stagnant. I only got about 3 and a half hours of sleep, then woke up before the buttcrack of dawn to stand in line. John brought me donuts and orange juice and we stood in line together for a few hours. What a nice guy. Anyway, we got our tickets, I got to camp out. A win-win situation. I guess. Honestly, it was kind of lonely last night. Even with all the people out there (or maybe because of them), I was a little bit lonely with nobody to talk to and not much to do really, other than try (unsuccessfully) to fall asleep. Hopefully next week someone will camp out with me (hint, hint) or I'll at least have a book or some homework or something. Anyway, that's another night in the books.

Night 2

The First Night!

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:32:00 +0000

As of last night, I am now officially homeless. I spent my first night on a couch in the upstairs lobby of the MSC. It felt really weird as I laid there realizing I'm not gonna have a place to "go home to" for the next few months. Even stranger was the complete silence. There was pretty much nobody there. I saw the guy working the front desk and then some guy came through to shut the gates a few minutes after I got there. They were the only people I saw in the building. I've never seen the MSC that deserted before. It was kinda creepy, but it didn't stop me from getting a great night of sleep. The homeless adventure has begun! I'll keep you updated on funny stories, awkward encounters, philosophical revelations, etc.

Night 1