I posted this update over at Homeless Tales, Matt’s site, and wanted to repost here to fill everybody in on what’s been going on with the two of us (to make up for my somewhat vague update a couple of posts ago).

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I will start out with Matt’s joyous news – Wednesday, October 28th, at 9:25 AM Scotland time (2:25 AM PST), Matt’s daughter was born via Cesarean section. Her name is Kelsey, after his grandmother, she weighed just about 6 lbs. even, has bright blue eyes, and undetermined (but darkish-seeming) hair. She’s absolutely gorgeous. I don’t think Matt wants to post photos/video of her online, understandably, but if you’re interested in seeing her, perhaps he can e-mail you privately. That’s his call, though, and she pretty much looks like… a baby.

(Since you’ve likely guessed by now that I wasn’t the one giving birth, I should probably head off any negative knee-jerk reactions at the pass, so: No, there was no infidelity involved; yes, there was protection being used; and no, there is no ill will on the part of any parties involved).

Matt and I found out about Kelsey’s impending arrival a couple of months into our relationship. For a girl who decided at about age 9 that she never wanted to have kids (I mean, look at the role model I had to go on!), it was something of a shock for me and a lot to take in, and Matt graciously gave me the option of backing out. But I love him so much, and I know I’ll love his daughter, so I stuck around, obviously. Now I’m nervously prepping for the responsibilities that come with being a stepmom, and eventually a full-time mother, since we will likely have children ourselves one day.

Life-altering event #2 came the day after Kelsey’s birth, when I received an offer for a book deal (thanks to my brilliant agent, Chris Schelling, who also represents the famed Augusten Burroughs)! Chris is clearly the most awesome evil genius ever; the preparing of the contract and such details takes a few weeks, but upon signing, I receive a decent advance. It won’t buy us a house or anything, but it will rent us an apartment and should also clear up my debts, opening the way for us to get a home loan, we hope! There’s also talk about potentially turning the story into movie-ness, which is kind of mind-blowing to me, so I’m just kind of trying to study up on the various options one day at a time and make sure Matt is involved in all decisions, since it’s his story, too!

So where do we go from here? Well, for now, I’m still in the trailer, waiting on contracts and such to be ironed out. But upon receipt of the advance, we are likely going to look into relocating to upstate NY – towards the small, tree-covered town where we’d like to settle permanently, when we have the means – and yet within a couple hours’ drive of the city, for when book promotions and such things start, which I get the feeling might be largely NYC-centric.

Matt and I would also like to get married, although we still need to bat around immigration red tape, and now with Kelsey thrown into the mix, options are further narrowed down, so that’s just one big wait-and-see game. I imagine once Matt flies back to CA, there will be lots of running around and spazzing out like decapitated chickens, trying to get things planned and settled. I’ve entered that phase already, truth be told, but not much I can do about it for several more weeks, so I’m probably just stressing myself unduly.

In case you can’t tell, I never in a million years imagined something like this would happen to us, and I’m sort of floored and flabbergasted and quasi-in-denial. I don’t feel like an author or the subject of a movie, or anything grand like that, which kind of makes me feel a little like a fraud. I’m still very much “just plain me”. I keep wondering whether they’ve just got the wrong person and haven’t realized it yet. Or I keep coming up with “what-if” scenarios and future disasters like “what if it all falls through and they change their mind before the contract is eked out?!?!?!” Which is unlikely, I know, but still, what can I say? I’m panicky and uncertain right now. A large portion of my life I’ve been told that I’m untalented, uninteresting, a disappointment to my family and to God, and ugly to boot; it’s still so hard for me to imagine or accept people being interested in me, much less enough to ask me to write an entire book about myself.

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I can’t say it enough; I am so grateful to my readers, friends, and the Street Voices and Twitter communities for having my back for so long.  Things are finally really looking up and there’s no way that I would have gotten to this point without the online support network that I’ve been lucky enough to find, as well as the utter kindness and generosity of E. Jean Carroll, ELLE magazine, and the most fantabulous Chris Schelling.  Thank you all, guys.

Hi all!  Quickie update  :)

Life-altering things have happened this week.  I need to check and find out what and how much I’m allowed to say, but looks as though I’m on the brink of exiting homelessness for good, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

Other than that, keeping on keeping on.  Matt’s still in Scotland, and is likely to be for about another month or so.  He’s working super hard keeping up HomelessTales.com, as always, and we’re still batting around red tape and fun things that have to be settled before we can marry or anything.  Still in love and so happy about it though, and that’s going a great ways toward keeping my spirits up.

I may have stable housing soon but will still, of course, continue advocating for homelessness, on this blog and elsewhere!  In fact, I’m glad to have recently done at least a little bit for a couple of girls on the east coast who were thrown out by their parents due to their sexual orientation, and are now living in a car in freezing weather conditions.  An appeal on Twitter brought a lot of fantastic suggestions for shelters, programs, donations, and just ways to keep warm in their current situation.  The girls wish for their names and location to remain anonymous, understandably, but I wanted to give them a shout-out on the blog and let them know that there are so many people rooting for them.  I also want to thank everybody on Twitter who reached out to help them, many mere moments after I posted the plea.

So, yep yep.  Thanks to my loyal readers for sticking around!  Also, I’m in the Guardian today, apparently.  I did this interview quite a while ago, and had assumed that it wasn’t going to go to print, since I didn’t hear back for so long.  So, an extra little bonus surprise today!

Something I think it’s always important to point out:  Compared to many, I have been and continue to be damn lucky.

I was fortunate enough to garner some media attention that has brought me opportunities.  True, I’m not in a house/apartment of my own just yet, but I’ve taken tremendous strides forward from the Walmart parking lot, and new possibilities continue to pop up here and there.  I am light years ahead of where I was, and the vast majority of it is due to sheer, dumb luck.

Not everyone is so lucky.  Most don’t get this kind of media attention, they go unnoticed.  And many are in very dire circumstances, much worse than my own.

It’s a double-edged sword, this good fortune I’ve had.  On the one hand, I’m very woohoo, perhaps my ship is finally coming in! On the other hand, I’m just one person.  It makes it all the more depressing to read about or even receive emails from hundreds more homeless people, many in far more horrible situations than mine ever has been, who need help.  I want to save all of them, and since I clearly can’t, perhaps the best I feel I can do is continue to try to make others aware of their plight, add their voices to my own.

Hey guys,

So, this afternoon I’m going to be on CNN again.  This time, though, it’s gonna be live!  *eep*  So tune in or set your TiVo to record CNN’s “Young People Who Rock” segment with the awesome Nicole Lapin at 12:30 PST!

I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything for over a week; the new job is fantastic and has been keeping me challenged/on my toes.  Plus my commute is four hours round-trip per day, and when I get back to the trailer, all I want to do is crash and unwind.  So I’ve been procrastinating, and I’m sorry.

I’m still on the back lot in Riverside, although that’s still a much huger step out of this.  In fact, it feels as though I’m in a bit more of a limbo between “homeless” and “not homeless”, by virtue of the fact that now I have some utility hookups, meaning that unlike living in the Walmart parking lot, I can flick on a light switch, cook, use the restroom, and even take a (cold) shower!  This is major progress!

Matt’s flying back home to Scotland on Monday, so I’m going to be spending all of my time this weekend with him – if you don’t see me around, that’s why!  This time, he won’t be able to make it back to Cali for probably 2 or 3 months, so that’s going to suck.

I swear though, after Matt lands safely in Scotland and I can stop chewing my nails over it, I’ll post a more comprehensive, detailed update.  I’ll also try my hardest to keep posting more often!

Love ya,

~Bri

Interview – Radio New Zealand (Nine to Noon)

Above is the link to the audio file of my interview Tuesday with New Zealand’s NPR show Nine to Noon.  Sorry, my cell phone connection flickered at a couple of points, but overall I feel like I did decent.

Surprise; CNN news anchor Ted Rowlands called in the morning and asked if CNN could come film a segment.  Thinking he meant in a few days, I said absolutely.  Come to find out, he meant in about 2 1/2 hours!  Panic mode.  Dude; Ted Rowlands and his awesome camera guy were in our trailer today.  Very surreal.  They were fantastic, by the way.  Very personable and set me at ease, so I barely noticed that I was in front of a camera.  They stuck around for about an hour and a half; not sure how long the segment itself will be.  It might air Wednesday morning or (more likely) Thursday morning.  If I get any more info beforehand, I will post it; otherwise, I’ll embed the video on the blog.

In about 5 1/2 hours I fly out to New York, where I be on The Today Show Thursday morning with E. Jean Carroll (my first time meeting her in person).  I can confirm that we are scheduled to be on around 10:30 a.m., and we are being interviewed by Hoda Kotbe and Kathie Lee Gifford.  Will try to get and embed this video as well in a post, if you’re not able to watch.  Sadly, Matt will not be able to accompany me to NY, although I tried my darndest to get them to fly him out as well.  Sadness.

So, yep yep!  After my Today Show appearance, I will be attending a couple of meetings in NY, and then leaving Manhattan to fly home in the early evening.  Should be back home by midnight, Friday morning.  Very, very busy.  And tired.  But all super exciting.

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Confidential to Stacey Niffenegger in Gilroy, CA:  I just received your very touching letter in my P.O. box.  Besides thanking you for your very kind and personal words, I wanted to tell you that you are fantabulous and I know you will do superbly at finishing out college.  Your determination to commute an hour each way to and from school to better yourself each day is inspiring to me, as I have yet to finish college myself (or indeed, to attend any classes other than community college ones).  Keep up the awesome work, and know that it’s OK and normal to feel overwhelmed sometimes, especially with a mountainous task like higher education before you.  You rock, chika!

~Bri

P.S.  There is a rat or mouse in our trailer.  We’re not sure which, but either way… gross!  It got into a bag of chips and a sack of potatoes.  Ewwwww.  I hate killing things, but traps must be bought!

So many wonderful people have asked/insisted that I let them know where/how to donate to help get me out of this jam.  I hate feeling like an e-panhandler and said “no thank you” to more people than I can count, but it’s a tribute to just how kind-hearted my readers are that they just won’t take no for an answer.

So, if you really would like to help, please PayPal donations to mdbarnes@hotmail.co.uk, or you can snail mail them to:  P.O. Box 1242, Brea, CA  92822-1242.  If you absolutely require my full name because you need to make out a check or money order, please contact me privately at info@girlsguidetohomelessness.com.  I get really nervous about giving out all of my info online.

Also, many have asked where to send expressions of outrage to Walmart.

You can call the Walmart Ethics line at:  1-800-WM-ETHIC

You can e-mail Walmart using their online form here:  http://walmartstores.com/contactus/feedback.aspx

You can snail-mail Walmart’s corporate headquarters at:  Walmart Stores, Inc., 702 SW 8th Street, Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611

Again, thank you so much to all of the kind readers who are so concerned for Matt and I!  All who offer assistance to us, please let me know who you are so I can send you a hand-written thank you card from the two of us.  We wish that we could do more, and we just want to make sure that you know how grateful we are.

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And now for updates… hi all!  I’m so sorry I haven’t been around a few days to let everyone know what’s going on.  Things have just been crazy and I haven’t had the time.  The turbocharger in my car decided to give out on the freeway on the way to an interview Thursday.  Luckily, the car continued to run until I got to the interview.  Afterwards, I went to a couple of autobody shops on the same street and was advised that the car should make it “home”, but not much further than that.  The last 7 miles of the way back, the car suddenly started making a grinding noises in addition to the high-pitched screaming whine of the shot turbocharger.  By the time I arrived at my destination, blue smoke was billowing out of the exhaust pipe.  Just barely made it.

The thing that bugs me most about this is that the car is only 4 years old and has only 56K miles on it (I should also point out that I’ve only had it for 2 years and only put 20K of those miles on it – I don’t drive my car hard or far at all).  NOTHING should go wrong with a car that new and with that few miles on it, much less something major like the turbocharger.

So now, a mechanic friend has been kind enough to locate a part for me.  The part is very expensive (but still about half the cost the autobody shop wanted to charge); with labor, it will cost at least the same amount to fix my car as it will to get the trailer out (the cost of which is increasing daily).  If we can manage to get the truck/trailer out of impound, we have been offered a place on private property to park it for very little money, so that is our goal.  However, the cost is increasing by $80 daily so we need to come up with a plan quickly.  We have heard nothing from Walmart yet.

However, job prospects are looking less-than-godawful.  Despite reading in today’s L.A. Times that unemployment in California has skyrocketed to 11.9% as the national rate declines to 9.4% (a post-WWII high for the state), I seem to be getting relatively decent results interview-wise.  Before the recession/depression we’re in now, I never had trouble getting jobs.  EVER.  I landed every interview I applied for, and was offered every job that I ever interviewed for.  It took me a matter of weeks or even days to find a new job.  Life was good.  But then, after layoffs, over the progress of 8 months of searching I landed only two interview requests (one of which offered me the job).  However, the past five days I have stayed up all day and most of the evenings (usually finally conking out around 4 a.m.) applying to hundreds of positions and have actually received 5 or 6 responses so far.  Besides the interview on Thursday (in West Covina), I now have one on Monday (in San Diego) and one on Tuesday (in Irvine).  Yes, I’m applying all over SoCal.  Please cross your fingers for me!  We were doing so well; we had a “cushion” of savings and were hoping to soon find an apartment, but then came the issues with the truck/trailer/car, the cushion vanished practically overnight and we’re back to square one.

So… all positive vibes are much appreciated.  Most of all, we are grateful for the outpouring of moral support we have received.  Thanks again to all.

Cheers!

~Bri (and Matt)

So, as of yesterday I’ve had like 25 people visit me from a vegan community on LiveJournal.  I’m intrigued, but the referring link is a protected entry, so I have no idea why I have been mentioned there.  Right now, I’m really, really hoping that I haven’t offended a bunch of vegan people somehow.

Other than that, it’s pretty slow here.  Hopefully will have some form of interesting news to post soon, but it’s been very quiet lately.  Still working on getting the vintage site up and running.  Also, Matt gets peevish at me when I try to take adorable photos of him to post here.

Next weekend, the grandparents of my half-sisters are visiting from Texas to pick up some of their inheritance from me (I need to sign over title and such things) so that should be interesting, and a slight change of pace.  Found out from the half-sisters’ mom that my mother is aware they are coming out, so right now I’m really hoping I don’t have to deal with my mother tagging along, as she generally tends to enjoy being vengeful or otherwise unpleasant and I just don’t have room in my life for that kind of negativity.

So… yup yup.  If anything interesting or otherwise exciting comes up, I’ll post it 

I know, I know, I’m sorry, but I can’t resist.  I swear in the morning I’ll go back to trying really hard to stay humble.  But tonight, two things:

First of all, BBC News blog Magazine Monitor has posted about Matt’s article this evening.  I found out when I checked my site analytics and suddenly there was a rush of people referred from the BBC website.  They’ve linked to my latest posting, “Bittersweet”.  Awwwww. *blushes*  I headed over there and found the blurb:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/06/web_monitor_30.shtml.

Needless to say, my reaction went something like this:

O.o

Matt LOVES the BBC.  In fact, much of his visit here was spent lamenting that American news stations don’t cover as much international news and topics as the BBC.  I think a little part of him died every time he saw a major news channel run something along the vein of Twiggy the Water-Skiing Squirrel when he was thirsting for more information on Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, etc.  So I just know he’ll get a huge kick out of this.  I’m frantically trying to text him awake and tell him, but I suspect his phone is off.  Still, it’s almost 8:30 a.m. in Scotland, so I imagine he’ll be up soon enough, and will get my messages.  Graaaaah, wake uuuuuuuup, Matt!!!!! 

Secondly… I just found out that I am the #3 search result on Google for the search term “homelessness”.  I freaked right out, let me tell you.  I’m right after the Wikipedia entry and the HUD (U.S. government department of housing).  I also discovered this indirectly through my analytics.

…When the hell did this happen?!  Oh my god.  Ohmigodohmigodohmigod.

OK, I’m done patting myself on the back for now.  Sorry.  Just got super excited.  Now if Matt will just wake up already so I can tell him!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31381205/ns/politics-washington_post/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31001101/ns/travel-news/

News like this makes me think maybe I’m on a sinking ship and should get the hell out of here before it gets worse… Mind you, there are always “crisis” scares just before everything seems to right itself and sail straight, but something tells me perhaps they’re serious when they’re saying the state government is 50 days away from a complete and total meltdown… what does that mean, anyway?  It doesn’t sound good, that’s for sure.  I’m starting to think perhaps we’ll all go bankrupt and I’ll never get my retroactive EDD benefits after all.  Ever.

Well… fuck.

*hurriedly looks up homes in upstate NY*

OK, so it’s update day.

First of all – woot, Matt made front page of Digg a few days ago!  So if you found me indirectly through his article, welcome!  We are both so appreciative for the outpouring of support and congratulations we’ve received from so many!  We have received a couple of offers of donations – honestly, for now we’re doing OK; there have been minor financial/food struggles occasionally, but on the whole we’re managing.  If you absolutely feel like you wish to make some sort of donation or contribution, please do so at HomelessTales.com – there is a “Donate” button in the right column of the front page that enables Matt to keep the site up and running, or you can PayPal him directly at mdbarnes@hotmail.co.uk.

It looks like we have another reprieve for Fezzik, thanks to Karma Rescue in Los Angeles.  I originally adopted Fez from Karma, and when things got too tight to afford his board with Sage (my hours and pay at work were recently cut), I tearfully contacted them to find out about re-adopting him out.  Well, it turns out that Karma would love to see us kept together, so they have super-duper-generously offered to pay his board for three months.  I can’t tell you how amazingly awesome that is – Matt and I are struggling to move him out here and buy a home together, and we had envisioned our life as a family with Fezzik as our dog, sleeping in our room, loving and protecting our children, etc.  It was so difficult to send that e-mail to Karma Rescue, and neither of us expected such an accommodating and generous response.  Our effusive thanks to Rande and Cassian of Karma, and to Barbara DeSantis, Fezzik’s former foster mom (as an aside, her husband is director Larry Charles, who directed Religulous, which is a really interesting and thought-provoking documentary about religion – how awesome is that?!)  If you are looking for a dog, or dogs are close to your heart, please support and/or adopt through them.  You can find their list of adoptable pets here.  I have nothing but good things to say about them; they care so much about each and every animal that they place, and were on hand every time I had a question or needed help regarding Fezzik or his training.  I recommend them so, so highly.

Matt’s next visit to Cali is in early July, and he will be staying through October.  We seem to have found a low-cost rent option for that time period (we have stayed in the trailer for a few days since we ran out of motel funds, and let me tell you, that thing was not meant for two people!) so that’s helpful.   As a plus, we will also have access to utilities/facilities which will mean no more driving 8 miles to shower at the gym, or walking to the Arco gas station at 3 a.m. to use the restroom!  Yay!  Matt flies back home one week from today (*sniffle*) so for the couple of weeks that he is in Scotland I will stay in the trailer and accummulate/hoard funds for fun things – such as a house and a low-budget, very DIY wedding 

California’s 90-day foreclosure moratorium started today, blegh.  Unless I am misunderstanding something, this means that the possibility of purchasing the house I was pining over is now pretty much kaput, or at least on hiatus for the next 3 months or more (it was a short sale), so I may need to just look at other options…  Matt and I are scoping out a few other places and are working on raising the necessary funds, which is around $10K-$15K.  Still waiting on my back EDD claim forms – FINALLY got through to EDD via phone (not just e-mail) last week and was assured that THIS time, they are REALLY sending out all my claim forms (I remain skeptical, yet hopeful).  With that money, we would have a good head start towards the money we need to buy our own home.

We are also working towards setting up an online business for me, to sell my vintage clothing on.  I just have way, waaaaay too much of it, and while I’ve done a decent job selling off some pieces on eBay, I’m well aware that I have a good eye for it, and a drive to do a lot more with it than I have, and make quite a decent profit.  Combined with Matt’s knowledge of the interwebz, I think we can go a long ways more towards helping ourselves out financially.  Still hoping not to have to sell Ingrid, but I would like to sell the trailer once Matt and I are more settled elsewhere.  It was to eventually go to my sister in AZ, but alas, no longer, so it’s mine to do as I please with (woot!)  I would also like to eventually sell my car and just use the (paid-off) truck I inherited (which is currently towing the trailer), but evil Wachovia is making that sooooo difficult.  I’ve contemplated joining one of the several pending class-action lawsuits against them; I wonder if it’s worth the hassle.  From what I’ve read, thousands of other consumers have been ripped off by them, car-loan-wise.  What a bunch of crooks.  The dealer I bought the car through chose them to finance me; I wish I’d known better at the time than to go ahead with the purchase, but it was my first car loan, so oh well.  Life happens, and you take lessons from it, I guess.

So yep yep, if you asked a question in the previous comments, I hope this post answers it, and thanks again sooooooo much to everyone with kind words and support.  I’m so happy and it just goes to show that great things can come out of even the most shite situations.  I will continue to dig my way out of homelessness, and I fully realize how lucky I am to have so many awesome people cheering me on.

Love,

~Bri