Home on a Monday

 Regarding the previous two entries, I did get a hold of the woman A asked me to, and she did go see him, brought him his phone, and fed and watered the dog.  She called me right at 2:30 but I didn’t hear is or feel it (it was in my front pocket too).

I have bused it home from the Thrift Shop I’m doing the Job Assessment at for Vocational Rehab, where I’m in my second and last week of evaluation.  The whole thing is kind of mysterious to me, but it’s nice to get out into the Real World and to ride the bus, which I have not done for years, I guess.

Apparently I’m "the floor guy" at the thrift shop since that’s what I’ve done all five days I’ve been there.  I have been a janitor, I mean, custodian before, and I suppose I can do it again, no problem, if it works out that way.  I was a custodian for the Scottish Rite of Portland, a Masonic group, in 1998, and although it didn’t pay but minimum wage, I did have "Gold=Plated" health insurance, which took care of me when I wrecked my car 15 years ago.

I was doing that job in the daytime and going to Portland State University in the evenings when I had the wreck; I finished the degree after that, when I could.  I had already done "the hard parts" by then, so all I really needed to do was fill out the requirements to graduate.  That was good for me, I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury in the wreck, and school, which had been too easy, was much harder, and more of an accomplishment, after the brain injury.

I have to laugh, because I did get that Bachelor’s Degree, and I’m thinking that I can go back to being a janitor, P/T.

I’ve dust mopped the thrift shop every day I’ve been there, and today, after that, I went on and did what I’ve been doing for days now, checking the racks for clothes off hangers and finding the empty ones.  I really really have to grin:  I have handled more bras in five days than I have in five years at least.  The Women’s Section of the store is much larger than the Men’s section, and I’ve concentrated on that because those racks get more attention.

Next week, I have an appointment with VocRehab and the group I’m working with now and it will be interesting to hear what they say.  I have to hope that this won’t fuck up my application for Disability; a couple of hours, traveling and working and coming home wears me out much more than it would have before the wreck.  I’m thinking that not only was I a poor charter bus driver, but also that I was acting dangerously by driving that big ol’ bus – some of those days were 14 hours of work.  I didn’t hurt anyone, but I did "hurt" my buses 3 times, taking right turns too sharply and grinding the side of the bus against light poles and wrecking a parked car the last time.  I think I was fortunate and that my luck would have run out if I had kept that job.

(I’m sure they were gonna fire me anyway, and they did, officially)

I’ve been discovering things I can still do; walking a dust mop around a store is no problem. but my legs are tired and the meds have worn off; and we’ll have to increase the Adderall dose because I was yawning on both buses home and didn’t get off and walk, like I used to do.  Age or injuries?  I’m 51 now, so maybe it’s age AND the results of the car crash… The bus I ride across the river goes over the Morrison Bridge, MY  bridge, and I pass the spot they told me the car ended up twice a day now.

15 years ago, come 4/23.

I haven’t been to OHSU for that long either; I guess it will look different.  Not that I even remember being in that ICU.

Gotta go see my friend.

 

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