Volume LVI: Fabulous Friday Free Lance – The ‘S’ Word is My Sword

I know – it’s not a very original Title today.  It is, however, appropriate.  I Created the Fabulous Freelance Friday Edition as a new Feature for The Good News Journal earlier this year.  The Idea was to dedicate each day of the week to something different, and the Hope was that it would encourage and inspire Me to Keep one of My other commitments to Write more this year.  ‘Fabulous Freelance Friday’ was the second Title I came up with after ‘Motivational Monday’, (which may become ‘Magical’ Monday) and I remember Feeling excited about it because it felt like I was cheating on a diet or something, sneaking a small Gift into My new discipline.

Freelance Friday was Created so I could Write about whatever I Wish, embracing the Idea of Freelance Journalism with the Intention of adding inter-Views as the weather improves.  There are never any coincidences in My Universe and My second meeting with the city of Ottawa was this morning.  I have to say, it went rather Fabulously, which seemed kismet for the Freelance Friday Edition.

I Will start off by saying that Paul Lavigne, director of Housing Services, was not at all what I had expected, and that’s a Good thing.  I’m reasonably confident that Paul probably didn’t think much of Me going into this meeting, though I’m also reasonably confident I wasn’t what he’d been expecting, either.

I had looked Paul up on his LinkedIn public profile.  I’m not going to share it because I’m not convinced it’s him!  The weirdest Part about it, is that the Paul I did meet today looks exactly like the man I looked up – except ten years younger, and fit.  It was the strangest thing.  He almost had the same ‘Style’ as Me – it looked like everything he was wearing could have come from ‘Guess’.  ‘Guess’ is really all I wear, with the exception of My Fancy Fluevog’s, which I wore (of course).  It was like walking into the room and meeting a version of Me from another dimension.

From start to finish, the meeting was roughly an hour and fifteen minutes.  We got booted from the conference room after an hour, though We were just wrapping up.  The meeting continued in the hallway for another ten to fifteen minutes, and the overall result was Good.  Really Good.  I am thing King We have a better Sense of One another now.

I Give My Self a lot of ‘breaks’ in some Ways; I won’t allow My Self to feel guilty if I don’t feel like Writing for a day, or punish My Self if I miss a work out.  But when it comes to Matters of the Heart, I feel like there is no compromise – anything less than everything is a loss.  Did I change any of the Forms in any meaningful Way for anyone else that may be required to fill them out?  No.  That made if feel like a bit of a loss for Me because I really wanted them to Give that up without Issue.  I was genuinely surprised they contested Me on it.  Only five to ten minutes after the meeting had concluded, did I realize (to See things with Real Eyes) how successful the meeting actually was.

It would appear the city is going to Honour their resolution agreement with Me.  I made a lot of changes to the terms and conditions of the Forms I completed, the only one they had an Issue with, was weekly visits by a Case worker.  I changed it to no visits at all once I’m settled in the apartment.

“So once We get You into the apartment, You don’t ever want to let a Case worker into the apartment to take a look?  Not even once?” – Paul Lavigne (paraphrasing)

It’s True, I really don’t!  However, when I heard it out of Paul’s mouth, I could empathize with his concern.  Still, I didn’t want to Give it away without as King of Paul to please also empathize with why it should not be required, and why One might find it offensive.  I agreed to allow a Case worker to be assigned to Me so they can authorize the subsidy, assist Me in furnishing the apartment, and visit Me once after I get settled.  I think I may have even said I might be kind enough to allow two visits.

These were the kind of Issues I was struggling with regarding the Forms.  Another one was giving them notice if anyone moves in with Me, which I basically said was none of their business.  Instead, I promised to Give them Notice of any change in income, which is what I presume they really want to know.

As much as I don’t like to admit it, most of the homeless People I have known would need most or all of the supports offered.  I’m not sure Paul was any fonder of Me by the end of Our meeting, but I am thing King We developed an understanding of one another.  He acknowledged I’m not like most People they cater to – and somewhere along the Way, I realized it, too.  At some point, it occurred to Me that it might be unreasonable to expect everyone to take the rights, or the risk of offending individuals, as seriously as I do.  That’s My Way of saying I was not as Fierce this Friday as I had anticipated I would be.

There’s an expression, ‘Seeing Red’.  When I first saw the Forms, it was like Visualizing a Fierce Fireball burning the Form as it was Red (Magical Spelling of Word metaphor Intention-all).  Paul’s demeanor may have made all of the difference, too.  Although there were several times I could detect a condescending tone, My intuition indicated it was not intentional, he genuinely believed I was hiding something, that there was a reason I wouldn’t allow the Case worker to visit My apartment.  That’s one of the reasons I was okay with compromising My position – I thought it would be a Good opportunity to earn Paul’s Trust without Giving up too much.

The other reason I felt it might be beneficial to compromise was because the meeting was scheduled for a full hour; after forty-five minutes, all We had done was clarify who would have access to My (private) information, for what purpose, and My general disclaimer in the belief the requirement is inappropriate and potentially unconstitutional (on the grounds there shall be no performance demand required in the exercise of a right).  When the only other thing they were as King of Me about was visitation, I realized Paul was probably only Given permission to be tall King with Me about the one Issue – and he probably had to come up with some horrendous hypothetical Fantasy about what I might be conspiring to do if I am not even going to allow anyone to look inside My apartment after I move in.  Consider the worst possible scenario and You Will likely picture the Portrait Paul painted of Me for Genevieve.

The city has also concluded their investigation of My Complaint regarding the Salvation Army.  I have officially secured subsidy toward an apartment of My choice, first and last month rent deposit paid by the city, and a $1500.00 start up allowance for furniture.  My budget for an apartment (with/including subsidy) is roughly $975.00 month, which is manageable as I Will be looking for something modest.

1237 Words.  Perfect end to the Perfect day.  I would even have managed to get this Post Writ at a more reasonable time, but My Friend offered to take Me out for ‘all You can eat’ sushi to celebrate.  Who says no to all You can eat sushi?

Basically, the city has Honoured their resolution agreement three days early.  I’m not actually in My own place yet, but the Forms are Signed and things are taking Shape – I could potentially be in a place April 1st, depending on how long it takes to get things rolling.  I’m not necessarily ‘pleased’ with the outcome of the investigation report, but the outcome wasn’t discussed, so I’m not Focusing on that right now.  The agreement was to have the investigation concluded on or before April 1st, provide Me with the necessary subsidy for a modest bachelor or one bedroom apartment, and Lady Genevieve has Honoured her Word on behalf of the city.

Bravo, city of Ottawa!

A Special thank You to Genevieve and Paul for accommodating My demanding persona.

Love and Blessings,

Post Script:  I Will upload the audio file of the meeting in a future post.  I’m going to see if I can edit out the dead time at the front and back of the audio first.