Category: 2011

A conversation had this afternoon during my rooftop gardening group:

Mr. RL:  Miss R, it’s kind of bright out here, you should be wearing sunglasses.

Me: I know, I get headaches when I’m in the sun too long, I should run downstairs and get them.

Mr. RL: Well, to be honest, I am not worried about you getting a headache — I am worried that if you keep squinting like that you are going to get wrinkles.  Quite frankly, now that you have that bump on your head (see previous post) we need to try extra hard to preserve your looks if you want to have any hope of catching a husband.  They say beauty fades, but there’s no need to encourage it to flee. Continue reading “a wrinkle in thyme.” →

A friend of mine talked me into playing in a “don’t worry, it’s not competitive” softball game this last weekend, which left me with a wicked headache and even more wicked greyish/blue bump on my forehead (no, I was not hit by the ball, I may have…errr, ran into someone else’s head or something….).  When I got to work I was given several observations and directives on how to care for myself:

“You look like you are about to sprout a horn, just like a unicorn!  Cool!”

“Make sure you don’t sleep for the next 48 hours.”
(about 36 hours AFTER it had already happen and roughly 12 hours of sleep later) Continue reading “take one for the team.” →

One of my residents has insisted on speaking with a cockney accent for the last 2 weeks. Yesterday she came to my office begging me to find her a grand piano for the building as she is “ready to begin performing again.” I asked her where she thought it’d fit in the building and she suggested her bathroom.

Now I am going to go ahead and dare YOU, my dear reader, to have the heart (and straight face) to tell her ‘no.’

As I mentioned in my previous post, last week we held a memorial for a dear man that passed away. After the service was over, the pastor whom had volunteered to lead the celebration sat down with me…

Pastor: So ma’am, how long have you been here on Skid Row, at (insert anonymous apartment name)? I’ve seen you walking around the area for quite some time now, so I know it’s been awhile, right?

Me: Yes, I’ve been down here a little over 3.5 a half years and before that was in Pasadena.

Pastor: Oh yeah? Where were you in Pasadena?

Me: (names shelter of previous employment) Continue reading “another memorial (of my dignity).” →

One of my residents came into my office wearing head-to-toe white this morning….

Me: Mr. G, look at you in your white get-up, you look like an angel!

Mr. G: No, no, I didn’t wear white to be like an angel, I wore it because I like you, my sweet counselor, and YOU’RE white!