The world needs more Ben Mercer.

A frustrating day for the most part. Left the house at 7:15. We sat around and listened to people talk at us. Then we had lunch. Then we listened to more people talk at us. Tried on boots, left Timberland, ran errands, came home. I feel like I just ate dinner, and now I'm already late for bed time. Today was a lot of "Yay Timberland, you give us money! And clothes!" Plus some very basic, general City Year stuff that would have been more helpful if we'd had a little bit of context. Hopefully the more useful stuff starts tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the basic and necessary things are really difficult. We can't get any time off until the week after next, which means three weeks of work before we can even apply for food stamps. I can't get in touch with anyone to make an appointment for an interview for heating assistance, because they are closed when we leave at 7:15 and closed when we return at 6ish. We don't get cell phone service at Timberland either, so we can't call on our lunch break. We can't get internet at the house for three weeks because they don't have any weekend appointments until then. And the only way we could get an appointment during the week is between 4:30 and 6:30, and we can't leave Timberland until 5:30 at the earliest. We might get free internet from Comcast, but no one knows for sure. We also might get free cell phones from T-Mobile... but no one knows about it.

All I want is food, housing, and maybe my own internet connection.

That would be nice.