Rent raised so far: $225.00

In less than 24 hours, my friends raised $225.00 for me towards my rent (I have awesome friends!).

And, my good friend pocketlama is doing a photography fundraiser for me! Buy a print for $40 or more, and he'll donate the profits to me. Isn't that sweet?

I have another avenue to try in borrowing some money. I'll get back to you on that.

A little over 24 hours to go. I may avoid eviction yet!

Job Hunt 2008: Not much today

Called Manpower and Kelly to let them know I am available (I call them once a week).

Scanned CraigsList for any leads. Not much.

Feel like I am just going thru the motions. I am sure that shows in interviews. I don't fake enthusiasm well.

Jahan helps me build a new light box stand

Jahan drilling the light box stand

It's that time of year again, when the light dwindles and Bellingham goes into a months-long stretch of gloomy, rainy winter.

It's also the time of year when my Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) kicks in, and I have to use a Light Box to keep the winter blues at bay. This is my 3rd winter with the box, and it does work for me.


My neighbours, Nate and Jahan, came up to hang out this afternoon, and watch Iron Man (decent movie). While we watched, Jahan noticed the partially assembled light box stand that I had started making out of 2x4s I had purchased and stained over a year ago, but never got around to completing. Intrigued by the project, he offered to finish assembling it for me.

It took several hours, but we got it done. While he was drilling, sawing, and screwing pieces together (ahhh, the stereotypical gay fantasy -- a hunky butch straight man doing construction in my apartment), I cleaned off the desk, wiped everything down to get the dust off, and re-ran all of the wires to the light box, computer, printer, modem and paper shredder. Then I vacuumed, emptied the trash and recycling, swept off the porch, and defrosted the refrigerator. Nate helped, too.

Unable to do anything but fret about tomorrow's rent deadline, it felt like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic -- cleaning up and organizing my space made me feel better, even though it may all be a moot point if I am evicted. But at least I was doing something productive.

I'm grateful to Jahan for prodding me to get this project finished. The stand lifts the light box up 6" above the computer monitor, so I can use the light box while working on the computer.

The completed light box stand

( See the complete photo set )