Life On The Streets Of Tampa: Let's Meet Anna

Anna is one of those people who has been living on the streets for the past 5 months. This is not her first time in the great outdoors.
Anna is somewhere around the age of 54, 5 feet 7 inches, and she probably weighs in at about 110 pounds. Anna is a pretty womean for her age. She's been lucky that the beer that she drinks every day really hasn't aged her all that much. Yet. Anna has been a heavy beer drinker for at least the last 20 years and she loves the " Natural Ice " brand of the stuff.
So how did I come across Anna? I had arrived in Tampa back in June, and, with nothing better to do I went looking for some of my old friends. It took about a week before I ran into an old friend named Waymon. I've known Waymon for over 10 years, so he was the logical first choice in seeking out the past. My, how Waymon has changed! H'es been a heavy drinker since his late teens and he hasn't slowed down over the years. In Fact, he's gotten worse! Anyway, I stumbled onto he and Anna sitting in a breeze-way next door to a grocery store. Waymon was sauced on his wine and Anna was looking pretty well-lit on her beer.
Anna is one of those people who should be drinking nothing harder than Kool-Aid, or maybe a diet Pepsi. She can handle one beer, and even two without going into the "stupid zone", but after three or more, all hell will break loose! I'm not talking about the usual drunken rants and raves. Hers is a little different than most. She likes to mumble on an almost non-stop basis. This can get pretty annoying to most people, especially non-drinkers. She knows very few of those, by the way. Three beers or more also makes her hear things. I'm not speaking of alien voices or the usual shit inside someones head. I'm talking about not hearing what someone has actually said to her. Sort of like selective-hearing. What one says, and what one hears is not the same thing, no matter how clearly the comment is. Anna has this down to a tee.
I should note that when not partaking in her beer habit to the extreme, Anna is a very sweet, and intelligent woman. When she gets going though, it doesn't take her to long to get what I call " stuck on stupid." I'll explain that one in my next post.

Tampa Florida: Land Of The Lost..

... and that is putting it mildly, my friends.
I've lived here three times since the early eighties and it has turned worse in this over-grown town each time that I come here. I'm speaking of the work here, the people, and the attitude in this shithole.
Tampa tries to make itself llok like a modern town with all of the trappings of a big city, but once you have been here for any lenght of time, and not as a tourist, you soon see that this place is one big rat-hole!
One of the bigger problems here in the Tampa Bay area, other than the Rays, is the county and the city's way in which they deal with the homeless. Believe me, there are many homeless in the Tampa area and they are spread out all over the place. This is particularly true in the Northern section of the town, as well as downtown, and the South side. Every where that you go in Tampa is a haven for pan-handlers and such. Some of these folks are unable to work, or to find any work in the first place. I have a soft spot for those types. But, the fact is that many of the beggers are just to damned lazy to go out and look for work. That takes effort and doing such a thing would take away from their beer drinking time. In some cases, that is all of the day. I have no sympathy what-so-ever for those types of homeless. With the drinkers, you may as well throw in the crack-heads, and the pill-poppers. these fucks always are broke in the mornings and are out bumbing smokes and what ever.
I write all of this for one reason. Since I've been here the past few months, I've taken one of these homeless alcoholics under my wings, so to speak, just to see if I could get them to get their act together. To see how bad that they really wanted to quit and to get off of the streets.
I am not some rookie at this type of thing folks. Having been an alcoholic and a drug addict, and on the streets myself once, I know what kind of effort and work that it can take to get oneself off of the shit and off of the streets. It ain't easy, but, you have to really want to do it for yourself. If you do not, then there is no one who can help you no matter what they try to do for you.
With that in mind, my next post will introduce you to Anna, an alcoholic who lives on the streets of Tampa, and one person who surely has no business being in her situation. Anna is one of those drinkers who you can't talk to without her getting defensive and using the " it's not my fault " excuse. One who wants to change things in her life, but does nothing to make things happen. I think that you will find her an interesting study, and story. Stay tuned.