When Andy first came here, he had a hard time starting off like most people usually do unless they’re rich. He called this church and they came out and gave him tons of food. We both applied for food stamps and we must go to their office this Tuesday. In the meantime, I have very little money. Robert upstairs was kind enough to give me a few things. Fortunately, they were things he didn’t like or want so he was just as glad to give them to me as I was to have them. He gave me some ramen noodles, tuna fish, oysters, clam chowder and coffee. Double Dutch Chocolate coffee which he said he tried and hated. It’s not as good as the Café Francais or the Café Vienna, but it’s OK. Andy’s fed me here and there too, but now I’ll be helping him to earn it from him. He owes $625 for getting the transmission on his car fixed, so tomorrow when the church comes with food I’ll give him stuff I don’t like or want. I’ll also owe Andy for long-distance phone calls, $150 for the electric deposit and for the ad. We placed an ad to sell my plane ticket back to Bradley as it was a round-trip special for $220. We managed to sell it for $87 and I also cleaned his place today. That’ll work off the rest of what I owe him which will be around $200.

Once a year, with verification, the electric company will help too, so we’ll see. Then, I’ll be all set as long as SS doesn’t fuck with me. If they do, Mom and Dad will step in.

Other than all that I should be OK financially but I won’t have hardly any extra spending money.

Later...

Shadow is lying here with me purring away. Andy was shocked at how big he got. So was Dad. Brenda was right, I guess, about Shadow after all.

The only bad thing here now is that there are tons of roaches, grasshoppers and tons of other bugs. Mark, next door, says he’s getting the same thing. The sewer roaches here can be a problem. They are so fucking huge, too. I mean, humongous. I will call the office tomorrow. Andy has no bugs. The only problem he had, in the beginning, was with ants and spiders, but they sprayed his place and that got rid of them. I’ve had shitloads of spiders, too. I am on the ground after all and this is Arizona. At least mosquitoes aren’t such a problem here as they are back east and in Florida.

When I call the office to have them come spray, I’ve got to hide Shadow in Andy’s place. Pets are only allowed on second floors and require a $220 pet deposit. That’s fucking crazy! It appears that someone from the office saw him out on my patio, so I’m keeping him inside now. They sent me a certified letter to get rid of him. That already tells me something about the people who work here. Why did they have to waste their time and money on a certified letter? Couldn’t they just tell me to my face directly?

Later...

On my first day here Andy took me to see Camelback Mountain and Squaw Peak Mountain. They’re awesome and so huge! It’s at a place called Paradise Valley that completely blows Longmeadow away. There are tons of gorgeous multi-million-dollar homes all through that mountain. Each home looks so different and so gorgeous. I love those Spanish-style roofs that are common here and stuccoed walls. Just about everyone has pools and several varieties of palm trees and cactuses. Those homes have such beautiful views of the mountains above them and downtown PHX below. One house was practically embedded into a huge boulder on the mountain. The rock pretty much hung over the house. On top of Squaw Peak, Andy took a picture of me with downtown PHX all behind me. You could look down and see forever. It was an awesome view. He took pictures of me here in and around my apartment, too.

He was able to show me a very tiny part of Stevie Nicks’s house. He showed me all of her parent’s house which we drove right up to. It’s small, shady, and has many types of trees with flowers.

Another neat thing around here is that there are lots of street names and places in Spanish. Now that I’m here, I can translate these things for Andy. Robert speaks Spanish and there are lots of Mexicans here, of course.

Tucson is 2 hours away and Mexico’s about 4 hours away. The Grand Canyon is 3 hours away. Someday, we’re gonna go there. That ought to be really nice and a breathtaking view, I’m sure.

The name of this apartment complex is Vista Ventana which means Window View in Spanish. Next to us is El Camino Dr. That means “the walk” or “the way.” There’s a building called El Caro which means The Expensive.