This Time, It's A Private Estate Sale

First:


Thanks to all my friends who have been so thoughtful and patient with me during this trying time. UPDATE: I've been able to get a roommate for the apartment and thereby keep my home!


But the estate sale is still on! 


And added to the items already featured here: dress shirts ($2), t-shirts ($1), books ($1 for hardback $.50 for paperback), CDs ($.50 or 5 for $2), caps ($.50), sweaters ($2), sweatshirts ($1.50), hoodies ($2). Most of the clothes are X-Large, but there will be some in Medium as well. 


Make no mistake about it, however, this is still a QUALITY ESTATE SALE.


Again, all the things featured in the video are for sale. 
The only items that have sold: 

Copper Art Nouveau Jewelry Box
Crystal Bowl
Majolica bowl
Silver Service of 103 pieces
Framed Egyptian Isis Papyrus


In addition: there will also be a number of SIGNED books by famous authors and celebrities.

THERE WILL BE A PRIVATE ESTATE SALE 
THIS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 AT 7:00 PM. 

It is PRIVATE because of security reasons: we cannot advertise the sale with the address. In other words, I need to know how many people are coming so that someone can be stationed at the door, if needs be. 


TO OBTAIN THE ADDRESS: email danvojir@gmail.com and I will send out the address asap. Also, feel free to email me with any questions you may about the items for sale. If you are very interested in a particular piece, please let me know so that I may set it aside.


Thanks to everyone for your support.

Again, here are just some of the hundreds of items being sold:

Lovely small wooden icon 11" high 
$20


Chinese leather "heade rest" box (Below) $15

27" JVC TV $100
Accompanying Phillips DVD player and speakers $75
BOTH: $150

Costa Rican Jade bust 6" high. 250 years old!
$100

NOTE: 


There are also a number of SIGNED books by authors and personalities such as Anne Rice, Betty White, Allan Ginsberg, Colleen McCullaugh, Connie Francis, Sophie Tucker. 

The Stress Just Keeps Coming and Coming and Coming...But I'm still here!

Good News/Not So Good News/Bad News


1. Park Merced is willing to let me stay IN MY/MICHAEL'S OLD APARTMENT.
2. I have to provide them with a subsidy from AIDS Housing Alliance and one from Catholic Charities.
3. I have to COME UP WITH A ROOMMATE
4. ... AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!


I am now frantically posting on Craigslist, and every roommate listing service I can find. $950 month. Ocean view. Fully furnished (is it ever!). So far (last 3 hours) only one person (professional woman from Peru) answered, but I expect (hope) more will be able to meet within the next several days. 


If you know of anyone who fits the bill on this one, have them contact me IMMEDIATELY at 415-239-6455 (home/message phone).

Different Gears Different Tears

I just got this from SFHA:

live-in aide is a person who resides with one or more elderly persons, near-elderly persons or. The definition of a live-in aide is recorded in 24 CFR Section 5.403 which states that a persons with disabilities and who is: (1) determined to be essential to the care and well-being of the persons; (2) is not obligated for the support of the persons; and (3) would not be living in the unit except to provide the necessary supportive services. It should be noted that the definition applies to a specific person. In accordance with this definition, a live-in aide is not a member of In accordance with 24 CFR Section 982.316, the PHA must approve the person identified the assisted family and is not entitled to the HCV as the remaining member of the tenant family as the live-in aide.

Sold A Few Things, But Not My Soul - YET

This was a very bad, bad Monday, so if you don't want to get bummed out for the rest of the week, just skip this part and look at some of the new items for sale, OK?


A usual, MUNI was wonky, but today, wonky in the extreme: it ended by being closed down by police because of a protest. Actually all the BART stations were closed down, so therefore Metro stations downtown were closed. Wonderful!


I talked to the manager of Park Merced about the time of my departure should Section 8 completely screw me: he said he'd call me tomorrow after a meeting with other Park Merced heads and another talk to Section 8. Meanwhile, I'm still pushing for people/organizations to pressure Section 8. Unfortunately, more pressure is on me than anyone, but I'm getting used to being frustrated, angry ... and a bit scared. I have to make sure letters from AIDS Legal Referral Panel and my doctor get faxed over to Section 8 as early as possible, then beg them to consider my paying that enormous back rent sum in installments, if they'll accept. 


After tomorrow, I'll either be resting or dancing or fighting or frantically trying to shove everything out of this place. Don't you love life's alternatives?


Here's some more items up for sale:

               

St. Michael and Satan Greek icon
paper on gilded wood
9.75" x 6.75"


$25

Fun straw box as Victorian house
6" Tall x 5.5"W x 3" D


$15


                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                              

Fun, decorative and practical - if you have a camel.

These are CAMEL STRAPS! The desert tribes had their specific designs

to show off! 

63" L x 5.75" W

Pair: $80                                                                                 

Pounding the Pavement in the Tenderloin

That's what I'm doing. It's a mess, but I have to do it to back up the whole situation. I have to be out in 16 days!  Of course, Park Merced hasn't said as much, but I can't trust anyone these days. In any case, the selling off must go on. I just put some of the big ticket items (Scarlett, the Moureau Voutier Bronze, the GWTW collection) on Craigslist and eBay. A bit hard to part with - Scarlett especially - but I can't have these things in a smaller space. Storage is almost out of the question unless it's  a very small space. And if I wind up in one of the SROs, I'll have to put some things away for sure. 


The problem with the SROs (Single Room Occupancy) is that while some of them are nice, clean and have amenities (one actually has a small gym), the neighborhoods are literally crawling with ... crawling people: drunks, hookers, etc. Not exactly a place where one could entertain guests comfortably - they'd never show up! Period!


And, believe it or not, some SROs are up to $1100 per month!!


OK, enough of the griping. Here are some additional pieces for anyone to consider.

set of six small hand-painted bone-china bowls - perfect for dessert. ca. 4" dia.


$35.00

















Enormous terra cotta bowl in native pattern
16.25" dia
$30

Mayan-inspired bust made of Costa Rican Jade
THIS PIECE IS OVER 275 YEARS OLD!
5.5" tall - 4.5" deep
$150


MORE TO COME TOMORROW!

Section 8 and the Big Bad Caregiver

I've come to the realization that caregivers are cursed: they have an urge to do something for others, but it won't get them jack shit in this life (maybe the next, but when that comes, well, BFD). Take for example, the brouhaha I'm currently undergoing with Section 8:


Short Version:


Couple gets married - registers for Domestic Partnership - loses house - takes advantage of a Section 8 voucher - signs up healthier one as "live-in aide" to get better place to live - one partner has series of life-threatening illnesses so the other signs up as his IHSS caregiver - partner dies - the survivor finds out caregivers have no rights to Section 8 vouchers. 


Long Version:


Probably be coming out in DVD starring Tom Hanks and Geraldo Rivera (well, I USED to look like him - a bit). 


The supporting cast in this saga is: 


San Francisco city Supervisor Sean Elsbrend
Park Merced Manager Bert Polacci
AIDS Housing Alliance
AIDS Legal Referral Panel
AIDS Emergency Fund
Housing Rights Committee
Catholic Charities
SFHA Section 8 Supervisor Henry Alvarez
Dr. Virginia Cafaro


So far ...


UPDATE: Sean Elsbrend has now related to me that "IF" SFHA were to even consider transferring Michael's voucher to me, they might want to charge me for BACK RENT due to the fact that: 1. as a caregiver, I did not combine our incomes, thereby paying less rent and 2. as a "live-in aide" requiring a separate bedroom, Michael and I were living in a larger apartment than warranted. What the difference in rent would be I can only guess: 9 years of rents times say $200-300 per month comes out to - hell, A LOT!


Bite Me!


The saga will continue ... to screw up my weekends waiting for answers. Meanwhile I have to get rid of EVERYTHING since a room with a shared bath in the Tenderloin is a bit small. And I have to plan the estate sale - and, of course, THE PAINTING PARTY!!


Stay tuned...

One Life - Another - and Another

Welcome to my life as it is now. LIVES. I should say welcome to my lives, for I've lived more than several. No, I'm not a believer in reincarnation, but I have had so many experiences - in groups, in phases - that sometimes I think I've had more lives than anyone. I look back and think of the expansion of 64 years: 1947 to 2011. Put a time line to it in history and you'll see that having gone through it - in Chicago and San Francisco, in various travels, through 4 colleges and universities, through dozens (sad to say) of different jobs, in different physical phases - reveals an incredible series of variations on the theme of life. 


Selling off everything (or trying to) gives you a different perspective on life. Some people say that "LIFE" is just a collection of "STUFF" but I disagree. Sure, what I'm selling from my life has meaning only to me and the people who have seen/used/admired things I've used along my way in life. 


So the things that I'm selling - some good, some not so good, some, well... may be an extension of me, but they all deserve a chance to become an extension of someone else. They're still useful, practical, beautiful. They're still full of their own life. Oh, some of the seemingly insignificant items might not last long (don't worry, I'm not selling anything that will fall apart the next day), but even they deserve to be useful for as long as they can. 


So don't look upon me as selling things that mean so much to me that I would normally not part with them. It merely means that I can no longer use them for what they were created for and I want to give them a chance to be useful to someone else.