Hi Everyone!

I've been meaning to do this since I migrated from the bad site in November 2022. I may be guilty of procrastination from time to time. Anyway.. I started on mastodon.social, migrated to mastodon.lol (RIP), briefly ran my own mastodon instance and then migrated to the mighty beige.

I'm a middle-aged, white, #bisexual, #polyamorous, cisgender male and deal with #BPD, #anxiety, and #depression. I live on the outskirts of what I lovingly call the "Mormon Vatican". I self-medicate with #cannabis to maintain emotional regulation. I live with my partner who struggles with #CPTSD, crippling anxiety, depression and BPD tendencies; and also with our obese, codependent #BorderCollie. I almost compulsively use profanity. My content is probably not suited for younger viewers.

My partner is currently unable to work due to the aforementioned conditions. We're currently between residences and have been staying in an extended-stay style hotel while my partner recovers from a recent toxic living situation.

Meanwhile, I put every ounce of my #spoons into poverty-wage #retail. I simply don't have the stamina to work a second job.

Our goal is to be moved into permanent housing in the next 60 days, in large part because this motel costs more than my entire monthly wage income (including a recent rate hike of over $350/mo), and any expenses beyond that have unfortunately been the burden of the #MutualAid community.

Essentially, we've been "making a living from panhandling" because written content and curation by amateurs like myself generally isn't a lucrative endeavor, and I'm always too damned tired to pursue podcasting or vlogging.

If you're someone morally opposed to seeing a #MutualAidRequest in your timeline (or wax pedantic about the etymology and perversion of the term being used in this manner instead of "begging"), you'll probably want to disengage at least for the immediate future. On the other hand, you've likely already muted the terms and therefore won't even be able to see this post, so..

Somehow there are still people who have put up with our begging and "grifting". I would guess their motivation is sort of like a Simpsons quote that seemed particularly appropriate for our situation:

=~=~=
"But why did you do it?"
"I felt there was something special in you. It's like rooting for the Cubs. You keep thinking they'll make it, and then you realize they never, ever will."
=~=~=

If you couldn't already gather, I'm a hardcore, bleeding-heart #progressive. I'm also a deeply-flawed, hypocritical poser about all those things a la Brian Griffin on "Family Guy". I try to divert my views and rants about this to my secondary account @LibertyForward1.

I boost *a lot*. That post average on my profile? It's not an exaggeration; it's updated automatically at midnight local time. Expect an avalanche of #cat pics, #dog pics, other interesting animal pics, and metric (not imperial) shittons of #shitposts. I love weird, vulgar, and silly. I'll almost always boost a #DadJoke if it's sufficiently cringe.

Also.. Brevity isn't my strongest suite.