Peelinto, age 33 (Los Angeles, CA)

Published: May 23, 2009

It’s hard to get into the missions because they make you take a breathalyzer test. If you blow too high on the breathalyzer you don’t get in. Cold weather’s a bitch. I try to sleep in bathrooms as much as I can. I get my clothes from the throw-away bin behind the DAV. They won’t let me and my friends into a restaurant. Or they’ll ask us to leave and they won’t say why. I’m bipolar, supposed to be on Paxil and Seroquel but I can’t get my meds so I’m delusional and paranoid. The loneliness is the hardest part. People look right through you like you’re not even there. I’m disconnected from my family. They won’t accept my calls. They think I want to live in the streets. I usually sleep in the park when the weather is warm. I’ve been robbed I don’t know how many times, personal items. I had one girlfriend since I’ve been homeless, a prostitute. I found her by a dumpster, unconscious and bleeding. She’d been beaten by a customer. We bunked together for a while. She’s locked up now. She tried to commit suicide.

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