“Here is life, an experiment to a great extent untried by me” - Henry D. Thoreau

I’m previewing one of my “centers of existence” at the moment - the wi-fi enabled brew pub.  I’ll be detailing these various centers in future posts once I am living the homeless lifestyle in full.  I just wanted to give everyone a progress report. 

I’m still lining things up to hit the ground running, but am pretty much just waiting on my current roommate to find a tenant to replace me.  He’s been a great roommate, and I don’t want to leave him in a bad place, paying rent on his own.  He has an ad on Craigslist, and has been showing the room.  Once he selects someone, my adventure will have a start date.  I’ll detail a few things I’ve been doing to prepare:

• I’m trying to make every aspect of this adventure a positive.  Since I’ll be at the gym everyday to shower, I’ll be more likely to work out regularly than I have in the past.  So I picked up some gym clothes today.  And to keep things simple, I pulled the proverbial Einstein - I found gym clothes I liked, and bought 5 of the same.  No wondering what I’m gonna wear - it’s all the same. 
• In keeping with the workout deal, I got my bike fixed up.  I think I’ll ride it into work twice a week, but I don’t want to overdo it.  Too much traffic in urban areas these days, and everyone’s in a hurry.  I don’t want to ride the city streets during rush hour.
• I’ve been arranging my storage unit.  I put the boxes I never need in the back, and the shelves with books and cd’s in the front.  The storage unit will definitely be one of my “centers of existence”, not just a place to leave things and forget them.
• I’m investigating closet systems - but the deal is, I want one that works in the back of my car.  We’ll have to see how it plays out once things get going, but I’d like to keep a weeks worth of clothes handy at all times, as I’m sure I’ll inevitably fail to get to the cleaners now and then.

That’s about it for now.  People just keep asking me if I’m homeless yet, and I didn’t want anyone to think I’m backing off.  Everything is a go.  It’s just in keeping with my whole “not mooch off anyone” philosophy that I want to make sure this is fair to everyone.  As soon as the roommate says “Get lost!”, I will. 

Oh, by the way - see Iron Man.  It rules.

I’ve been so busy trying to get things ready, I haven’t had much time to post.  But I’ve certainly fielded a lot of questions from people I know.  It’s been somewhat surprising to me who approves and who disapproves of this whole thing.  But almost without exception, there’s one thing that people have an issue with, tell me I can’t do.  So it’s time for me to make a clear statement:

“As part of my homeless adventure, I, Marco Anarcho, can and will be sleeping on the ground (or the floor or the carpet or what-have-you).”

I know - the horror!  No mattress, no cot, no cushion.  How can I even last a month??? 

Anyways, I’m just giving some of you a bad time.  I appreciate that you care about me.  But the fact is, I’ve been sleeping on the floor for years!  And when I finally DID buy a bed last year, I had a traumatic bed-based experience that promptly led me stop sleeping in it and sell it.  I’ll be fine.  It’s part of the plan, in fact, that I can just live on the fly and live/sleep/eat/breathe/whatever wherever I should find myself.  I am wondering, though - should I change my blog to Marco Anarcho’s Bedless Adventure? 

Quickly, in other news:  Congrats to beth6536 for being the first registered user.  Thanks for dropping by!  We miss you.

A not-so-wise man once said, “Bring it on!”  While that didn’t work out so well, in this case, I’d have to agree.  I’m anxious to get started!  So when does the adventure begin?  Here, dear friends, is your status report. 

I’ve pretty much lined up all my “centers of existence”.  I joined the gym; I’ve obtained the mailbox with a permanant address.  I already had the storage unit.  And when I say “lined up”, it’s more than just a figure of speech - I’m literally getting all this in a straight line about 2 miles long, between work and where I’ll be sleeping most nights.  That way, I can’t get lazy and decide I’m not going to get my mail for a couple of weeks.  Or, decide that “these clothes aren’t that dirty” and….well, you know.  I’m already passing by everything I need anyway, so I shouldn’t get complacent about anything. 

Not to say I’m 100% ready to go, but I’m getting everything started.  And there’s things I won’t really know I need until I’m into this.  All I’m really waiting for at this point is my roommate.  I told him I’d be moving, but that I’d stay until he found another tenant.  He’s been a good roomate, and I don’t want to leave him in the lurch.  I’m really hoping for this to begin in a month or so, but in the meantime, I’ll start living the homeless lifestyle - taking clothes out for cleaning, picking up mail at the offsite box, hitting the gym everyday for a shower.  Other than actually sleeping in an apartment, I can get with the new flow of things.  For now, I’m still in total excitement mode…but getting anxious.  I’m ready!

My friends, welcome to my home.  As much of a home as I’ll soon have, anyway.  Allow me to tell you about my adventure, and what I hope you’ll find here in the coming months.

I intend to be homeless by choice.  I’ve always admired those few individuals I’ve known that could pack all their belongings in a van and head off in a new direction - especially when they actually did it!  I’ve also had some admiration for a relative of mine that has spent many months at a time living in his car.  It’s really kind of romantic if you don’t take into account his lack of personal hygeine.  But my most direct model and inspiration is the character Frank Vanderwal from Kim Stanley Robinson’s Science in the Capitol series.  Since I’ve begun researching this project, I’ve also been led to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, which is equally meaningful and inspiring - and non-fiction, at that!  Finally, another helpful source has been this website.  At a later time, I’ll devote more posts to why I’m actually doing this, and try to delve into why it appeals to me - which I’m not quite sure I understand myself.

Briefly, here is what I have in mind - not so much being homeless, as to have several of what I call “centers of existence”.  Among these are work, a health club, my vehicle, a storage unit, and a mailbox.  It is doubtful I’ll ever sleep in my car, and certain I’ll never sleep on the street.  I will have a daily shower, and clean clothes.  I’ll have a paycheck.  I’ll have internet (thank you, Starbucks!).  I don’t intend to mooch off anyone - this plan does not require my use of your couch once a week.  Ideally, all that I won’t have will be a “home” of my own to go to at night, and - yay! - the corresponding King’s Ransom that this requires.  I expect, once all is said and done, to gain much more than I lose.

As for this blog, yes, it will document much of what I do to further this adventure, as well as mundane events in my life.  However, I also expect some commentary on what society and culture expect of us.  It will also be a “how to” manual on living homeless successfully, at least insofar as I learn how to do it.  And finally, I hope that it might serve to inspire you to try something new, whether in a similar pursuit or something completely different.  Stay tuned, dear reader!