Who needs a home?

I look around my apartment room and its barren except for a plain mattress and a desk with my computer. Lately it's been making me think about living out of my truck. Besides, I'm outdoors most of the time. I could totally make it work. Here's my current thought process:

Pros:

• I need a camper shell. I can pick one up on craigslist for pretty cheap once I get paid next week. The cost of a camper shell is a flat investment and maybe one month's rent if it's new.
• My truck is small, but I can make a makeshift bed inside the camper shell and sleep in there at nights. A buddy and I slept in the back without a camper shell in Yosemite and it was comfy enough, even when it was freezing outside. San Diego doesn't get that cold outside and after studying homelessness, I know that the times where you can possibly die while sleeping outside are the times when the city opens the winter shelters (that's how the winter shelters started, with a homeless person dying while sleeping outside and city officials responding by calculating exactly when the temperatures fall from 'discomfort' level to 'possible death' levels)
  
• Since my truck is small, I can blend in well by parking on the streets. I'm also familiar with most of San Diego now since I've driven to practically every homeless shelter here
  
• I'm in San Diego and there's homeless everywhere. I doubt a cop would take the time to give me a ticket for sleeping in my vehicle when there's people obviously sleeping on the curb.
• I have all my camping equipment including sleeping bag and a mini camping stove.
• I have one weeks worth of clothes, which means I can easily fit everything into a small box.
• I'm paying about $600 a month on utilities and rent. While its relatively cheap, that's still like $20 a night. That's how much sleeping in a hostel costs.
• Worst case scenario is that I crash with friends / family in the area if it doesn't work out.
• My work has showers and since its a stereotypical non-profit, its mainly women working there. Except for one other guy, no one else really uses the guys' showers.
• Freedom to roam wherever! When I go climbing or hiking, I don't have to drive 'home'.

Cons:

• Problem: Nowhere to use the facilities at nights and on weekends
• Possible Solution: Walmart or 24 hour fitness gym membership?
  
  
• Problem: Personal Hygiene
• Possible Solution: Keep 1 gallon of clean water at all times with a mini sink built-in that flushes into an empty 5 gallon tank?
  
  
• Problem: Nowhere to store my surfboard safely and I'd have to return my friend's rock climbing crashpad
• Possible Solution: ???
  
  
• Problem: My smell... (Sure, I'll just blame this one on being homeless...)

Overall, I think the pros are outweighing the cons more and more. I think this will be the start of another great adventure!!! :)

Futbol

I met my team five minutes before the game started. I knew a few of them, but for the most part, we were still trying to figure out each others' names when we got onto the field. Names and faces were extra important to me since we were the green team and the opposing team was red (and I'm partially red/green color blind)

Slight color blind genetics was probably the least of my worries since I had a host of other problems. For one, I lacked any real soccer experience. I haven't played soccer since middle school. At the time I remember making the soccer team... and promptly quitting since the video game 'Crash Bandicoot 2' was just released on the Playstation. You shouldn't ask a nerdy student whether he preferred running laps or helping a bandicoot save the world from Doctor Nitrus Brio!!! So I didn't quite remember the rules, no big deal.

We warmed up by kicking the ball on the field for a couple of minutes. I immediately felt out of breath and tired. I mentioned it and I think people thought I was joking. Ok, maybe I'm a little out of shape, no big deal.

I was still optimistic. I saw some elderly ladies in the parking lot, maybe they were the red team. The reality of the situation dawned on me as some of the red team appeared onto the field. One person was wearing a San Diego State soccer jersey and another had on a US Marine Corps soccer shirt (and that's just what some of the girls were wearing). The guys had custom names and numbers. Thinking it was a 'beginner / intermediate league', I was almost ready to show up in my sandals. I didn't even know that shinguards were required until an hour before the game.

I can describe in detail how the red team kicked our ass, but I'm sure no one wants to hear about that! We ended up losing 15-3 (the scoreboard stopped keeping track after they hit 15 before half time). Apparently they were in the league's final match last year.

In the end, what really mattered was that it was really fun. It was neat meeting new people and jumping back into something active. I also realized that all the stuff that I've normally been doing hasn't even been remotely competitive; yoga, rock climbing, running, slacklining, surfing, and hiking. All of that has been very mellow and relaxed. I guess its good to change things up a bit.

Hard to believe

After all this time, I still have trouble believing that I have expendable income. I'm not under the delusion that money can buy happiness, but I do know money can buy 'freedom'.