Memoirs of a 21 year old homeless dude...

[suzuki_sx29]

(Sorry for the repost; I couldn't change the title of my 1st thread..)
This started as a reply to "How to be homeless" (How to be homeless) and turned into a MONSTER! Stick through it, it's long but certainly not dull! I apologize in advance for punctuation and the randomness of my topics!

Im 21 years old and i live in Flagstaff, AZ. I've been homeless for about 2 years. At first it was an act of desperation, sleeping on the roof of my suv. When the truck broke down, i started camping out in alleyways, literally on a cardboard box. It was the summer of 2007, and I was living in phx, AZ. One night it was literally 102 degrees at 2 AM. No joke. Some nights I would sneak into commercial properties and sleep in janitors closets or even bathrooms, but I was usually out in the heat.

Why? I still can't answer this question. Like i said at first it was an act of desperation, and to be honest my family glady wouldve given me a roof over my head. They didnt even know about it until only a few months ago. I suppose Id just rather take a step back and live by my own means then to take a handout. The reason it has lasted 2 years is because i just became accustomed to it. It became my norm. Ive had various problems with smoking weed and since I turned 21 last august, drinking. these werent the root of my reasons for being homeless, but they kept me from having a long term focus that would allow me to save money. Ive wasted every dollar Ive earned since i was a kid. So i guess partly the reason is a lack of maturity as well.
Lately, i have quit partying, drinking, and smoking and gotten back in touch with my goals, dreams, and aspirations in life. Some of this includes pursuing freeride mountain biking professionally (yes, i enjoy hucking bikes off cliffs... Ive done as big as a 20' drop on a full suspension bike, and a 12' drop off the original Red Bull Rampage course in Virgin, UT.. check out YouTube - freeride mountain bike jumps and YouTube - Red Bull Rampage 2003
if youve never witnessed this..), professional freelance photography (particularly nature/landscape work; I'd be happy to throw up a couple pieces of my work if anybody is interested), and a synergystic lifestyle built around and funded by my passions of off road desert racing (that reminds me, rolling my 2003 Ford ranger in the desert when i was 18 probably was one of the first straws to cause this whole homelessness thing for me- I think the whole situation Im in all stems from a lack of realizing the consequences of my actions, self discipline, and living without any particular direction in life... hmm. ), photography, riding, and my interest in business; I imagine a life of doing what i love to do everyday, and sharing it with others, and living that life in turn creates the necessary funds/opportunities to sustain it; id like to create an apparel company catering to individuals like me, who are interested in "extreme" lifestyles and extreme sports, and who want to live to their greatest potentials, who believe in their own potential and not what society tells them is possible. I also enjoy writing, and would gladly post a couple examples of my poetry (i believe a book combining my poetry and photography would be a great possibility..). Ive also been interested in writing a pd/self help book debasing this current age of dependance on drugs for "curing" depression/etc. I know this has been done before, but im interested in writing something that allows individuals to choose their life paths themselves, without any outside influence (i.e. shrinks). I believe it is possible because I have done it myself, in my own life, by my self. Partially by environment changes, but also by conscious changes in my mindset and approach to life.

Anyways, back to being homeless... Im currently in Flagstaff, AZ. Most people imagine AZ as nothing but a barren desert. BS. Approx. 1/3 of AZ is covered in coniferous trees, and here in flag we have gotten (i believe) approx. 5' of snow so far this winter. Night time temps are generally 10-15 degrees, daytime highs are about 50. Elevation is 7000 feet. I have camped in a tent in the mountains in it, I got too stoned to make it to the mountain one night, and just rolled up in a blanket underneath a gazebo at a hotel one night. Not advisable.. Im very lucky nothing bad happened, like me becoming an icicle... Lately I've been sleeping in an 1800's-era covered wagon that is parked in front of another hotel as an accent to the landscaping. I personally find it quite an experience to be sleeping in what was a mode of transportation as well as shelter over a hundred years ago. And it seems so much less like being homeless, having a set place to be every night!
Interesting side note: When i moved to flag, I was riding my bike everywhere and sleeping in alleyways, random parties I would fall asleep at, etc. I asked a guy I saw on the sidewalk for a cigarette one day, about 2 weeks after the move. While talking to him, he mentions that he is planning take a bus to Pennsylvania, bc his car just broke down. He then asks me if I want a car? i said what the hell! And had the vin number checked- good to go! Im mechanically inclined and so after rebuilding the starter and working on the carb a bit, I got her running! A 1974 Dodge Dart, in decent shape! She got me to Phx and back twice to see the friends and family. In Nov, he got ahold of me and requested the car back. he had a sentimental attachment to her, and was taking the bus to Flag from philly to pick her up and drive her back. He made it 100 miles before the motor blew, and so now it sits in my parents backyard awaiting a new motor.. And the title is in my name this time! And this is the 2nd vehicle I have legitimately received for free from a complete and total stranger.. No kiddin, once again. I have lived a very, very interesting life, and i cant even explain why I have had many of the experiences i have had. Maybe some unconscious intention/manifestation at work???

When I first moved to Flag in Aug, it was to get out of the party scene in Phx. Of course, Flag being home of NAU, I couldnt have chosen a worse place.. I have only found sobriety in the past month or so. I actually ended up at a party the very first night I was in flag, even though I knew no one when i moved there. Guess I meet people quickly.. At least I had a place to stay with the girl I met that night ... I have ended up passed out drunk in alleyways on more than one occasion after leaving a bar at 2am (there is one bar in particular that has draft beers for 25 cents from 8-10 wed. nights. By the time 10 rolls around, youre too tanked to realize that you really ought to leave, and the place is happening til closing at 2.. Ive come in there more than once with $100 and woken up with $10 the next day.. ) And I should mention that i am diabetic. I have been since I was 8 (spent my 8th xmas in the hospital..) and somehow, even with racing mtn bikes, being homeless, and drinking literally to the point of blacking out more than once, I have not ONCE gone into an insulin reaction. i am an INCREDIBLY lucky dude... If anybody needs a lucky charm to go to Vegas with (hell, Steve ought to invite me over! ) feel free to pm me . BTW I am luckily still on my parents insurance and they are willing to make the co-pays for me so I don't die from not having my blood sugar regulating hormone injections.. I had a doc appt this past dec, and i think that really woke me up to getting back on track in life. Less than a year ago, i was racing mtn bikes, and I was the epitome of healthy. i rode 40 miles every sunday, and pretty regularly rode about 25 miles just to get to work... in may, i broke my foot, and started partying bc i couldnt ride, couldnt work, had nothing to do... Interestingly enough, I was a complete loner up until about this point in time.. I flew paper airplanes alone during lunch in high school, in the football field; I actually never had gf until the past year or so, and suffered social anxiety problems. Mtn biking opened the pathway to hanging out with people, which in turn led to hanging out with individuals who didnt ride, and in the past 8 months or so my social network has blossomed. i am completly at ease among people, and am much more outgoing than most people. I must admit, even with all the trouble marijuana has caused in my life, it at least broke down the inhibitions I had around people when i was first overcoming the social anxiety problems of mine. Anyways, I got to the point of smoking a pack a day up til about a month ago. Some days I would chainsmoke an entire pack in 2 hours. I lost my job as a heavy equipment operator/mechanic due to lack of punctuality, mainly due to being up until 4 am EVERY night... In any case, at this doc appt, i found out that I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and my average blood sugar for the past few months was 270. 270!! If you are not familiar with db, avg blood sugar for a non diabetic is 80-120. over 180-200 is considered high, and I had bs's over 300 at least every couple days, and over 500 every week or 2. I have gone days w/o checking my bs, just giving myself arbitrary amounts of insulin when I feel high, and eating when i feel low. I was KILLING myself, literally. I took a couple years off of my life with these decisions.. So I just quit. Cold turkey. Ive been clean for damn near a month.

[suzuki_sx29]

While in Phx, i lived in an abandoned school bus, on top of hill on the outskirts of town for about a year. i had electricity, running water 9there was a well there to water the landscaping; the owner was going to build a house there but ran out of funds), and a pond roughly 20'x40', 8' deep at its deepest. it was stocked with 20" catfish.. i had a view of all of Phx. I had an outdoor shower, and let me tell ya what- It gets cold in Phx too. Ive seen it snow there, albeit for only about 1/2 hour, 10 years ago. No kiddin. it freezes regularly there. So, an outdoor shower with no hot water heater in the winter with a temp of 30 degrees sucks. BELIEVE me! Why, oh WHY did i do this?? I thought it would teach me self discipline. it really didn't; i could only muster the cahones to do it about twice a week, when i started smellin pretty ragged ...

Being completely homeless, though... I have indeed had the sprinklers wake me up at 2 in the mornin. I have woken up to a coakroach crawling on me. NO FUN. Saftey-wise, ive never had a problem. Cops bothered me a couple times when i lived in a car i had for awhile.. Thats about it.

Some of this may reiterate the above, but here is a little blurb from my myspace profile:

Hmm... Who the hell is Andy Gossert? Im a guy who has dreams bigger than many people could comprehend. I have yet to master the fine discipline of focus, and I would consider that my biggest fault at the moment. It is the only thing standing between me and those dreams of mine. I am what you would call an out of the box thinker. An example of this is the fact that i lived in an abandoned school bus in Phoenix for a year, pretty much for the hell of it. I had electricity and water but no A/C, which obviously was a challenge in the summertime to say the least. My shower was outside, with no hot water heater. If you've never taken a shower outside in 30 degree weather with cold water, I've got to tell you- you're missing out! I've been homeless in alleyways and slept on the roof of my truck in the arizona summer when it was 102 degrees at 2 AM. People always assumed I had some kind of sad sob story, but it was just how I chose to live my life. It was kind of liberating to have no commitments whatsoever. But it is certainly not a lifestyle to adopt for a lifetime.

I ride downhill mountain bikes, basically 50 lb mountain bikes with nearly as much travel as a moto. It is essentially dirt biking without the motor, we use gravity as our motor and just lay off the brakes. Think about hitting a mx sized double on a mtn bike; the world record is 134'... It is genuinely insane!

I love off road desert racing. The crux of this is of course the $800K trophy trucks, custom built from the ground up, and boasting 800 HP and 25-30+ inches of suspension travel. Imagine hitting a 3 foot washboard at 80 MPH, or a dry lake bed at 140... I got the chance to chase for a trophy truck team in the 06 Baja 1000; absolutely amazing. I had an 03 Ford Ranger that I rolled a few years back, and lately we've been thrashing a 98 Isuzu Rodeo with a quarter million miles on it. We've bicycled it 3 times, jumped it way too many times to remember, broken the rear leaf spring packs, destroyed the ball joints, and pretty much just cruised around in the dez at freeway speeds in it. Eventually I will build a 4WD long travel Tacoma.

I am in love with photography, I like to write poetry and metal lyrics, and I like to read. I dig gardening and landscaping.

I like to help people, whether helping a bro figuring out a personal problem or giving a stranger a hand changing a flat tire on the side of the road.

I love girls. I respect them, and I cherish them. I thank my lucky stars for every beautiful heart that has touched mine and that I have had the good fortune to touch as well.

I also enjoy Motocross, rock climbing, kayaking, being near death, anything outdoors, and reading

I say Screw TV. Life isn't a spectator sport.

My heroes? Wilbur and Orville Wright, Thomas Edison, Frank Abignale Jr, Chris Gardner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lance Armstrong, Cedric Gracia


Well, there it is guys and gals... My whole life story! i don't know what got me rolling on so many rather incoherent tangents, but I did it and i hope you all enjoyed.. Please comment about any and all of the above!