I survived Katrina without much ado. Lost part of a fence, lost power for a little over a day, and had trouble making phone calls. Considering the horror many people faced, I was extremely lucky.

I live in a small two bedroom house, one bathroom, and have a housemate. We decided to put offer our living room (sofa, floor, pallette) to a single person for an indedinite amount of time. I had a number interested parties, but they were difficult to reach. This one man, who sounded middle-aged to elderly, had lost everything. He had been living out of his car for the prior two weeks, no family, nowhere to go. I spoke to him on his cell phone as he was filling up his gas tank using the last remaining money he had. We lost contact and I kept trying to reach him. Meanwhile, I received a "hit" from this 29-year-old guy who was living with his mother in a small town east of here and said he was working as a waiter at a restaurant less than a mile from where I live. He was evicted from his house in Houston and was trying to find a place to live. So, he really wasn't an evacuee and had income and a place to stay, so he fell to the bottom of the priority list. However, he was persistent and finally called late last Saturday night and asked if he could come over. He turned out to be a rather arrogant, pseudo-intellectual, trying to get by on his good looks. It was obvious that he was looking for a gay household, for sex, or whatever. The guy was a complete slob (not in a good way), and had no respect for my living space. He kept ordering me around in my own house. When it became clear that there wasn't going to be any sex, he started looking for another place. He commandeered my computer for several days, looking for new "hosts" (in the parasite sense) in San Francisco and Chicago. He finally hooked up with someone in Chicago and my housemate put him on a bus Wednesday morning. Didn't say "thank you for letting me stay" or anything.

I wish the elderly single man with nothing would have been a much better choice. At least I would have felt like I was actually helping someone in need. The joker I took in was just a leech, an opportunist. I must have the word "SUCKER" tattooed to my forehead. I'm counting on karma to be a reality. I hope that his selfishness will come back to haunt him.

Now, here I sit, waiting for Hurricane Rita. I still may offer my place up for anyone who needs it as it looks like I'm not in the direct path of the storm. I just don't want the kind of aftermath I experienced with the punk who took advantage of my generosity.