My body went through a lot of things during my six years of active addiction to crystal meth. So did my mind. Due to all of the trauma I endured during my use, I developed some major mental heath concerns. Towards the end of my using days, I got diagnosed with PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression.      When I was using crystal, on a regular basis, I went through bouts of psychosis. What happened was when I was high or even coming down, I would get in my head and it would take me to some dark places. I regularly thought people were coming for me. I sometimes thought the little red light in my smoke detector was some sort of spying device. And sometimes, I even thought I heard voices talking through the walls. Needless to say, I cried myself to sleep numerous times, drowning in fear.     What was the worst part was that I knew that it wasn't real. I knew that I was going through psychosis. But that didn't ever change my paranoia from being trig...

    I got really lucky when I moved to NYC. Here, there is a lot of resources to help the poor and needy. There is a specific program that I qualified for due to my HIV status. HASA assists individuals living with AIDS or HIV. With HASA they helped me also to apply for my emergency housing to get me off the streets. Because of my status, I got placed in a SRO. SRO stands for Single Room Occupancy. So what that means is that I would have my own room with a bed, but with restrooms shared with the rest of the residents. At the same time, I got approved for public assistance. I got food stamps and even cash benefits to help me out.      Here is the thing. the food stamps were great. I haven't been able to have a stable meal schedule for a few years now. This helped me so much to begin to gain back some weight I lost due to my meth addiction and being malnourished from living on the streets. But, the cash assistance is a different story. If I was sober, this wou...

             In February of 2022, I created a social group called "The Litty Committee". Here is what I first posted as the description and the purpose of this group. Posted 04/22/2022 " Everyone that I've sent a invite to... They bring more to our Zoomerverse than drugs and dicks. They bring kindness, experience, knowledge... Genuineness. Each of you have a reputation. A reputation that has earned the respect of THOUSANDS of people through the years. More so... You've impacted many of those peoples lives... Changed some lives... For the better... I should know... Because my life is one of them. We are a collective of hearts and minds that make a difference to the countless people who come to our rooms that we have passionately created and molded and dedicated more of ourselves to the Zoomerverse that I ... No... That WE have called our HOME... Built by our FAMILY. Thank you from the bottom of my heart... But...Things in the Zoomerverse are ...

       After I got placed into a Single Room Occupancy shelter (SRO), I became, once again, a daily user of the Zoom platform as a place for me to use. Now that I had stable housing, I found myself creating my safe space on Zoom. I nearly stopped meeting up with people in person to get high with and hook up with. Zoom had became my sanctuary.      I started forming what felt like some real relationships with people across the world. All people that I would use with online. My real world really only consisted of my life on Zoom. I barely ever left my SRO. The only time I would ever leave was to go and pick up more meth. With my cash assistance and my pandemic unemployment I got every two weeks, I was able to get a whole ounce, which would last me for those two weeks.     I became a shut-in. A hermit.      I became known in Zoom. People knew me. I had friends. I thought that these friendship were real. Some of them were. Like wit...

       I came to NYC after living on the streets of Philadelphia for a month and a half. I came initially to visit another Zoomer. This zoomer and I had a strange connection. We had a connection because he was from Asheville, North Carolina. I lived in Asheville before I moved to Orlando, Florida. His name on Zoom was TheArtist828, 828 being the area code for Asheville. This is what made me first ever reach out to him. He told me that he moved from Asheville to NYC. We exchanged phone numbers and made plans for me to come and visit him while the guy who's place he stayed at, was out of town.     It was a three hour train ride.     When I got into the city, I called him and started heading his direction. He lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This was my first time actually trying to navigate to somewhere specific in New York. I ended up getting on the wrong direction train that would bring me into Brooklyn. Nailed it. I ended up getting off the ...