Sitting back, watching tv, the phone rings. I slowly go over to pick it up. A half out of breath Christina is calling. (my mom's neighbor and lady who has helped watched lil tinoz) I'm wondering, wow, what is going on. She asks "Tino, you've been to college right?" "Yeah". "Don't they give you money or something for going if you're low income" Thinking to myself, I'm like wow, she must be seriously pressed for money "Like grants, yeah, you can possibly get some grants" Sounding almost relieved she asks for clarification, "so like, you don't have to pay that back, right?" I reply, "No you don't. You fill out a FAFSA form, put your information on there and call this number." She cuts in "Cuz he (her husband) is unemployed right now and we want to get him to finish some classes and could also use to money" I reply, "Well, at the earliest, if you were gonna get something, it'd only be a thousand or two; and it'd come somewhere in October" Sounding concerned but also trying to reassure herself "Well I think the unemployment checks will last till then" I reply, "Well, you can ill it out online right now.." She replies "we're having it installed in a couple days. Ok, thank you so much." I tell it it's no problem and she hangs up.

Sign of the times I think. On one hand, I feel bad for her because she seemed desperate for the grant money. On the other hand, I still remember a minor incident where we were late on paying her for watching lil tinoz and her husband called, demanding I pay her immediately; despite me telling her that I could pay her the next day. I had to have my mom pay her and me pay my mom the next day. Since then, we haven't asked them to watch him. My mom has for short periods of time, so I figured that I'd be pleasant. I was gonna go over there and help her fill out the application, but found out that she has charged my mom each time he's been over there. She has the helpline's phone number so I think she'll be ok. If she needs more help, I'll get her the basic info, but it's not like I'm going to go out my way. That may not make me sound like the best person in the world, but I'm being honest. I hope he is actually looking for work and not just looking to live off the unemployment checks and whatever financial aid MIGHT give them. They may not, as I thought my mom said he went to prison before. Ah, well I hope they don't go completely broke though, as they have a couple of small children. The two bigger ones live with their grandma. One of those big ones is my lil sis Vanessa's ex, Ricky, the one in the pic on my intro page. She officially has another boyfriend now, but that's another story for another entry. (so yeah, from time to time, he is visiting his mom, running into Vanessa and eating out together sometimes.) *insisting that nothing is going on* Hmmmm... I dunno, my mom said he broke her heart as he is the first she fell in love with. I know she still has feeling for him, but tries to play it down.....So yeah... That's all for now.