some update
haven't been super vocal lately, things have been intense and i haven't had much internet access until i got my netbook last week. the biggest most recent news is that my restaurant is closing. i had just gotten comfortable in the job and with the idea that i was making solid money, i am 2 months in with one to go for health benefits to kick in, and really like the folks i work with, and... now i don't know what i'll be doing in a few months. on the good side, they're not closing till december 30, and the company has 10 or so other restaurants, so there's a chance i'll be able to stay with danny meyer and the union square hospitality group -- i like the general philosophy of taking care of employees as well as customers, using fresh local sustainable food and wine as much as possible, being a part of the local community, and hell, it's hard to find a serving job with benefits. but nothing is guaranteed and i don't like this kind of insecurity. and this job hunt is a lot harder because i'm still working 40+ hours a week on top of that! meanwhile i'm updating the resume and drafting a couple cover letter templates i can tweak to use.
with the netbook, i also (finally) got netflix for the first time. i kind of feel like the last person in the northern hemisphere to have done so. been enjoying streaming movies, and finally started watching battlestar galactica, which i missed out on when it was an actual tv thing. so far quite enjoying it!
i have decided i need to move. my original roommate and i clash noticeably in terms of housekeeping habits, and since i see him so little, my primary contact with him is my annoyance at finding the bathroom and kitchen sinks filthy on a regular basis, or finding my 40 year-old knives once again used and not cleaned and stored properly, things like that. so basically, i don't have enough positive interaction with him to counteract the consistent negative feelings i harbor. meanwhile the neighborhood is pretty crap. sure, it's cheap, but i often feel like the only white person for blocks, and i long to live somewhere where it would be feasible to go out to eat somewhere vaguely nice (like a sit-down spot) or for coffee somewhere within walking distance. that just doesn't exist here. on the plus side, i never signed a lease so i have the freedom to look carefully and not just get the hell out right away, and i plan on taking the time to find somewhere that feels good and find a roommate i get along with who keeps hours such that we might see one another from time to time.
the last straw for me and my housemate was the recent "nonexistent bedbug infestation." see, he's paranoid about bedbugs. i understand the fear, it's a serious valid issue and he's lived through it several times, but he doesn't handle his fear well. 6 weeks ago i got several flea bites (which i later discovered were from work) and showed them to him to see if he had experienced anything similar recently, explaining that the only change in my room was a small bookshelf the outgoing roommate had left for me. he immediately threw away the bookshelf and sprayed noxious pesticide everywhere, while i went to work to gather info, discovering the flea problem in the office. i couldn't get the furniture back because it had rained all day, and i filed away the info that roomie freaks out first and thinks things through later where bedbugs are concerned.
fast forward to a few weeks ago, i come in at 2am after working a 15 hour day and roomie corners me in the hall, saying he found a bedbug in the shower. i tell him i am going to sleep and will deal in the morning. he's on the line to his personal exterminator the next day (won't work with anyone else) and insisting that everyone bag up all our possessions (no small feat when you won as much crap as i do), and sprqaying poisonous crap everywhere, and i ask to see the bug. it's a little black beetle, clearly not a bedbug. i point this out and get "i've had them before, it is one, i KNOW." clearly there's no reasoning with him. so i pack up all my clothes that aren't in my dresser since i don't feel like getting yelled at, pack up all my kitchen stuff so it won't be all full of pesticide when the exterminator comes, and wait a week (because the exterminator was in a car accident and could not make it out sooner.) when he finally came (an hour late so that i would have been late to work that afternoon for various reasons, which schedule i had already made clear to roommates when scheduling said visit), the exterminator said the bug was not a bedbug, that if my room with cat was clear then he didn't see that we had a problem, and basically sprayed the rest of the house because roomie was insistent. on a good note i didn't have to evacuate my cat for 4 hours, but the whole thing was awful and i can't risk having to go through this kind of shit every few months if i stay with this roommate.
hoping my friend heidi will come up here and be my roommate, not sure if todd will be in the picture to help with moving or if we will be over by then, and just generally very uncertain about the near future. and my birthday present for the end of this month was supposed to be going to see corin tucker play supporting her new solo album (todd knows her some, and knows her husband extremely well, so we would easily get in and hang with them and all that), and then i downloaded the album the other day and discovered i don't think i like it. now i don't know if i want to go or not. meh.
so i'm not freaking out yet about the job hunt or moving or figuring out how to break up with my boyfriend, but all of that stuff is going on and i'm not as stable as i want to be, or certainly expected to be at this point. still, i'll figure it out, one thing at a time, just have to get some sleep and get on it!
with the netbook, i also (finally) got netflix for the first time. i kind of feel like the last person in the northern hemisphere to have done so. been enjoying streaming movies, and finally started watching battlestar galactica, which i missed out on when it was an actual tv thing. so far quite enjoying it!
i have decided i need to move. my original roommate and i clash noticeably in terms of housekeeping habits, and since i see him so little, my primary contact with him is my annoyance at finding the bathroom and kitchen sinks filthy on a regular basis, or finding my 40 year-old knives once again used and not cleaned and stored properly, things like that. so basically, i don't have enough positive interaction with him to counteract the consistent negative feelings i harbor. meanwhile the neighborhood is pretty crap. sure, it's cheap, but i often feel like the only white person for blocks, and i long to live somewhere where it would be feasible to go out to eat somewhere vaguely nice (like a sit-down spot) or for coffee somewhere within walking distance. that just doesn't exist here. on the plus side, i never signed a lease so i have the freedom to look carefully and not just get the hell out right away, and i plan on taking the time to find somewhere that feels good and find a roommate i get along with who keeps hours such that we might see one another from time to time.
the last straw for me and my housemate was the recent "nonexistent bedbug infestation." see, he's paranoid about bedbugs. i understand the fear, it's a serious valid issue and he's lived through it several times, but he doesn't handle his fear well. 6 weeks ago i got several flea bites (which i later discovered were from work) and showed them to him to see if he had experienced anything similar recently, explaining that the only change in my room was a small bookshelf the outgoing roommate had left for me. he immediately threw away the bookshelf and sprayed noxious pesticide everywhere, while i went to work to gather info, discovering the flea problem in the office. i couldn't get the furniture back because it had rained all day, and i filed away the info that roomie freaks out first and thinks things through later where bedbugs are concerned.
fast forward to a few weeks ago, i come in at 2am after working a 15 hour day and roomie corners me in the hall, saying he found a bedbug in the shower. i tell him i am going to sleep and will deal in the morning. he's on the line to his personal exterminator the next day (won't work with anyone else) and insisting that everyone bag up all our possessions (no small feat when you won as much crap as i do), and sprqaying poisonous crap everywhere, and i ask to see the bug. it's a little black beetle, clearly not a bedbug. i point this out and get "i've had them before, it is one, i KNOW." clearly there's no reasoning with him. so i pack up all my clothes that aren't in my dresser since i don't feel like getting yelled at, pack up all my kitchen stuff so it won't be all full of pesticide when the exterminator comes, and wait a week (because the exterminator was in a car accident and could not make it out sooner.) when he finally came (an hour late so that i would have been late to work that afternoon for various reasons, which schedule i had already made clear to roommates when scheduling said visit), the exterminator said the bug was not a bedbug, that if my room with cat was clear then he didn't see that we had a problem, and basically sprayed the rest of the house because roomie was insistent. on a good note i didn't have to evacuate my cat for 4 hours, but the whole thing was awful and i can't risk having to go through this kind of shit every few months if i stay with this roommate.
hoping my friend heidi will come up here and be my roommate, not sure if todd will be in the picture to help with moving or if we will be over by then, and just generally very uncertain about the near future. and my birthday present for the end of this month was supposed to be going to see corin tucker play supporting her new solo album (todd knows her some, and knows her husband extremely well, so we would easily get in and hang with them and all that), and then i downloaded the album the other day and discovered i don't think i like it. now i don't know if i want to go or not. meh.
so i'm not freaking out yet about the job hunt or moving or figuring out how to break up with my boyfriend, but all of that stuff is going on and i'm not as stable as i want to be, or certainly expected to be at this point. still, i'll figure it out, one thing at a time, just have to get some sleep and get on it!