Moving is one of those things that I absolutely dread. But then again, I do not think I know anyone who jumps through hoops when it comes to moving. Since the fall of 2000 when I first came to Santa Cruz, I have moved every single year. In the beginning, it was due to the academic school year ending (keep in mind that I lived on campus all four years), so for the summer I would have to find a location and then move out for the next fall quarter. By the time college had ended, there was a handful of places: the Capitola apartment with Christy, the room I rented from the single father and his ten year old son, the River Street condo with Kyle and now the “Watering Hole” with Eric (Kyle is only honorary). But yet again, we are all moving.
As most of you know, Kyle moved out last month to be with his man, and Eric wants to be out by the end of this month to move back to the Los Angeles area (originally it was the bay area, but things changed). So, therefore that leaves me with nowhere to go.
Due to the wonderful world of Craig’s List and the many things it offers (excluding the list of fetishes that people are looking for: i.e. Sex in spacesuits… swear to god), I browsed through the postings about rentals. First I was looking for one-bedroom apartments and studios. Unfortunately many of these postings either were absolutely lame or had some kind of catch (“be wiling to share room with a lawnmower”).
Then I ventured into the “room in a household for rent” area. I was a bit stand-offish at first because I worried about the worst case scenarios like a house full of druggies, or house full of drama, or worst, a house full of college students (and I know I’m being hypocritical since I was once a college student, but if you walk into a house that is entirely inhabited by undergraduates you will know what I mean). Luckily, there were a few listings that resembled some promise.
Out of the three that I responded to, only one actually gave me a reply back. We arranged for a visit to take place yesterday. The household is three people, two men and a woman, two of them are 27 and one is 29. One is a waiter and surfs on the side, one is a waitress and teaches yoga part time and the other runs an after school junior sports program. Oh, and there’s a dog named Ramses too.
They emailed me the address and yesterday afternoon I checked it out. I was little worried when I got there because they didn’t realize which one I was. “You’re…Todd?” They shortly revealed that they have had about 18 or so responses to the posting, so I figured there was going to be a fat chance of getting this place. While I was there I decided to put on the charming hat, along with the witty hat, plus the “feel sorry for me” hat as I described the flooding incident and the landlord who hates our guts. I figured if I can spend eight hours a day strategizing on ways to get money out of people, then I could convince three people on getting a room out of them. They shook my hand and I left.
This morning at about 9:05am I received a phone call from a number I did not recognize and it was the woman from the mentioned household and she and the rest of the crew wanted me as their new housemate. July 20 is the move-in date they wanted.
I am looking forward to this for various reasons (some being very obvious). Knowing that I have somewhere to go by the end of the month is exciting, plus the location is pretty sweet. For people who have experienced Santa Cruz, it’s off of Woodrow, and is a block away from West Cliff Drive, so I am literally a thousand feet or so from a giant blue wall people call the Pacific Ocean. Also, in September, our department is moving off campus and the new location is about a five-minute bike ride from this given house. Oh yeah, and it’s not in a parking enforced zone, so no parking permits to buy or forty dollar parking citations. Cha-ching!
As most of you know, Kyle moved out last month to be with his man, and Eric wants to be out by the end of this month to move back to the Los Angeles area (originally it was the bay area, but things changed). So, therefore that leaves me with nowhere to go.
Due to the wonderful world of Craig’s List and the many things it offers (excluding the list of fetishes that people are looking for: i.e. Sex in spacesuits… swear to god), I browsed through the postings about rentals. First I was looking for one-bedroom apartments and studios. Unfortunately many of these postings either were absolutely lame or had some kind of catch (“be wiling to share room with a lawnmower”).
Then I ventured into the “room in a household for rent” area. I was a bit stand-offish at first because I worried about the worst case scenarios like a house full of druggies, or house full of drama, or worst, a house full of college students (and I know I’m being hypocritical since I was once a college student, but if you walk into a house that is entirely inhabited by undergraduates you will know what I mean). Luckily, there were a few listings that resembled some promise.
Out of the three that I responded to, only one actually gave me a reply back. We arranged for a visit to take place yesterday. The household is three people, two men and a woman, two of them are 27 and one is 29. One is a waiter and surfs on the side, one is a waitress and teaches yoga part time and the other runs an after school junior sports program. Oh, and there’s a dog named Ramses too.
They emailed me the address and yesterday afternoon I checked it out. I was little worried when I got there because they didn’t realize which one I was. “You’re…Todd?” They shortly revealed that they have had about 18 or so responses to the posting, so I figured there was going to be a fat chance of getting this place. While I was there I decided to put on the charming hat, along with the witty hat, plus the “feel sorry for me” hat as I described the flooding incident and the landlord who hates our guts. I figured if I can spend eight hours a day strategizing on ways to get money out of people, then I could convince three people on getting a room out of them. They shook my hand and I left.
This morning at about 9:05am I received a phone call from a number I did not recognize and it was the woman from the mentioned household and she and the rest of the crew wanted me as their new housemate. July 20 is the move-in date they wanted.
I am looking forward to this for various reasons (some being very obvious). Knowing that I have somewhere to go by the end of the month is exciting, plus the location is pretty sweet. For people who have experienced Santa Cruz, it’s off of Woodrow, and is a block away from West Cliff Drive, so I am literally a thousand feet or so from a giant blue wall people call the Pacific Ocean. Also, in September, our department is moving off campus and the new location is about a five-minute bike ride from this given house. Oh yeah, and it’s not in a parking enforced zone, so no parking permits to buy or forty dollar parking citations. Cha-ching!
3 comments:
Plus you're practically my NEIGHBOR!!! Yeah!!!
I'm sure that's the ONLY reason you're happy about this house now... ;0)
-Z
That did go through my mind.
Of course it did! I'm sure you were as joyous as a little girl.
-Z
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