New Job and Moving Update
Nov. 11th, 2010 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nemorathwaldI almost certainly got the part-time web dev/design job in Ypsilanti which I applied for. J took an excellent job in Denver, which will let her work remotely from here until she moves out there in December. I'm staying here to finish my web development certificate, which will finish in May. Five months is a long time, so I won't prepare premature plans past that point.
J spent a few weeks in Chicago, interviewing with a different company every day. I was really rooting for Chicago to win. I would have been happy to move there with her. Chicago is in driving distance of Madison WI, Cleveland OH, Lansing MI, and here-- where people are located who I know and want to spend time with. It has SF conventions and fans who I know. It's within driving distance of Penguicon, ConFusion, U-Con, GenCon, Origins, and Buckeye Game Fest. It even has Chicago Toy and Game Fair and a game publisher who wants to look at my board games for publication.
I spent a day in a Motel 6 in Denver once. It is a 24-hour drive from here, each way. It is within driving distance of nowhere. I know exactly one person there, who I only met once. For calling upon the powers of my social network to help me, that is like Kryptonite.
I have been considering an offer to move to Southfield, MI in December, a few miles north of where I live now. An elderly lady would like a roommate to do ten hours of chores per week in exchange for free rent. That's an appealing prospect, because I would live within a mile or two of many of my friends, and I could put the rent money in the bank to more easily pay back my student loans.
The downsides would be, in descending order of importance:
1. She holds a bible study in the apartment every week.
2. Limitations on visitors. I currently enjoy three or four game nights per week in my current home, and a woman can stay the night in my current home without feeling super-awkward about my roommate.
3. Due to a severe allergy, no latex or soft rubber of any kind in the apartment. (Rubber bands which hold my game boxes together. The grip of my drawing tablet pen. Condoms.)
4. No ice cream in the apartment.
That sounds workable, if I can find someplace else to be during the bible study. On the one hand, she seems like a very friendly and accepting person on the phone, and happy to find workarounds for problems. On the other hand, it also sounds like the setup to a sitcom, doesn't it? "One is an itinerant, sexually-active, vocally-non-religious technophile who can live under any domestic conditions! The other is a fragile elderly churchgoer! What could possibly go wrong?"
Do not misunderstand this to be an act of desperation. I am able to pay rent with my student loans. I'd just rather leverage my advantages:
1. No one depends on me.
2. I have very few possessions.
3. I have no domestic needs beyond broadband internet access, running water, a fridge and range, a cot, and a door or curtain for privacy.
So, why not put rent money in the bank? Is it smart financial planning? Or setting myself up for tension? What do you think?
J spent a few weeks in Chicago, interviewing with a different company every day. I was really rooting for Chicago to win. I would have been happy to move there with her. Chicago is in driving distance of Madison WI, Cleveland OH, Lansing MI, and here-- where people are located who I know and want to spend time with. It has SF conventions and fans who I know. It's within driving distance of Penguicon, ConFusion, U-Con, GenCon, Origins, and Buckeye Game Fest. It even has Chicago Toy and Game Fair and a game publisher who wants to look at my board games for publication.
I spent a day in a Motel 6 in Denver once. It is a 24-hour drive from here, each way. It is within driving distance of nowhere. I know exactly one person there, who I only met once. For calling upon the powers of my social network to help me, that is like Kryptonite.
I have been considering an offer to move to Southfield, MI in December, a few miles north of where I live now. An elderly lady would like a roommate to do ten hours of chores per week in exchange for free rent. That's an appealing prospect, because I would live within a mile or two of many of my friends, and I could put the rent money in the bank to more easily pay back my student loans.
The downsides would be, in descending order of importance:
1. She holds a bible study in the apartment every week.
2. Limitations on visitors. I currently enjoy three or four game nights per week in my current home, and a woman can stay the night in my current home without feeling super-awkward about my roommate.
3. Due to a severe allergy, no latex or soft rubber of any kind in the apartment. (Rubber bands which hold my game boxes together. The grip of my drawing tablet pen. Condoms.)
4. No ice cream in the apartment.
That sounds workable, if I can find someplace else to be during the bible study. On the one hand, she seems like a very friendly and accepting person on the phone, and happy to find workarounds for problems. On the other hand, it also sounds like the setup to a sitcom, doesn't it? "One is an itinerant, sexually-active, vocally-non-religious technophile who can live under any domestic conditions! The other is a fragile elderly churchgoer! What could possibly go wrong?"
Do not misunderstand this to be an act of desperation. I am able to pay rent with my student loans. I'd just rather leverage my advantages:
1. No one depends on me.
2. I have very few possessions.
3. I have no domestic needs beyond broadband internet access, running water, a fridge and range, a cot, and a door or curtain for privacy.
So, why not put rent money in the bank? Is it smart financial planning? Or setting myself up for tension? What do you think?
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-11 08:59 pm (UTC)1. A regular routine of chores is already set down, which she consistently needs. I would make sure it is understood that it is not allowed to go more than the number of hours per week which we agree on before I move in. I asked her how specific she was about how she wants the chores done, and she assured me she is not picky at all. Those are relative terms, so I asked very specific example questions, and received good answers.
2. I have gotten used to briefly losing access to my living space from time to time. However, feeling limited or censored in my living space is something I am thinking about very seriously. I need to visit and meet her to get a better sense about this.
3. I am confident that if it goes sour, it would have little or no effect on our relationships to our mutual friend.