So I am moving.
My budget is less than the last time I took on such a task, this time I will not be hiring movers, even though I had a perfectly good experience with them the one time I did. Currently I have a Uhaul booked for morning of the 30th, which I noticed after the fact is a Friday, damn it. However, the current lands lords want the place empty by 1pm on the 31st so being gone and done early is fine by me.
It is only a 10foot truck, but the biggest thing I have to move is the bed and tv cabinet. The TV cabinet is more than able to hold many smaller boxes and even has room for my small book case. Now I am partly packed, for no good reason, and want out of this dark place. Come on month, be done with already.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
A new place.
Greetings
This week I used my new semi power Decisiveness. The power partly comes from the tattoo. So lets get back to basics, what did I decide on, a new apartment. I had already committed to moving on a stressful January first morning. Over coffee I wrote my rent check, pondered, searched for paper, and wrote a short note saying I'm out of here. This upped the already high stress level. The first few days were spent collecting links and pondering when the perfect time to follow up on them would be. In the end I decided to just get on the phone at break time and work through a list of best of's.
The accidental winner was actually the least informative add. No pictures, a bare bones run down, third floor, with balcony, pet friendly with an address and rate. On the map the location was solid. The add was a little old, and I had serious doubts if it was still good or even if the place was worth approaching. But enough on the details. So I call the listed number, and arrange a viewing that evening. I did not know what to expect, but looking even at a ejectable candidate is important.
The semi power slipped in as I saw the place. Neighbours in only two directions, a balcony with a view of mountains. The poor mans hardwood, laminate flooring. Sure the place needed paint it was clear it had just been vacated but it was properly empty so it was easy for me to check a long the base boards and see things were solid. The kitchen a walk through not a galley style dead end, bigger, brighter cheaper. It dawned on me that this was going to be hard to beat. So I pushed for it. I credit Lintilla with some of the decisiveness.
A tattoo of a crow accidentally named after a clone from a radio play version of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, is an odd place to get advice from but it works. When I commissioned and later committed to the design, especially when I committed, I elected to have faith. Faith myself, trust that I had learned enough to take on a risk and come away enjoying the results. When I spent those 5 long hours having the work done I gained a little something. At its simplest I am now the version of me that was brave enough to get a tattoo. Wise enough to choose wisely both the artist and design. And so that already meaning ladened symbol helped me commit to a hasty move. It made it easier for me to remember that I already know what I need and want, sometimes second guessing is the wrong thing.
So once again I commit to the second place I visited. This time knowing far more what to look at. This time I am close to two skytrain stations. The building is in a part of town less gentrified than others, in other words its a little poor and little more ethnic than some others. This does not matter, nor is it any much different from where I live now.
The building is as you could expect a 3 story slab that was laid down some time in the 1970s or early 1980's as common as dirt around Vancouver. A couple improvements location wise. As said closer to sky train, but also isolated from bigger roads. The side street it is on connects a few apartment blocks to a major road. The other buildings are between me and the thoroughfares. A marked reduction in street noise will result. Also dampening the voice is the walk through kitchen, the fridge is backed against an internal wall separating it from the living space, this should free me from the death rattle that scares me and my cat.
Now I have a new set of problems. I don't have enough furniture to make the place feel filled. Well I guess since getting a new home was easy, I should turn my renewed attention to hard things to better work. I can make that place far more of a home.
So in the last week I did a scary thing, and found hope, I would say this is a good outcome.
This week I used my new semi power Decisiveness. The power partly comes from the tattoo. So lets get back to basics, what did I decide on, a new apartment. I had already committed to moving on a stressful January first morning. Over coffee I wrote my rent check, pondered, searched for paper, and wrote a short note saying I'm out of here. This upped the already high stress level. The first few days were spent collecting links and pondering when the perfect time to follow up on them would be. In the end I decided to just get on the phone at break time and work through a list of best of's.
The accidental winner was actually the least informative add. No pictures, a bare bones run down, third floor, with balcony, pet friendly with an address and rate. On the map the location was solid. The add was a little old, and I had serious doubts if it was still good or even if the place was worth approaching. But enough on the details. So I call the listed number, and arrange a viewing that evening. I did not know what to expect, but looking even at a ejectable candidate is important.
The semi power slipped in as I saw the place. Neighbours in only two directions, a balcony with a view of mountains. The poor mans hardwood, laminate flooring. Sure the place needed paint it was clear it had just been vacated but it was properly empty so it was easy for me to check a long the base boards and see things were solid. The kitchen a walk through not a galley style dead end, bigger, brighter cheaper. It dawned on me that this was going to be hard to beat. So I pushed for it. I credit Lintilla with some of the decisiveness.
A tattoo of a crow accidentally named after a clone from a radio play version of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, is an odd place to get advice from but it works. When I commissioned and later committed to the design, especially when I committed, I elected to have faith. Faith myself, trust that I had learned enough to take on a risk and come away enjoying the results. When I spent those 5 long hours having the work done I gained a little something. At its simplest I am now the version of me that was brave enough to get a tattoo. Wise enough to choose wisely both the artist and design. And so that already meaning ladened symbol helped me commit to a hasty move. It made it easier for me to remember that I already know what I need and want, sometimes second guessing is the wrong thing.
So once again I commit to the second place I visited. This time knowing far more what to look at. This time I am close to two skytrain stations. The building is in a part of town less gentrified than others, in other words its a little poor and little more ethnic than some others. This does not matter, nor is it any much different from where I live now.
The building is as you could expect a 3 story slab that was laid down some time in the 1970s or early 1980's as common as dirt around Vancouver. A couple improvements location wise. As said closer to sky train, but also isolated from bigger roads. The side street it is on connects a few apartment blocks to a major road. The other buildings are between me and the thoroughfares. A marked reduction in street noise will result. Also dampening the voice is the walk through kitchen, the fridge is backed against an internal wall separating it from the living space, this should free me from the death rattle that scares me and my cat.
Now I have a new set of problems. I don't have enough furniture to make the place feel filled. Well I guess since getting a new home was easy, I should turn my renewed attention to hard things to better work. I can make that place far more of a home.
So in the last week I did a scary thing, and found hope, I would say this is a good outcome.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
The Hard Things
Greetings.
This post has been fermenting since I decided to move. I do not like moving, it has costs stress and risks. It is a hard thing. And as it happens in the last two years I have had both enough of them and been avoiding them.
It is not that I have never done hard things, but too many of the things have been lacking the proper reward to justify the stress. The last great hard thing was BCIT. 9 months of push push push, learning things that I could barely fit in my brain at pace I could not sustain. That project, despite its slow start was a success that landed me a job that proved to be a poor fit. It had its own challenges but it was a comfortable place. I coasted there, not wanting to look for new work even as I grew bored and the company contracted. I did not want to do the hard thing.
For a long while I drifted on EI, at first attempting to gain access to the field I had be let go from before realizing I had not liked the aspect I had worked and had no drive to return to it. Before the stress be came crippling I retreated to faking it. Applying even more half heartedly to fewer jobs. In the end I took work with a Temp Agency because anything to dodge the application process was a win for me. It was an easier thing. Needed, but the non routine has become routine. I drift at the edge of nearly full time hours, alter for the next falter. Choosing to move has upset that.
Electing to move was a decision made a long time ago but neglected. I have a craptastic level of comfort here. Living in a neighbourhood I have known for years, in an apartment of nearly 3. It is the place I know. I was holding on to it just, an uncomfortable erosion at my remaining wealth happened every bad month. I was getting too little for my money and living too far from many of the things that now mattered.
So today I called several places, using the phone is in fact one of those things I find disproportionately hard. And booked a view for an place at a site I knew next to nothing about from an add that said very little. Now I don't want to talk about the suite. If I get approved you won't here the end of it. Pushing through to meet a goal, to have a clear goal again is something I have neglected. It becomes easy for me to slip into the comforts of the default forgetting that better is an option. Yet today, I proved in stepping just a little out of the comfort zone that better is possible. Though I will not say much about the possible new home I will say, it is closer to all the things that matter, bigger and cheaper.
The cheaper is only a minor improvement, but the better is real. So this leaves me with the trouble should I stay on the path of living solo in a one bedroom, I will have start making more money again. The move will tax things and recovery will be slow. This leaves me with the need to do a new hard thing, properly apply myself to improving my job prospects. A hateful prospect in most times of life, but somehow I have to step away from the easy for awhile.
Dear job fairy get me a better wage so I can get more stuff.
This post has been fermenting since I decided to move. I do not like moving, it has costs stress and risks. It is a hard thing. And as it happens in the last two years I have had both enough of them and been avoiding them.
It is not that I have never done hard things, but too many of the things have been lacking the proper reward to justify the stress. The last great hard thing was BCIT. 9 months of push push push, learning things that I could barely fit in my brain at pace I could not sustain. That project, despite its slow start was a success that landed me a job that proved to be a poor fit. It had its own challenges but it was a comfortable place. I coasted there, not wanting to look for new work even as I grew bored and the company contracted. I did not want to do the hard thing.
For a long while I drifted on EI, at first attempting to gain access to the field I had be let go from before realizing I had not liked the aspect I had worked and had no drive to return to it. Before the stress be came crippling I retreated to faking it. Applying even more half heartedly to fewer jobs. In the end I took work with a Temp Agency because anything to dodge the application process was a win for me. It was an easier thing. Needed, but the non routine has become routine. I drift at the edge of nearly full time hours, alter for the next falter. Choosing to move has upset that.
Electing to move was a decision made a long time ago but neglected. I have a craptastic level of comfort here. Living in a neighbourhood I have known for years, in an apartment of nearly 3. It is the place I know. I was holding on to it just, an uncomfortable erosion at my remaining wealth happened every bad month. I was getting too little for my money and living too far from many of the things that now mattered.
So today I called several places, using the phone is in fact one of those things I find disproportionately hard. And booked a view for an place at a site I knew next to nothing about from an add that said very little. Now I don't want to talk about the suite. If I get approved you won't here the end of it. Pushing through to meet a goal, to have a clear goal again is something I have neglected. It becomes easy for me to slip into the comforts of the default forgetting that better is an option. Yet today, I proved in stepping just a little out of the comfort zone that better is possible. Though I will not say much about the possible new home I will say, it is closer to all the things that matter, bigger and cheaper.
The cheaper is only a minor improvement, but the better is real. So this leaves me with the trouble should I stay on the path of living solo in a one bedroom, I will have start making more money again. The move will tax things and recovery will be slow. This leaves me with the need to do a new hard thing, properly apply myself to improving my job prospects. A hateful prospect in most times of life, but somehow I have to step away from the easy for awhile.
Dear job fairy get me a better wage so I can get more stuff.
Friday, January 2, 2015
A little news.
Greetings.
I got the flu in December. This cost me a week of work. The lose hammered home the fact that I can not afford to live here, my margins are non existent. Therefore I did the necessary and scary thing. I gave my one months notice to the land lord. Consequently I have to scramble to find a new cheaper place.
I always told myself I would have the new place lined up before I gave notice but the sad truth became the cash for doubling up was not going to be there. This is serriedly overdue and needed. Though I have been able to cover my rent and bills, other things have been off the table for a long time. I need to be able to afford fun things, and new shoes and pants.
So the quick run down on what I need. Pet friendly, ideally with in 15min of a skytrain station, with a useable kitchen. Basement suites are more likely to be in my price range. I am no longer committed to living in the Commercial Drive, or Hastings Sunrise neighbourhoods, and will gladly consider Burnaby or New West.
It is going to be a stressful month but so have many of the last few, but when the march rent roles around and there is something left, and it takes less the three weeks of my income to earn then I will breath easier.
So Thats the news.
I got the flu in December. This cost me a week of work. The lose hammered home the fact that I can not afford to live here, my margins are non existent. Therefore I did the necessary and scary thing. I gave my one months notice to the land lord. Consequently I have to scramble to find a new cheaper place.
I always told myself I would have the new place lined up before I gave notice but the sad truth became the cash for doubling up was not going to be there. This is serriedly overdue and needed. Though I have been able to cover my rent and bills, other things have been off the table for a long time. I need to be able to afford fun things, and new shoes and pants.
So the quick run down on what I need. Pet friendly, ideally with in 15min of a skytrain station, with a useable kitchen. Basement suites are more likely to be in my price range. I am no longer committed to living in the Commercial Drive, or Hastings Sunrise neighbourhoods, and will gladly consider Burnaby or New West.
It is going to be a stressful month but so have many of the last few, but when the march rent roles around and there is something left, and it takes less the three weeks of my income to earn then I will breath easier.
So Thats the news.
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