Justin Davis
02-08-2006, 01:39 PM
As of today, I've lived in Austin for one week. Well, in about 11 hours that will be true. There wasn't a lot for me to do on the Gulf Coast before Hurricane Katrina. Now, there's absolutely nothing. I resigned from my teaching position in the beginning of January. Since then, I've looked for jobs all over the country. I'm sure I've sent out hundreds of applications, resumes, and cover letters by now. Mainly, I focused on the Atlanta and Austin areas. I had a couple interviews, but received the same response too many times not to get aggrivated by it.
"Contact us when you get here."
I wanted to secure the job first before I moved. Moving quickly wasn't the problem, but securing a place to live. I didn't think too many apartment managers/landlords would be ok with me leaving the employment section of a lease blank even if I have the money to pay for an apartment for some time to come. One night while bitching about this to Brian Cronin, he asked if I thought about looking for people who need roommates in one of the cities I wanted to live. I contacted a few here in Austin through email and then ended up talking to a couple of them on the phone the next day. One woman said we could do the interview over the phone since it was too far away for me to check it out in person. We really got along well and she said she couldn't imagine finding someone more ideal, but she had a few more interviews set up for that weekend. After I hung up, I called a friend to see if he could help me move if it went through, but while I was on the phone with him, the woman from before called back. She thought it over and talked with the other roommate. If I wanted to accept the apartment at that moment, she'd call the other people to cancel their interviews. Obviously, I said yes since I'm typing this from my new bedroom in Austin.
That conversation took place on Friday. I contacted Budget truck rental that night, packed everything in the van on Tuesday, and drove from Biloxi, MS, to Austin, TX, on Wednesday. There was also a huge screw-up with Budget where the store I rented from were complete jerks and I'm still trying to work that out, but eh, I'm here now.
The roommates are cool people who both work in the same restaurant. Even though one of them does seem to drink a bit excessively at times (he just moved in here the day before me), he cooks all the time. My first Saturday here, he invited me to go with him to his friend's birthday party where he supplied the food which consisted of spicy pickled carrots, marinated flank steaks, large boiled shrimp with a mustard dill dipping sauce, a tomatilla and green chile dipping sauce for bread and chips, and a chicken liver and bourbon pate. It's good having a cook for a roommmate. I haven't had the chance to hang out with the other roommate often, the one who I talked to on the phone, but she's nice too. When she interviewed me on the phone, she said, "Ok, to tell you something about me, I'm gay.... and black." A little while later, I said, "As for what you said earlier about being gay and black, yeah, um, I don't care. Just to let you know, I'm white and straight. Hope you're okay with that."
My roommates have introduced me a few times as a refugee which will get annoying real quickly. Then, even more so when the other person says, "Oh, you're from New Orleans."
I shot some video of the place with my digital camera if anyone wants to check them out. It's a large place. Almost all of the furniture in the living room is mine except for the little blue couch in the corner and table directly in front of it.
Click here to watch living room, dining area, and kitchen video (http://media.putfile.com/Living-room-dining-area-and-kitchen)
Click here to watch bedroom video (http://media.putfile.com/Bedroom35)
So far Austin is very cool. Lots to do here. Too much for someone who is unemployed, but luckily, a lot of it doesn't cost much. Bert's here and I met his boyfriend Nick. Nice guy. They took me out to a great, local hamburger place and then gave me the grand tour of Austin at night. The next night, on Friday, I went to a CBLDF benefit at a local comic book store where Terry Moore appeared. For $10, I got three Shiner Bocks, six slices of pizza, cookies, and an autographed print from Terry Moore. Not bad for ten bucks.
Check out some photos I took of the HUGE comic book store and pictures of Austin in general. (http://flickr.com/photos/28506654@N00/sets/72057594060001697/)
I know someone is probably wondering about Kristina. We're not in the best place right now. It's not the move that did this, but other stuff. However, as soon as I get a job, I'm going to woo her. I'm going to woo the hell out of her. . . . . She really wants me to stop saying woo.
Over the last few weeks, I've had a few epiphanies. Mainly, that I seem to sabotage myself when it comes to employment. I never thought I deserved it. Kristina even said, "I just wish you loved yourself as much as I love you." That hit me hard and made me seriously think about my life. Now, I know and believe that there's no reason I shouldn't have sucess, whatever way you want to define that, and that the only thing that prevented me from having it before was my own actions or inactions. Hopefully, I can change that now.
I'm still reeling a bit from the move, but in no way, shape, or form do I regret it.
Woo!
"Contact us when you get here."
I wanted to secure the job first before I moved. Moving quickly wasn't the problem, but securing a place to live. I didn't think too many apartment managers/landlords would be ok with me leaving the employment section of a lease blank even if I have the money to pay for an apartment for some time to come. One night while bitching about this to Brian Cronin, he asked if I thought about looking for people who need roommates in one of the cities I wanted to live. I contacted a few here in Austin through email and then ended up talking to a couple of them on the phone the next day. One woman said we could do the interview over the phone since it was too far away for me to check it out in person. We really got along well and she said she couldn't imagine finding someone more ideal, but she had a few more interviews set up for that weekend. After I hung up, I called a friend to see if he could help me move if it went through, but while I was on the phone with him, the woman from before called back. She thought it over and talked with the other roommate. If I wanted to accept the apartment at that moment, she'd call the other people to cancel their interviews. Obviously, I said yes since I'm typing this from my new bedroom in Austin.
That conversation took place on Friday. I contacted Budget truck rental that night, packed everything in the van on Tuesday, and drove from Biloxi, MS, to Austin, TX, on Wednesday. There was also a huge screw-up with Budget where the store I rented from were complete jerks and I'm still trying to work that out, but eh, I'm here now.
The roommates are cool people who both work in the same restaurant. Even though one of them does seem to drink a bit excessively at times (he just moved in here the day before me), he cooks all the time. My first Saturday here, he invited me to go with him to his friend's birthday party where he supplied the food which consisted of spicy pickled carrots, marinated flank steaks, large boiled shrimp with a mustard dill dipping sauce, a tomatilla and green chile dipping sauce for bread and chips, and a chicken liver and bourbon pate. It's good having a cook for a roommmate. I haven't had the chance to hang out with the other roommate often, the one who I talked to on the phone, but she's nice too. When she interviewed me on the phone, she said, "Ok, to tell you something about me, I'm gay.... and black." A little while later, I said, "As for what you said earlier about being gay and black, yeah, um, I don't care. Just to let you know, I'm white and straight. Hope you're okay with that."
My roommates have introduced me a few times as a refugee which will get annoying real quickly. Then, even more so when the other person says, "Oh, you're from New Orleans."
I shot some video of the place with my digital camera if anyone wants to check them out. It's a large place. Almost all of the furniture in the living room is mine except for the little blue couch in the corner and table directly in front of it.
Click here to watch living room, dining area, and kitchen video (http://media.putfile.com/Living-room-dining-area-and-kitchen)
Click here to watch bedroom video (http://media.putfile.com/Bedroom35)
So far Austin is very cool. Lots to do here. Too much for someone who is unemployed, but luckily, a lot of it doesn't cost much. Bert's here and I met his boyfriend Nick. Nice guy. They took me out to a great, local hamburger place and then gave me the grand tour of Austin at night. The next night, on Friday, I went to a CBLDF benefit at a local comic book store where Terry Moore appeared. For $10, I got three Shiner Bocks, six slices of pizza, cookies, and an autographed print from Terry Moore. Not bad for ten bucks.
Check out some photos I took of the HUGE comic book store and pictures of Austin in general. (http://flickr.com/photos/28506654@N00/sets/72057594060001697/)
I know someone is probably wondering about Kristina. We're not in the best place right now. It's not the move that did this, but other stuff. However, as soon as I get a job, I'm going to woo her. I'm going to woo the hell out of her. . . . . She really wants me to stop saying woo.
Over the last few weeks, I've had a few epiphanies. Mainly, that I seem to sabotage myself when it comes to employment. I never thought I deserved it. Kristina even said, "I just wish you loved yourself as much as I love you." That hit me hard and made me seriously think about my life. Now, I know and believe that there's no reason I shouldn't have sucess, whatever way you want to define that, and that the only thing that prevented me from having it before was my own actions or inactions. Hopefully, I can change that now.
I'm still reeling a bit from the move, but in no way, shape, or form do I regret it.
Woo!