Operation "Escape Hickville": Step 2
Dec. 27th, 2011 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
softpawFor several years now, I've talked about how badly I want to get out of this middle-of-nowhere town, but I've never taken a whole lot of pro-active action toward that goal. I've constantly been waiting for some golden opportunity, and/or a perfect financial situation, but after so many years of depressed stagnation, I've finally assembled the motivation to make my own opportunity. But I can't do it alone. I'm not asking for money, I have plenty of that, but if you live in the DC metro area (northern Virginia, DC, or Maryland), I need your help.
My big plan since about October has been to save up enough of a nest egg to survive without income for a couple months, to allow me to job-search without a temp job getting in the way, and without being tethered to where I currently live. In order to make this work, however, I need a place to stay in the area while I job search, and if I get a job, while I hunt for my own apartment. Unfortunately, while I have plenty of talent in my field, I'm a bit lacking in experience to back it up, so job-hunting probably won't be as simple as sending out a round of resumes and scooping up interviews. Since my nest egg will last a few months at best, rather than a year or more, I really don't want to sign a lease, because I want to be able to fall back on my current living situation if I have to, without increasing my debts.
When I Need This
Since I'll be picking up my Rover from the mechanic next week, and I'm currently training a replacement for my paper route, I'm looking to get out of here and start job searching within the next 2-3 weeks.
What I Need
I'm pretty much just looking for glorified crash space. I'm not bringing much stuff, preferably not more than I can carry in one trip of my truck. But, I do need a little bit more than just a place to sleep, so here's a quick list:
-A place to sleep, whether it's a couch, or a floor spot for my twin-size air mattress.
-A place to hang up work/interview clothes; not necessarily a closet, a hook on a wall would do the trick. I don't have much.
-Access to a kitchen, to store and prep my food and drinks. I won't leech off your food, that'd be terribly rude, but my budget won't allow me to eat out constantly. My culinary skills are very limited, so I won't be whipping up anything super-fancy.
-A wired ethernet connection for my VOIP phone line, since it's my primary phone line for conducting business, and my cellphone plan doesn't have a ton of minutes. Plus, my cellphone's ringer is incapable of waking me up.
-A place to park my car. It's a compact SUV, so it doesn't need special parking or anything, but I know some urban apartments have somewhat restrictive parking policies, so it's worth mentioning.
That covers the crucial necessities, but there's one other thing. While I can theoretically work from my laptop, it's much easier to work from my desktop PC, so if at all possible, I'd prefer to have a spot to set it up. I have a compact, portable desk to use with it, about 4' x 2.5', or it can go on a table or something, it's a small case.
As far as a time prediction, I'm looking at a maximum of two to three months. Financially, I could last longer than that, but that's the most I'm willing to go before I have to give up and try to find more temp work back in mom's town. It could be less, but it definitely won't be longer; that's why I want to do things this way in the first place, so I don't end up in a situation where I'm leeching off friends or unable to support myself. That sort of situation is unacceptable to me.
It's also worth mentioning that I won't be sitting around playing video games all day while pretending to find work, in typical furry roommate horror-story fashion. I'm serious about this, and I'll have plenty to do. In addition to some projects that will help my portfolio, and the typical job stuff (writing letters, finding jobs, adjusting resumes), I plan/hope to maintain a contractor relationship with a couple companies I already do some work for here in Harrisonburg, so I'll have a bit of telecommuting to do. Plus, I don't even really play games that much.
What I Can Offer
For starters, I'm a pretty low-impact roommate. I don't smoke, drink, or do drugs, and while I tend to stay up late, I can be very quiet at night. I won't hog your internet connection with downloads. I'm not the most organized person, but I absolutely can't stand actual messes/grime (leftover food, scattered trash, piles of laundry, etc), so while I'm a little prone to clutter, I wouldn't call myself messy. And, I won't be camping out in your house 24/7; between other friends in the area, job-hunting, and my innate desire to spend as little time indoors as possible, I'll have other places to spend my time.
Unfortunately, my nest-egg budget doesn't really allow much for rent. It's taken months to save up enough pennies to make this a reality, having to pay a full share of rent would drastically reduce the amount of time I can spend job-searching before I'd have to give up and return to mom's house with empty pockets. But, I will offer this: If I successfully find a job in the area, I will pay for the time I spent crashing with you.
In lieu of rent, I'll happily help you out in other areas; cleaning, running errands, pet care, etc. Just let me know what I can do for you.
That said, there is one living expense I'm planning on. For a number of reasons, I take very long showers, as much out of necessity as luxury. And, the aforementioned desktop PC draws more than a trivial amount of electricity. So, I will gladly pay a fair split of water and electrical bills for the time I spend living with you; whether I simply cover the above-average difference, or we do an even split of some sort, I'm sure we can work something out.
In the event of a financial emergency on my part (medical expense, major car problem, etc), I'll simply pick up and go back to Harrisonburg.
If you might be able to help me out, it would really mean a lot to me. This is a major step toward getting my life in order and getting my career back on track, and I'm more than ready for it. So, if you live within a reasonable commuting distance of DC, and have a little extra space for a puppy, please contact me so we can work out some details.
Thank you :-)
My big plan since about October has been to save up enough of a nest egg to survive without income for a couple months, to allow me to job-search without a temp job getting in the way, and without being tethered to where I currently live. In order to make this work, however, I need a place to stay in the area while I job search, and if I get a job, while I hunt for my own apartment. Unfortunately, while I have plenty of talent in my field, I'm a bit lacking in experience to back it up, so job-hunting probably won't be as simple as sending out a round of resumes and scooping up interviews. Since my nest egg will last a few months at best, rather than a year or more, I really don't want to sign a lease, because I want to be able to fall back on my current living situation if I have to, without increasing my debts.
When I Need This
Since I'll be picking up my Rover from the mechanic next week, and I'm currently training a replacement for my paper route, I'm looking to get out of here and start job searching within the next 2-3 weeks.
What I Need
I'm pretty much just looking for glorified crash space. I'm not bringing much stuff, preferably not more than I can carry in one trip of my truck. But, I do need a little bit more than just a place to sleep, so here's a quick list:
-A place to sleep, whether it's a couch, or a floor spot for my twin-size air mattress.
-A place to hang up work/interview clothes; not necessarily a closet, a hook on a wall would do the trick. I don't have much.
-Access to a kitchen, to store and prep my food and drinks. I won't leech off your food, that'd be terribly rude, but my budget won't allow me to eat out constantly. My culinary skills are very limited, so I won't be whipping up anything super-fancy.
-A wired ethernet connection for my VOIP phone line, since it's my primary phone line for conducting business, and my cellphone plan doesn't have a ton of minutes. Plus, my cellphone's ringer is incapable of waking me up.
-A place to park my car. It's a compact SUV, so it doesn't need special parking or anything, but I know some urban apartments have somewhat restrictive parking policies, so it's worth mentioning.
That covers the crucial necessities, but there's one other thing. While I can theoretically work from my laptop, it's much easier to work from my desktop PC, so if at all possible, I'd prefer to have a spot to set it up. I have a compact, portable desk to use with it, about 4' x 2.5', or it can go on a table or something, it's a small case.
As far as a time prediction, I'm looking at a maximum of two to three months. Financially, I could last longer than that, but that's the most I'm willing to go before I have to give up and try to find more temp work back in mom's town. It could be less, but it definitely won't be longer; that's why I want to do things this way in the first place, so I don't end up in a situation where I'm leeching off friends or unable to support myself. That sort of situation is unacceptable to me.
It's also worth mentioning that I won't be sitting around playing video games all day while pretending to find work, in typical furry roommate horror-story fashion. I'm serious about this, and I'll have plenty to do. In addition to some projects that will help my portfolio, and the typical job stuff (writing letters, finding jobs, adjusting resumes), I plan/hope to maintain a contractor relationship with a couple companies I already do some work for here in Harrisonburg, so I'll have a bit of telecommuting to do. Plus, I don't even really play games that much.
What I Can Offer
For starters, I'm a pretty low-impact roommate. I don't smoke, drink, or do drugs, and while I tend to stay up late, I can be very quiet at night. I won't hog your internet connection with downloads. I'm not the most organized person, but I absolutely can't stand actual messes/grime (leftover food, scattered trash, piles of laundry, etc), so while I'm a little prone to clutter, I wouldn't call myself messy. And, I won't be camping out in your house 24/7; between other friends in the area, job-hunting, and my innate desire to spend as little time indoors as possible, I'll have other places to spend my time.
Unfortunately, my nest-egg budget doesn't really allow much for rent. It's taken months to save up enough pennies to make this a reality, having to pay a full share of rent would drastically reduce the amount of time I can spend job-searching before I'd have to give up and return to mom's house with empty pockets. But, I will offer this: If I successfully find a job in the area, I will pay for the time I spent crashing with you.
In lieu of rent, I'll happily help you out in other areas; cleaning, running errands, pet care, etc. Just let me know what I can do for you.
That said, there is one living expense I'm planning on. For a number of reasons, I take very long showers, as much out of necessity as luxury. And, the aforementioned desktop PC draws more than a trivial amount of electricity. So, I will gladly pay a fair split of water and electrical bills for the time I spend living with you; whether I simply cover the above-average difference, or we do an even split of some sort, I'm sure we can work something out.
In the event of a financial emergency on my part (medical expense, major car problem, etc), I'll simply pick up and go back to Harrisonburg.
If you might be able to help me out, it would really mean a lot to me. This is a major step toward getting my life in order and getting my career back on track, and I'm more than ready for it. So, if you live within a reasonable commuting distance of DC, and have a little extra space for a puppy, please contact me so we can work out some details.
Thank you :-)