Ok, so I've been itching to write for a long time. I get in this very strange laziness that comes over me when I go live with my family--I don't know why--but I haven't written in a while. I wanted to catch you up (whoever you are, if you even care) on what I'm planning next week.
Lord willing I'll be moving to Charlotte, NC, a fairly large city about 2 hours southwest of my hometown. I've been considering moving to Charlotte for years actually, but the timing was never right. I considered it before moving to Florida and again before I decided to go to Slovakia. In other words, it's been in conversations with my parents for years as I thought out loud, "What about Charlotte?" I hope that answers your questions about whether this was a random or haphazard decision.
Speaking of assumptions... no wait, I'll get into that in another post. This is purely informational.
So about 3 weeks ago or so, I went down to Charlotte with no plan. I went to let the wind take me wherever I end up. God has a really great way of guiding that wind sometimes, wouldn't you say? The only plans I had was to attend this Christmas party. In fact, the party was hosted by an association I'm a part of called AIGA, which is a professional association for design (big bucks to be a member). I had hoped to maybe make a few professional connections and maybe, just maybe, find that one person I needed to give me a job.
Well I didn't necessarily find that job yet, but I did meet a girl named Amy. I told them I was very interested in moving to Charlotte, but really need to find a job first. I soon find out that Amy has an extra bedroom in her house nearby and they desperately needed another roommate. So I say "Ok, I'll think about it and get back to you." (By the way, I did get 2nd place in the Christmas party for wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater! I'm very proud.)
The next morning I left to do some missionary internship debriefing in Atlanta for a few days. But on the way back I texted Amy and said something like, "I know this is crazy, but can I stop by Charlotte and check out your house?" So I did! In those conversations, we slowly start to realize that we're both Christians, and the other roommates in the house are Christians too! I thought I may have suspected something ;)
The house looks like a pretty good match. It's about 10 minutes southwest of downtown and 10 minutes from my cousin which is great. Another feature I love is that the house is located about 5 or 10 minutes (walking time) from a tram/train station which takes you directly downtown. The cost is about $1.50 each way. I'm excited about the idea of a train again and walking more than usual, as it really reminds of me Europe.
Oh, and did I mention that there's supposed to be a squash court downtown too? I'm even more excited about that. Squash has been the only sport other than softball that I've enjoyed and stuck with fairly consistently. We stopped playing after last spring but if I have a partner or group that plays, I'm so there! Anyway I totally suck at playing but it's super fun. I'll be kinda pissed if I find out that the courts aren't there anymore or are super expensive.
I'll be living with 4, yes F-O-U-R girls. 5 chicks in one house. To be completely honest, I'm not really stoked about this as I would prefer to have a bit more privacy. However, my room is kinda separated from the rest and I have my own bathroom. Another nice thing is that rent is month-to-month and it's VERY reasonably priced. Maybe it'll be good for me to live with so many hormones flying around!
I'm a bit scared at moving there with no job. That may appear as a totally bogus thing to do and I'd probably be the first one to criticize someone for moving some place unemployed. However, I've been looking for jobs for months online and there comes a point where you've gotta just GO to the place you want to work. I hope to spend this time looking for a "real job" at a design, advertising or marketing firm. I'm realizing more and more that it's not a good time of year to get a job, it's not a good economy to get a job, and entering this industry at my skill level (not that good), it's next to impossible to just waltz right into a nice position.
So I'd appreciate your prayers as I look for a crap job while searching for a real job. I didn't think I'd have to backtrack so much after leaving Florida. I really felt like I was getting on my feet- a real job, a decent place to live, etc. I don't feel that way any more. I feel too old to be looking for coffee shop jobs and all that. It's frustrating. But I've gotta remind myself that this frustration is simply built out of society's expectations of the kind of person I should be at this age. Anyway, this was a longer post than expected.
