Still No Internet

I'm actually stealing this from someone else via wi-fi, so I hope they don't cut me off halfway through. The internet man is coming friday, hopefully.

But in what seems to have turned out to be the dumbest move I ever made, moving to Queens has been a bit or a disaster. They decided not to clean the place before I moved in, and I stupidly signed the lease fully knowing that if I stayed less than a year, I wouldn't get my deposit back! Doh!

Oh well, not to worry. If I stay for about two months, I should get my money's worth really, and then I can find some trendy place in the city. We've all gotta start somewhere!

Goodbye Pod

It's my last night at the hotel tonight. Tomorrow I move out to Boring Ol' Queens and my new apartment that I'm only going to be in for one or two months. Hopefully.

I've had a decision to make today as to buy a bed or not. It makes sense, seeing as how I don't have one here with me now, but as everyone here at work, and indeed Troy as well, stated, it's going to be a pain to move. I'd have to get someone to move it, which costs money, and beds arn't cheap in the first place. I think I need to save my money a bit first. The landlord upstairs said they can lend me a mattress, so all hope is not lost. Another dilemma is weather to take the train, which will be annoying carrying my suitcase up and down all those stairs, or pay an enourmous fee to take a cab. If I do the latter, I had better go to the bank. But then again, I think they have credit card machines inside now. All modern technology here.

See you guys when I get the internet hooked up over there!

Isn't It Ironic

As Allanis Morrisette would say. So it turns out the perfect place I saw on saturday in Central Park North became avaible today. And yesterday & monday I was inundated with emails from places I had asked to view on sunday; whom I had contacted right after they posted them online. Figures. At least I'm on month to month where I am now.

And I ate for free today. I had lunch paid for by work, and dinner for free thanks to the nice chap that worked there. So swings and roundabout really.

Boring Old Queens

So I finally got an apartment... in 'Boring Ol' Queens', which is what I'm going to call it from now on.

If you've never heard of Queens before, it the borough of New York that doesn't have the glamour of manhattan or the hard edge of the bronx or brooklyn. But it seems a bit more down-to-earth than the rest. Sort of like the 'grounded' middle child. So why did I move there? For one thing, the rent is month to month, so if I ever find a really cool flat elsewhere, i can just up and go, and it seems like a nice safe neighbourhood, like I had on the beach. You never know. We'll see how things work out. It's certainly alot nicer than the place in central harlem I look at last week.

Housing issues

I've survived my first week at work, now I just need to keep up the illusion that I know what I'm doing. I still think I'm way to underqualified for the job, but I guess time will tell if they ever find that out...

On the housing front, I've looked at two places so far since I've gotten a job. One was too expensive and on the 5th floor of a walk-up, and the one I looked at tonight was on the third floor, but it was about 8 blocks from the subway and to be honest it was quite smelly. Seeing as how there were a million people looking at the place, I'm assuming it gone already anyway, so onto looking at other places. I'm a little nervous as I don't have a contingency plan. I can't afford to stay at the hotel longer than till the end of the month as I'm essentially bleeding money at the moment. I guess I'll have to pull my finger out pretty sharpish and hope I can find a place that doesn't charge a relator's fee and doesn't want to see my W-2's, pay stubbs, and bank statements...

Partial Victory

I moved into the hotel yesterday. The room is very small, but luckily since I'm on the top floor in the corner next to the stairs, it's not very noisey.

I also got a job. On condition of checking my references. There's a bit of a story there too. After the interview, I got the feeling they thought I had designed the sites I built at my last job, which of course I didn't. So I was scared they were goingto call my boss and he was going to say "Richard didn't design". But after half an hour of calling several people, I decided to call them and straighten it out.

And it turns out they knew all along and hired me for my "enthusiasm". I they say so...

Next Week

So here's what's happening. On monday I'm going to move into a hotel in manhatten. Only two problems there. One, apparently it's a really, reallly noisey hotel, and as everyone knows, I'm a very light sleeper, so we'll see how that works. And two, it's supposed to snow about five to ten inches tomorrow.

I haven't been in real snow since I was seven, and haven't been in snow that thick since I was about four. Sod the subway and it's stairs; I'm taking a taxi across town.

Dodged The Bullet

Literally. Almost.

I nearly rented an apartment in Harlem today, but was thankfully talked out of it by family and friends. Troy put it best "We're not at Hallandale anymore." Too right Troy, too right.

So I'm going to the 'Pods' hotel. Wish me luck there, coz I'm sure gonna need it.

First Impressions

First things first, I saw the Ghostbusters Firehouse!!! I got out of the subway, turned around, and there it was staring at me. It looks exactly how it does on the show and in the movies, although they changed the doors and it doesn't have a ghostbusters sign outside. I even ate lunch right next door! So that's one dream I've had for about twenty years complete!

On the job front, I had an interview today with a follow-up hopefully tomorrow, and I have one scheduled for wednesday, and another for next wednesday. I think I'll start looking at apartments tomorrow as well.

Oh and the New York subway is absolute rubbish. I've never seen a more poorly layed out, poorly diagramed, and poorly signposted public transportation system in the world. I wouldn't even put it in the London Underground's league.

Welcome To New York

Sort of. I'm a Troy's in New Jersey at the moment. Then, starting tomorrow, I have to go to job interviews. I'd love to get an apartment now, as there are plenty of really nice ones in my price range, but I need the income first.

I feel like getting the place first, and then hope I get a job after a week or so, but as I've found out, things never go to plan, so I'm best playing it safe. The other thing I'm concerned about is that I'm a very light sleeper, so I hope I'm not in too noisey an neighbourhood, and that my neighbours are cool.

Fingers crossed!

Happy New Year

Beleated by about 3 days, but there you go. We just got back in the country last night, and I've already booked my flight for sunday. Now all I have to do is drive down to the beach and pick up my things. That place is actually being fumigated today and tomorrow, so I hope it doesn't damage everything too much. I don't think I had any food or anything laying around. I hope it didn't make everything smell funny. That would be bad.

Oh yeah, I had New Years in the forest with Oliver, Paul, and Andrew Rickman, whom I haven't seen since 1991. That pub won't forget us for quite a while...