It’s been another hectic past few days. I’m finding it a challenge posting on a strictly daily basis, and I’m not sure if that’s a function of the lifestyle or not. Either way, I’ll keep trying my best to stick to my promised outline of daily posts. Since tomorrow will officially be my first day of homelessness, I will start by recapping my time with Linda. I’ll try to post a separate slew of updates in a later post. Here goes: Linda and I decided to meet for a drink at 9:30 at a karaoke dive bar. What’s funny about that is this: I’ve always said I had retired from karaoke in 8th grade. My last performance was also my first, a chilling rendition of Coolio’s Gangster’s Paradise at Annie...
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So… Linda called me back last night, 48 hours after I first contacted her and 24 hours after I promised the apartment to Jürgen. I was out for a bike ride when she called, but when I returned there was an accompanying text message from her. It read, “Hey. I wanted to check in on the apt situation. Please let me know. Thank you!” Apparently her and I had been judging this time differently… I decided to call her back. The text message is such a low form of communication, I thought the situation called for better. Of course, she didn’t pick up the phone, so I left her a voicemail. I let her know that someone else had secured the place, and thanked her for her time. With most folks, that’d be the...
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So, Linda never called back yesterday. I’m pretty disappointed that she didn’t pull through, as I was getting used to the idea of having her and her dog, (insert my name here), occupy my humble housing space. The prospect of being away for two months was growing on me, too. And secretly, I had this cupid’s notion of hooking her up with my neighbor, James. Isn’t there a saying about the best landlords being matchmakers, too? Or was it womanizers? (For those romantic fiction lovers out there: http://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Landlord-Harlequin-Romance-Michaels/dp/0373032331) After 24 hours of not hearing from Linda, I had to move on. I called Jürgen and offered him the place. He gladly accepted. The...
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Linda. Earlier this evening, I started writing out some goals for my homeless journey (which I will post separately later). This helped me organize my thoughts and make what I believe what is the right decision. First of all, I’d like to address the fact that I never met Tre and Ali. Tre, who asked for a raincheck on our original meeting, was having trouble making himself available to come by the apartment to meet me. Since I am feeling the pressure of a timeline, renting the place before the end of the month, I have to let him go without meeting him. Ali, on the other hand, seems to have gone the way of Aaron and disappeared. He has no doubt found other housing. Such is life in the world of short-term...
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6:30 Thursday: Aaron Aaron was the first person to respond to my post, otherwise I might have ignored his mysterious and slow communication. As it stood, he had wanted to schedule an interview for a day earlier. But Wednesday is yoga night, so I declined. Best not to make business introductions when in the mind frame of reverse warrior. I digress. Once 7:00 rolled around with no word from Aaron, I conceded my first scheduled interview was a wash. I ignored the signs of his wayward conviction, and for it I’d lost an hour. For the first time since I posted the ad, I began to wonder if finding a responsible tenant was going to be difficult. Subconsciously, I began to lower my expectations. Then… 7:30...
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My first order of business in becoming free of home would be to put my apartment up for sublease. The beauty about the rental market in Los Angeles, at least for a subletter like myself, is that there is such a transient nature to the place. People come to Los Angeles to fulfill their dreams. When I arrived here two years ago from back east, I was struck at renters being so defensive about emphasizing that their property was only available for a year lease. After one property manager began to go into great detail about the terms of breaking his lease after less than five minutes of speaking with him, I stopped to ask him why everyone was so preoccupied with lease duration. “People are flaky here,”...
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1. Liberate Myself from Strongest Ties to Material Possession In the year preceding my decision to move into the office, I worked two jobs, averaging around 60 hours per week of work. This amounted to maintaining what I perceived to be a base-level lifestyle. A small studio apartment. A car. Decent meals. Ironically, my attempt to maintain my level of lifestyle ended up worsening it. During my two-job term, I experienced more stress, compromised health, dulling of creative interest, decreased job performance, strain on my relationship, and a lower overall level of happiness. It was, by all accounts, a failure of applied logic. No lifestyle justifies the sacrifice of your well-being. Instead of using my...
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How does one come up with the idea to move into his office? The short answer is: Gradually. When you are a child, you might overhear a classmate ask the teacher if she lives at school. During your first job at a waterpark, you might sneak into the premises late at night to ride the waterslides. After college, you might backpack across Europe on minimal funds, waiting until after sunset before finally figuring out where you'll sleep for free that night. These are all situations that challenge convention. The defiance of principle that begs the question: Do we really need the principle in the first place? Stumbling into my office one evening after an evening event, I rediscovered that verve within me. It was...
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“Our trash can seems to be filling up quicker lately,” Beatrice says, emerging in the doorway to the back storage area. “I don’t understand it.” I’m unaffected. “Oh yeah? I haven’t noticed.” “Yeah,” she responds, pushing. This is a moment of epiphany for her. “And it’s weird because we’ve all been out of the office a lot lately. Like, more than usual.” I let her words linger for a second. Things have been busy around the office lately and I’ve got a series of meetings to prepare for. Centers requesting donation charts, strategy planning meetings to structure. As thrilling as it sounds, I’m on a roll finishing it. “Huh,” I offer politely. “I wonder why that...
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