Well, after 5 months of not working I've taken a huge step and continued not to work. Here's a quick recap to catch you up:
THE HISTORY
After multiple job opportunities falling through, I decided to find myself a city first, then find a job. I was ready to quit my current job for multiple reasons, but when my brother was scheduled for surgery in November in upstate Montana, it was the deciding factor. I made the long drive with my dad just a week after I had quit my job and a day after I bought my 3rd car within a 5 month period (that's another story). We drove up and stayed in Montana for two
long weeks (long because it was stinkin' cold). After returning, I started traveling in the hopes of finding a city and to see various relatives, attend weddings, etc. Dallas, Omaha, Des Moines, Hilton Head were some of the main destinations with many stops along the way since I was driving on most of these trips.
During this time, I had a friend tell me about an opportunity to live in an apartment in Seattle (Capitol Hill) for 3 months. The owner went to Portugal and wanted someone to stay in his place while he was gone through the end of June. It didn't take me long to say "yes" and figure it out from there.
THE REALIZATION
I arrived Sunday night after 2 long days of driving. Unpacking didn't take long as I just brought the necessities but adjusting to a new life will take a while. Here are some of the things I'm not used to:
1) Living in a busy downtown area, directly off a bustling street
2) Getting into our apartment means going through 3 locked doors. Don't loose your keys!
3) Fighting for downtown parking so you can go home.
4) So......it's a one bedroom. Containers and boxes down the middle gives us each our own area but quarters are a little tight. I haven't lived in the same room with someone since college.
5) This is my favorite: I have to sit to pee. The owner is a little particular about a few things, one being "splashback" on the wood floors in the bathroom so he's asked us in various instructions to sit down when we take a piss (I'm sure you noticed the pic at the top of the post - that is taped to the toilet tank to remind us).
6) It's chilly up here, but it's beautiful. Everything is incredibly green and bloomed already in mid-April.
7) Hearing everyone I tell them I'm living in Seattle, say: "Oh, it rains there all the time"
8) Living in walking distance of anything I need or want (breweries, stores, entertainment, restaurants, etc).
9) walking home with groceries and having to pay for grocery bags if you don't have your own
10) a very old, quirky building which means: no dishwasher or laundry in my unit. It also means half our windows "look out" on a brick wall to the next building 5ft away.
THE NOW
My rommate (Matt) and I spent Monday getting keys made, shopping for groceries, and setting up our living space. He got here about 2 weeks before me, so he's already done a great job of setting it up. Also, he has a friend here who is oddly enough dating a girl I graduated high school with. Small world. We went out to dinner with them last night at
Hopvine Pub in Capitol Hill, just a few blocks from our front door. Today, I'm online looking for some ways to earn money plus I went on a long (2hr +) walk through the city to get familiar with the area. There's lots to see and some absolutely amazing homes. The city is laid out as well, including multiple parks like the one across the street from our apartment.
Anyway, I intend of keeping a regular journal of my adventures here in Seattle if you'd like to keep up with me. Probably the best way is to use the links to the right to Follow By Email or RSS feeds. I will post these to Facebook occasionally too.
I'm still getting used to walking everywhere, carrying groceries home, and dealing with various weather conditions. Overall, it's been very sunny here with only a few days of overcast skies or rain. But after walking everywhere for a few weeks (and getting a parking ticket for being parked more than 72 hours in front of my apartment), Matt and I decided it was time for a road trip. We headed to Tacoma on Saturday (I thought it was the state capitol - obviously I didn't pay attention in elementary school).
Summary: it's a really cool city and it grew on me just during the few hours we were there. Lunch at a local brewery called Harmon Brewing and then a walk around to explore. We found the museum of glass across the railroad tracks from the brewery, which included a bridge of Chihuly's work in the ceiling above. If you know me well at all, I'm not the guy to spend $15 to walk through a museum, so we glanced around and kept walking. Few blocks later we found another brewery called Pacific Brewing and Malting Company, where I spent $15 on beer. It had a really cool history - the same location was opened in the late 1800's and then with prohibition in the early 1900's was shut down. Just last year, it reopened in the same location after being closed 98 years. That was worth celebrating with a beer and a picture of the doors opened wide with the logo engraved into the cement at the door.
We also had a run in with the police. Thankfully, it didn't involve a ticket but instead an off-duty police office who grew up in Tacoma and told us the best spots to hit during our short day trip. He recommended a large park called Point Defiance which is a 702-acre park including a zoo, beaches, hiking trails and more. A short drive later, I was standing on the rocky Owen Beach and driving around a 5-mile loop of some of the prettiest scenery I've discovered in Washington. It was the perfect weekend trip and great way to spend $15.
