Going Away Party and Sand In the City

Four more days until i'm homeless. I'm spending as much time as I can with my friends before I leave. I also have to empty an apartment i have lived in for 8 years. Yesterday I finally went to Sand In The City, which is a fest in downtown Olympia where they make big sand sculptures. It was really anti climatic as every one of the sand sculptures was just a big ad for some bank or restaurant. Brandie, Blue and I decided it would be more fun to go and hang out on the water. It was actually Blue's idea and we just followed. Blue and I threw rocks in the water and dug around for huge rocks. I love that kid, i'm really going to miss her. I also had time to sit and talk to Brandie for a while. I'll miss our little talks. Brandie was a bit upset because one of Blue's friends mom's thinks blue has an eating disorder. I have known this girl from birth and she doesn't have an eating disorder. She said that she doesn't eat when she's at their house. I have been at her house before and I wouldn't eat there either. There is trash all over the floor and dishes piled to the top of the sink with decaying food all over it. Yuk! Blue tears it up when she eats with me.

My going away party at work was a lot of fun. About 10 people or so showed up which isn't too bad since I knew a number of people had already committed to a birthday party at a lake house. I drank lots of liquor out of a bucket and then sang They Might Be Giants "Birdhouse in Your Soul" terribly. I think I was the only person who had ever heard the song before. My friend Jen tackled me during the song. For some reason they don't let you lay on the ground and sing. I call bullshit on that. Then we got up and Jim, Jen, Shelly and I sang Arlo Guthrie's "This Land" and we kicked it's ass. Well at least Jim and I did. We were singing so loud I couldn't hear the girls. It was fun going back and forth between trying to sing bass and soprano. Jackie was a lot of fun and she drove which was really sweet of her. Lou was funny and of course ripped up the Karaoke. He can actually sing really well. I'll miss all of you them, I really hope they all get out of that shitty place and find what they are looking for in life. I don't think anyone dreams of working at a call center, no matter how much money you make.

Two weeks until Chicago

Throwing things away is so hard for me. It's also a bit gratifying though. I have thrown out so many things that I at one time or another thought were important. On hindsight most of the things you keep as mementos really aren't that important and can easily be discarded as the nostalgia wears off pretty quickly once the thought of toting it half way across the country comes into play. I also have a bunch of things that I feel bad about throwing away but no one seems to want to buy or take free of charge. I can recycle the computers, but I cannot find a place to do the same with my stereo. It's a really nice stereo. The only problem is that the speakers do not match and so it's hard to sell them. It will all work itself out i'm sure. I don't really have a choice but to make it.
Another issue of looking for a job is actually going almost too well. I started applying for jobs expecting not to hear back for at least a week. I applied for a job at I-Go Cars last night at about 10 pm and by 9 am they are already trying to set up an interview. Here is the kicker, I am not in Chicago yet and I failed to mention that in the email I sent with my resume. This is a pretty big over site on my part and am a bit upset at myself as this sounds like a pretty cool job. Hopefully they will do a phone interview and deal with an earliest start date of September 5th. Otherwise I have an interview with a company that I don't really think I want to work for on Thursday and a recruiter has offered to place me as soon as I get to Chicago, so a job doesn't seem like it will be an issue. Finding a job I want may be a bit harder.
Finally the third issue is looking for an apartment. I don't know Chicago other than the few places that Dave has taken me and rarely do we go and hang out in residential areas. Ideally I would like to have a job lined up that starts around the 24th of September so that I can take some time to find a nice place to live and get out of Dave's hair as quickly as I can. I mean I love the guy but do I really want to be in his two room apartment(i'm using room liberally and considering the bathroom a room) any longer than I need to be?
I am going to try to keep this blog updated at least every few days about the experience of moving to Chicago.

Shout outs:
Emily VH- She really has been incredibly helpful and supportive. Having her friends look for jobs for me. Also she is already planning camping trips. I love that girl.
David F- He is letting me stay at his house and has offered to contact friends about jobs. He is also already talking about buying season tickets to the new womans soccer league. Awesome!
JP- I have only met him once but he has offered numerous time to help me find a job and an apartment.

Lessons I've learned so far:
1.Be up front about the fact that you are not in Chicago yet. I would think I would have learned that from the first job that seemed to lose interest because of that.

2.It's ok to throw things away. You might have really been happy that you received a Christmas card from an aunt you hardly ever speak to, but do you really need to keep it for 8 years?