Currently Reading The Erotic Poems (Penguin Classics) By Ovid see related

So it's been quite awhile since the last time i posted on this goddamn thing....not that anyone really noticed.  I now reside in San Francisco, CA, but i am not really enjoying it.  I do have the Pacific Ocean just over a mile away, the beautiful botanical gardens, and a nice apartment, but i miss my friends and family nearly 2000 miles to the east.  I thought i had obtained at least one friend in my roommate, but that dissolved in an entire ten minutes about six hours ago.....here is what happened:

I was working the swing shift (3p-11p) at 7-Eleven (it's one of the two part-time jobs i hold) and had arranged with the guy who worked the graveyard to have him come in at 10:30 so i could run home and change.  I needed to change because my roommate and her friends were waiting on me to go to a club for which we had all bought $20 tickets. They had all hounded me all week that they thought i wouldn't come if they didn't wait for me, so they promised to do so (some of you might see where this is going).  Ten minutes before i was to get out of work early, i received a txt that her and her friends were going to head downtown a little early and they would meet me there.  I discovered, however, as i left work that i had left my keys to the apartment in the apartment.  Thus i had to chase them down on the bus to get my roommate's keys, take the bus back home (20 min each way) so i could change, and then supposedly take the bus back downtown to the club.  I realize that it was my fault to forget my keys, but i was also staking everything on the promise that they would wait for me to hurry home and then we would go to the club.  They didn't get there any earlier than if they had waited, but evidently 10 min was worth ruining my night and my wallet over.

As i think about it more, i realize that the people i felt i so desperately needed to be away from in the great states of Indiana and Michigan would NEVER have left me out to dry like my new found "friends" in SF had done.  If i had shown up an hour late while, say Ant, Ryan, Tay, Purk, Sam, or Riggs had been waiting for me, they would be pissed off, but would have kept their word and waited.

After some bad decisions and a lot of booze i returned to my apartment around 4 a.m. shortly after my roommate and her friends had returned and i was immediately hit with the overwhelming pungent odor of weed.  My roommate had asked if it was ok for a little pot to be smoked in the apartment, and i told her that although i didn't want it at all, i couldn't control her or her friends, and if they chose to smoke to do it when i wasn't there and to make sure they hide the smell.  Unfortunately i was let down again by my so-called friends.  The odor is still incredibly strong that i can smell it through my closed door and the air in my room hangs heavy with the potent odor of freshly smoked pot.  Moreover, when i got up this morning i found the discarded seeds and stems on the coffee table.  I miss people who are true to their word. 

The illusion of friends in San Francisco has quickly come to my attention.  I do not know anyone out here....except for the crazy girl with whom i spent most of the evening, and although it is very cold in the Midwest it is full of good people; good people whom i miss oh so much.

On a somewhat lighter note, the green flag drops over the Daytona 500 signifying the start of another long NASCAR season, and i am proud to say that Ant is involved in his first office pool for the racing series.  I was planning on getting up around 10 a.m. (i'm three hours behind EST) to watch prerace ceremonies and then watch perhaps the first 50-100 laps, but after the treatment tonight, i don't think i want to leave my room until the lovely people of Santa Barbara and Sacramento have left.  Thus far i have been received kindly by them, and i have been gracious and kind in return, but my patience is certainly wearing thin.  I think it is best for both parties if i do not come out of my shitbox in hopes of their leaving on good terms with me, otherwise i might say what i want to say or whatever comes to my mind....thus ruining the weekend of mostly nice people and my roommate.

San Francisco is supposed to be the most tolerant city in the United States, but as tolerant as it seems, there just isn't any welcome or room for a small town guy from Indiana who likes beer and NASCAR.

I never thought i'd say this, but i miss the mouse.

Currently Listening Freebird The Movie: Music From The Motion Picture By Lynyrd Skynyrd see related

When i leave here tomorrow, will you still remember me?  Yes, i changed the words a bit, but my moving is no longer and "if" but a "when."  This is my last night in Grand Rapids for quite some time, and it's a strange feeling.  I've been living in this city off and on for 4.5 years, and now i'm moving on to bigger and hopefully better things.  I head to Muncie tomorrow morning, and catch a flight out of Indianapolis one-way to San Francisco.

Life has changed here in GR.  Work slowly become more and more monotonous, and my friends left one by one.  Those who are left will be joining me at a favorite watering hole for a few bottles of suds before i hit the road.  Of course, i will know less people in San Francisco than i currently know living in GR, but with the endless possibilities which lie before me, i can do nothing but look forward to the experience.  I have no expectations or certain desires, except to live this new chapter of my life to the utmost. 

Via con dios, mi amigo, via con dios. (i think i got that right)

Currently Listening 20 Hits Special Collection, Vol. 1 By Hank Williams Jr. see related

A lot has happened since my last post almost two weeks ago.  I turned in my application for a room in the Inner Richmond district of the City of San Francisco, and waited desperately for a response.  I had interviewed at two places out of the four i had originally planned, and only one called me back--the one for which i applied. 

Heather is my new roommate at 18th and Anza.  Her father originally wanted her to find a quiet Christian girl from SFO to live in the other bedroom, but this is SFO.  I never found out why they chose me over the other applicants, but perhaps it's because i'm a Christian from the tame midwest who is planning on becoming a police officer--what kind of trouble could i possibly be?  I sent my security deposit in and they will be prorating the rent for January.  I'm pretty much all set to go...including my one-way ticket from Indianapolis to the city by the bay.

This one-way ticket thing is rather bittersweet.  I will be boarding a flight in Chicago (after my connection) and landing in SFO.  The strange part is that i won't be going back to the airport after a few days or after a week, but not at all.  I will be moving (without most of my belongings) to a city where the only person i know is my new roommate whom i've only met once and talked to three or four times.  I've done well in situtations similar to this before (i.e. my excursion to Africa and going away to college), but i'm not going back home anytime in the near future.  I'm sure i will deal with some sort of homesickness, such as when August rolls around and i don't get to see the afternoon thunderstorms rolling in over the tall green stalks, but by then i should know at least one other person.

Speaking of thunderstorms, California is dealing with some rather large ones recently.  I spoke with Heather and it didn't sound that bad to me, but of course i grew up with large thunderstorms and tornados.  If i tornado or snow storm hits SFO i'll certainly know what to do, but the first time the ground moves beneath me i will certainly shit myself.

One more week of work and a week of packing and i'm there, i really hope i get to see my lost Lenore one more time, but she's been rather flakey lately and my odds of seeing her are getting smaller and smaller.  Something tells me i'll see her again, but as much as i love and care about her that same something tells me nothing will happen. 

When i dream about the moonlight on the Wabash, how i long for my Indiana home.

Currently Listening The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988 By John Mellencamp see related

These last four days have quite possibly been the most stressful and tiring in a long time.  On Friday i was constantly on the phone attempting to get hold of the registrar at Calvin to talk about my final GPA and if i would actually graduate.  The various people i spoke with made it very clear that i was going to finish with a 1.975, which is exactly where i started the semester, but Steenwyk set it straight and told me i had made it...barely...with a 2.004.  The closest margin he has ever seen as registrar of Calvin College.  Please hold your applause.  To top it all off i was late to my company Christmas party because i was on the delivery truck at work and the driver got stuck in the snow twice, and we had to wait a total of 5 hours for various wreckers to pull us out.

On Saturday i flew to San Francisco to view rooms in apartments which are available for rent, one of which is the most promising.  It is a very large room in the Inner Richmond district in NW San Francisco, with all utilities included at only $650/mo.  I sent in my application and credit information for it today, but i won't know until the end of the week if i got it.  I saw Dickson in Berkeley Saturday night, but he is the same tool he has always been.  He offered his love seat couch for me to crash on, but it is immediately adjacent to the bed where one of his roommates and her obese boyfriend would be intimately sharing each others' company long into the night.  On top of which, his apartment was absolutely trashed--making my apartment look sterile enough for surgery.  Thus i opted to sleep at the airport, but little did i know that it would turn into the exceptionally long Sunday which it did.

I made it to the airport at 11:45p. and found that check-in for United Airlines closed at 11:30p.  The woman behind the counter refused to let me and another guy check in for our planes leaving the following morning so we could sleep in the terminal...past security.  However, we ended up crashing in a corner next to the automatic door which opened every time a person would walk in the relative vicinity of its sensor.  And it was cold (cold for california) outside--about 35 and a solid downpour.  Speaking of which, i was told it was a "light rain" most of the day.  It was a solid downpour for all of the 23 hours i was there, not a "light rain," but of course it was only 35 and most were acting as if it was 10 or lower.  Strange state, but hopefully i shall call it home in under a month.

After several delays and gate changes in Chicago, Chaplain Cooper (who happened to be on my connecting flight from O'Hare) and i made it back to Grand Rapids in time to see and feel 30 mph winds, temperatures of about 15, and driving snow, but all-in-all it was a decent weekend. 

I would invite anyone who wanted down to the Intersection tomorrow night for Gruv Unit, but it's not like anyone reads this blog anyway. 

I think i need more cowbell.

Currently Listening Dust in the Wind By Kansas see related

I have the last two finals i will ever take as an undergrad at Calvin on Tuesday and Wednesday.  With that as my preface, i would like to say that i haven't studied for either one as of yet, but the reality of the conclusion of my college life is coming to fruition.  I spent most of the day attempting to figure out exactly what i wanted to happen in a month.  I have two options:

In the first scenario i hear positive feedback from the SFPD and know that i am officially moving to the Bay Area in mid-January.  This is rather bittersweet, for all i have ever known has been within the borders of Michigan and Indiana, and i would be moving 2000 miles to the west.  On the bright side, i would probably pass my background check and be assigned to academy as early as May, but it is all up in the air at this point.

In the second scenario i hear negative feedback from the SFPD and thus have to decide whether or not i'm moving at all--moving out of Grand Rapids that is.  For my landlord has already told me that the only way i can get out of my lease is if i move in January...not before or after.  Thus i have screwed myself my accepting his offer and will be moving from my one bedroom nest on Lake Drive for an unknown destination.  This is the trickiest of scenarios, for i want to get out of the midwest, but will not have ANY job prospects if i moved to San Francisco.  But if i stay, i will be left with a town that i feel i no longer belong in.  A town with less friends every month as they all begin to move home or away for jobs and new lives.

Alas, i am stuck in an interesting predicament, for Erica (the girl i'm seeing) doesn't want me to move away, and for her sake i don't want to go.  However, i have planned this move, done all i can to make it happen, and the very last thing that i want is to remain the midwest.  This fucking sucks.