Hazy, Hot & HUGE

So, I'm in Ohio right now, on campus at BGSU, sitting in the library computer room with a broken air conditioner and sweat rolling down my back. After a few days in typical Midwest weather--hot AND humid--I can honestly say it's worse here than in Arizona. I used to laugh when people said, "Oh, but it's a 'dry' heat," but I'll take dry over dripping any day. Before I get too sidetracked, let me back up...

I spent my last week at Sandy Pond with Sharon, her 4 1/2 year old daughter Lily, and (BG) Chris. We made it to the beach every day except the last and I ate my last haddock and salt potatoes at Tad's. I had a tremendous amount of emailing, phone calling and miscellaneous errands to do, which partially sucked; however, I did find out that the guy from ASU called my references. YAY! That means:

(A) He has my resume;
(B) he has my work samples;
(C) he has a completed HR application;
(D) and, he called my professional references.

Don't want to get my hopes up, but this is sounding very positive. We'll see... The week ended on a sour note with rain the last morning and my gross underestimation of how long it would take to pack all my crap. Oh well.

Chris and I left Saturday and drove tandem back to BG. We made excellent time, even in slightly aggravating traffic. And, like a mother ship returning home, once we got through Cleveland, Chris started driving 90 mph and stopped using his turn signals. Damn Ohio drivers. We parted ways on 75S and I headed straight for Brian’s. After one post-road trip beer, I curled up in his air conditioned bedroom and rested my eyes. Woke up, dawdled a bit, showered and eventually headed out on the town with Ballmer. Caught some Jah Messengers at the Fishbowl. We both brought our A game to the pool table and had a great start to the night. Headed over to Brewster's, where Ballmer DJed for the rest of the evening. Jenna was waiting there for me. Got all caught up, liquored up and wandered home after last call.

Woke up Sunday, was very briefly lazy, then went to Bob Evans with Brian. Met Chris at the storage unit, where we unpacked my car and poked through the unit. We packed and re-repacked anything we could. It was miserably hot and humid, so after two hours, we called it quits. Went back to Brian’s, had a cherry ice pop and a flashback to my childhood, showered and picked up Chris for dinner at El Vaquero's. We were both hungry, tired and quiet. I wish I would have had my thinking cap on because it didn't occur to me until I pulled into his driveway that I had to say goodbye to Chris - maybe for good. Who knows? He might actually make it on his first airplane trip someday to come visit ... or, I'll never see him again. I suppose the ball's in his court. Went back to Brian's, sipped on my lovely new coffee go mug and waited for Pinkelman to show up. When she did, the night exploded with memorable events:

- Sarah smacking me in the head to "kill a mosquito"
- Carving our names into a picnic bench at Howard's
- Ballmer conning Kamikaze's to sell us a whole case of beer
- Plotting to and successfully tackling Brian on the grassy knoll

*** NOTE: When attempting to take down a large, healthy Serb, keep these things in mind:

1. Go for the side opposite to his dominate hand.
2. Direct one attacker to the knees and one to the hips.
3. Take your glasses off first and keep your head down.
4. In the morning, if you've forgotten what happened last night, examine your body for bruises, grass and other material evidence of a fun time had by all.

Anyhow, woke up this morning at 7:30, with less than 4 hours of sleep--still drunk--and headed over to the storage unit to meet the moving truck. Although I was nauseous, sore and sweating bullets, I'm glad we were up early before the sun had a chance to torture us mid-hangover. Ballmer, Brian and I got that muther packed in an hour and a half. Hell yeah. Power to my peoples. Couldn't get home fast enough to crawl back into bed and get a few more hours of recharge. Once noon rolled around, our bodies ached for a greasy remedy. Chowed down some Burger King, showered up and started my pre-trip errands. Now, here I am again, sweating my ass off in the library computer room. I'm leaving tomorrow, wicked early, for my 3-day journey to Arizona. I'll keep ya posted if my hotels have Internet and I'm not totally wasted from driving. TTFN.

A New Horizon

Today was a relatively big day when it comes to the Arizona situation. First, my apartment lease is an official done deal - I get the keys on the 4th. After all the chaos and drama and paperwork and bullshit, I have a beautiful, safe place to live. If you wanna check it, here: Aventura. Just click on "Virtual Tour." Second, I got another email from the ASU guy. To date, he's requested and received: my resume, professional references and a group of work samples. Today, he sent me an application. I'm getting a good feeling :) Third, I'm totally basking in the pleasure of spending my last week at Sandy Pond with two of my favorite people: Sharon and (BG) Chris.

The only downside to today was finding out that I need a new muffler and a timing belt, which will cost a pretty penny for sure. Although, finding out now is a whole hell of a lot better than my car blowing up in the middle of nowhere, Missouri, halfway to Arizona. Dante is LOVING being an outside cat; Mother Nature has been gracing me with a last few beautious days at the camp; and I'm so so so close to my life settling down: and apartment, a job and a fresh start are on the horizon...

Sunset, #3
Originally uploaded by jahpoetess.

115 Degrees of Separation

Last Sunday (the 16th), I left for Arizona. A friend of mine had some Southwest frequent flyer miles to burn and gave me a free ticket to go scope out an apartment and do some interviewing. Anyway, first I had to drive three hours to Buffalo, where I left my car at a friend's house instead of pissing away major cash on long-term parking. Then, I had to wait in the "C" line for Southwest. That meant I was in the last group of people to get on the plane. So, I crammed myself between a mom (with two very polite, good with flying kids) and a guy who kept offering me bagels. Five hours and a shitty snack pack later, we touched down in Phoenix. I took a shuttle to the car rental place, where I met a crazy woman who needed a cigarette, but instead had to deal with me. They didn't have the car I reserved, so I ended up with a nice little pimped out Mazda-6. Three freeways and a few frantically smoked, post-flight ciggies later and I was at Coop's apartment.

The week was divided into three: shmoozing, hanging with Coop and apartment hunting. Monday morning, I did some miscellaneous errands: got an iron and board for Coop ('cuz I needed it and he's a bachelor), bought groceries (the kid had water, butter and various frozen crap), and went to meet with a car/renter's insurance broker. Tuesday was a big day. Got all gussied up in my polyester pants and sweated my way through a few different meetings and interviews.

SIDENOTE: I submitted my resume for a development writing position at the ASU Foundation in late May. The week before I left, I called and called and called and no one responded. I was pretty frustrated.

I decided to walk right into ASU and ask to speak with the woman who hadn't returned any of my phone calls. I make it there safe and, of course, she's in a meeting. I begged the receptionist to call someone--anyone--and she did. She told me the position had already been filled. Shit, man. I was about to leave and thought to ask her one more time if I could see a person face-to-face. As she picked up the phone, a guy walks by and she says, "Steve?! This is Chelsea." To make a long story short, he felt it was rude to simply send me away, so he invited me back to his office for a chat. Essentially, he mini-interviewed me for three different jobs. YAY!

The day continued with a meeting at HomeBase Youth Services. I had a phone interview with them a few weeks ago. After seeing the office and touring the grounds, combined with my little-to-no experience in government grants, I think I'll pass on the whole deal. Next, I went to the United Way to meet with a contact through my aunt Dana. Although I don't necessarily agree the UW, the guy was awesome! He gave me a whole bunch of new contacts to call for possible job opportunities. At the end of the day, I still had no job but I had a lot of positive hope.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty boring. Got caught up on some freelance work. Attempted to brave the AZ in August sun. Made a crapload of phone calls. All of a sudden, it was Friday and time to find an apartment. Coop had the day off and was a trooper, coming along for the ride. I had done some searching on apartments.com but, upon inspection, I had chosen properties in some slightly shady neighborhoods that didn't peak my interest. It was a 115 degrees outside and, by the end of the day, our brains were leaking out of our ears and I still hadn't found an apartment.

Here's the deal: in Arizona, there are only two ways to get a lease approved - (1) you can show a hire letter or (2) you can verify a certain amount of income/savings. By Saturday morning, I was so discouraged, I actually began to consider going back to Ohio for a year. Well, Saturday ended with me signing at a place called Aventura, a sister property of where Coop lives. Saw Clerks 2--fucking hilarious--did some laundry and went to bed. Woke up at 5-freakin-30 in the morning. Got lost and drove around in circles. Returned the rental car. Got in the "A" line for Southwest. Was the first person on the plane. Got the stretch your legs, bulkhead seat. The plane was 15 minutes early. Drive back to Buffalo was without much drama ... all this and I'm typically a VERY unlucky traveller. Phew!

Plans

Here are my plans for the near future:

July 24-28 Last week @ the Keefer camp - sniff, sniff.
July 29th Back to BG. Party with my homies. Sleep on Brian's couch.
July 31st Pack the moving truck: "You Pack, We Move." Pray everything fits.
August 1-3 Ohio to Missouri. Missouri to Texas. Texas to Arizona.
August 4th Move in. Sweat all day. Collapse.
August 5-9 Get settled. Explore with Mom.
August 10th Drive with Mom to LA for Topher & Emily's wedding.
August 13th Back to Arizona by myself.
August 14th In Arizona for good!

More to come...

Arizona

Hello all! It's been really difficult keeping everyone in the pipeline about my relocation to Arizona. So, I've decided to do a mini-blog. I hope to post before, during and after the move. Keep checking back for news about how things are going.

--Chelsea

Arizona-New Mexico border
Originally uploaded by jahpoetess.