Wow it has been a busy and interesting few days, I am sure you will be surprised by what has transpired, here goes! Lets see how well I can remember it.
8/3/2014 (8/7/2014)
Sunday was actually a pretty good day of rest, well as far as resting goes when you are trying to get on your feet. I spent some time talking to those girls from Mexico, they were pretty cool, they are going on a week long hiking trip tomorrow.
I spend most of my time on Craigslist looking at apartment and other jobs, there are a few prospects but nothing solid yet. The girl from Romania was working and I just sort of let the day pass me by.
I got a job offer from this place in California where I would live on a ranch near Lake Tahoe for 2 months, free room and board, its very very tempting.
I decided to go to Avon and hang out with my friend from Romania who just got a new place. Avon, which is by Beaver Creek, its this little resort town that has about a 80% Hispanic population. When I got there we decided to check out this resort ski village on top of the mountain, it had a really big art show going on with all sorts of paintings and sculptures it was really nice. There were rides and games and all sorts of things, that seems to be what these places are like. There are basically carnival games next to fancy hotels and restaurants. We walked all over the place, got some food and then went to Walmart to buy a futon which I put together in about an hour, I am pretty sure I screwed it up.
Got back to the hostel late at night, everyone was asleep already so I just checked my emails and went to bed.
8/4/2014 (8/7/2014)
Monday, today is the big day, lots of choices to make, lots of people to talk about jobs with. I woke up this morning at 6:30 as I always do and I immediately started thinking about what I wanted, where I wanted to live, what sort of job I wanted to have. I was sitting there and thinking "Option A: go to this new job, see how it goes, forget California. or Option B: Go to California, forget about colorado." Well I actually opted for a third option, I decided to not do either of them."Option C: Stay with my friend in Avon and see what I can get going on over there, forget about both of the jobs."
I quit my job, emailed the place in Cali and decided to just start over. I really love having that sort of freedom and control over my life. I may not have much, barely enough to get by really, but I am happy and that's all that really matters.
I went to Avon and right off the bat I was applying for jobs, we went back up the mountain for a few hours and papered the restaurants around there with our applications. It's nice that out here they talk to you on the spot, sometimes they ask you to apply online, but its just as common for an in person application to work. We had a bunch of interviews, although I think in the future it is better to do that sort of thing alone, I think it didn't go over as well as I had hoped. We were up there for so long that by the time we got down it was getting dark, we went back to the apartment and I kept applying online and looking for an apartment, always have to stay on top of these things.
8/5/2014 (8/7/2014)
So Romania had to go to work, so I stayed in the apartment for part of the morning just trying to find a job in Avon off of Craigslist, but once I got up and out I started looking at the actual places.
I must have put out 5 applications around town when I realized something.... I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN AVON! Its like, where the mountains meet the desert, the landscape isn't pretty, the roads are primarily composed of roundabouts, and once September hits the town will be dead for 2 months. I stopped immediately and went back to the apartment and started focusing all of my efforts on living in Breckenridge. I now know where I want to live, "Breckenridge"
There is something about Breckenridge, its this nice little town, kind of reminds me of back home where some of the old towns have a main street that everything can be found on, then then it is surrounded by houses, except this place has a million dollar view of mountains. I just started spamming all of the businesses in Breckenridge, sending out applications all over Craigslist. It didn't take very long for me to get an interview with a little organic olive oil place that has 3 stores over the copper mountain area. I have to check that out tomorrow.
Once my friend got back I was swamped, I had applied for a ridiculous amount of jobs and looked through a million different apartment ads and did basically all I could for the day. I went to sleep early, it must have been only 9.
8/6/2014 (8/7/2014)
Now for the really exciting stuff.
Today was a busy day, I had 3 apartments to look at and an interview, all in Breckenridge so I got in around 10 just to be ready. Once I got into town I got a call from another place and they asked me to interview with them too, so now I had 2 interviews. First I got some lunch at Amazing Grace though, I like that place they have some tasty food, the veggie sausage actually tasted like real sausage.
I walked by this place that I was supposed to interview and its like this little tiny bar with a kitchen behind it, and they serve a lot of meat, so I was skeptical to say the least. I interviewed with the manager and he basically wanted to hire me as a cook/bartender/server, its basically a one or two person show, doesn't see a lot of business all the time, it kind of seemed like a bad prospect, I went out of there not really interested in that job, but he said if I ever wanted it to just come back.
Then I went to my other interview at this olive oil place, they sell olive oils, spices, balsamic vinegar, and organic teas, its actually right up my alley. The interview went great, they actually offered me 2 jobs, 1 working full time in the shop as a sales man, and the other working as an IT guy updating their website and taking care of their computers, of course I accepted. They want me to come in tomorrow for a working interview, lucky for me it's at one of their warehouses, as thing that I actually have experience in, I think it will all go just fine.
After the interview I sat by the river for an hour and played guitar, my feet were in the ice cold water, the water was rushing by, and I was playing and singing like no one could hear me, it was really nice.
Then, being all relaxed and happy I went to check out the first room. The first place was this cute little house that was about 5 miles outside of town, so really it didn't work for me in that respect, but I figured that if I lived there I could just take the bus. To be honest, I haven't met very many psycho's out here, but this woman was just bad. I started off by complimenting her house and she kept saying things like "really?" and "oh I don't like it", she wasn't really selling me on it very hard. Then we went downstairs where she saw that one of the dogs had peed on the carpet, she just started yelling at them loudly, while asking me questions and interrupting me to continue yelling. She then proceeded to shove the dogs faces in the pee right in front of me, at that point I was done, it was a nice looking place, but not a chance in hell would I live with that woman. She got me from totally relaxed to totally stressed out in about 5 minutes of talking to her, I cannot imagine how it would be to live with her.
I got to the next place I had to look at, it was kind of a weird area that it was in. It was above a workshop in a back alley in a forgotten storage area part of town, I didn't even know places like this existed. The guy there seemed cool enough, but he definitely had some agenda. He was talking about a community that he was trying to build in the apartment, and that decisions were made as a group, and he basically implied that the standards of my living could change at any time based on his own desires, of course when asked about it directly he ran me a line, but I could tell he was full of shit. The place stunk of dog, the cabinets were made of sheets, and this place was tiny. He was talking about having 14 people living there, but considering how hard it is to find a place out here this place was actually my backup. But as I was sitting in the living area with everyone and getting to know them, this girl decided she wanted to big room rather than the loft, which meant that if I got a room there I would have to sleep above the stairs... This was no longer an option.
I got to the final place and it is this double wide trailer, it kind of looks crappy from the outside but its only 6 blocks from where I would be working. I walked inside, sniffed the air a couple of times, looked around for a moment and said "I'll take it" I didn't even look around at first. He was surprised but happy to hear it, I guess I seem like a good guy to rent to because no one has turned me down yet. I looked around the place and it was actually just perfect for me. I have a 10x10 room with a bed, everything is clean, it doesn't smell, there is a back yard, the room mates were cool, basically this is exactly what I had been waiting for, although the price is a little high. "Screw it" I said, this is gonna be my place. Although not being able to move in until tomorrow I was kind of left with nowhere to go, so I just started walking around and thinking.
I was thinking about my rent, and trying to figure out how I was gonna be able to make it next month if all I am making is salary and I would only get my first weeks pay in the next 3 weeks because of how payroll works or something. So I Called up my new job and told them I only wanted the full times sales job for now, which they were okay with, and then I started looking for a late night job.
I went into a few bars but nothing really seemed like a place I could get into, but I remembered that first interview I had, they are open until 2, and I am guaranteed hours.... So long story short, I decided to take that first job I was offered working as a bartender/cook/server, and I start both of my new jobs tomorrow. Chances are I will be working about 64+ hours a week, which oddly enough I am very happy about.
My friend in Avon offered to put me up for the night again, so I went there and basically passed out right on the floor, I am excited to see how my new jobs go tomorrow.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Sunday, August 3, 2014
I Love Craigslist
Wow, so there is a lot to post now, bare with me! I have been thinking about posting more often just cause so much stuff happens in a day that its hard to remember all of it. Anyways, here is how the last 3 days have gone.
7/31/2014 (8/3/2014)
Wanna know why I love Colorado so much? Its cause you can make friends instantly and just go out and do fun stuff with them. Just about everyone out here has 1 thing in common, they are from somewhere else. If you simply ask anyone "Hey, where ya from?" you are bound to make a friend, or at least have a great conversation.
Today I met some new people, although I think I met them in passing last night, a girl from Romania and another guy from Texas. First Texas and I walked around, that was pretty fun, we walked up some of the mountain roads and just talked about what ever, the scenery out here is beyond compare, we saw a little fox running around and I got a few pictures of it, those should be on here very soon, I just need to pick up a new micro USB cable. We had been walking up this hill and mind you I only have a pair of dress shoes to really walk in, so I am trudging up this mountain road and realize I forgot water and I am starting to really get dehydrated, so I just walked up to this front porch where this girl and guy were talking on a balcony and simply asked "Hey can I have some water?" and thus began a new friendship.
The girl and guy came down stairs and I got my cup of water and we just walked for about 10 minutes. Both of them were just travelers, out here for a few months and just looking to live in the mountains and ski and hike. A storm front was moving in so we had to head out and started walking back to the hostel when the girl drove by and asked us if we wanted a ride, uncharacteristically I said yes. It was only like a half a mile but in that time we all exchanged contact information and suddenly I had a new friend in Breckenridge.
We got back and the storm just blew past us, false alarm, so I kept hanging out with some of the people at the hostel, I wanted to go out to Breckenridge brewery and try some of their beer so I asked the girl from Romania if she wanted to go, we started walking into town when I discovered that she wasn't feeling so great so we changed beer into pizza and a retro arcade. There is a place called Erics Downstairs and they make decent pizza and have a cool arcade with some old old video games like Donkey Kong, she had never played any of them so of course we had to play ALL OF THEM, I am a bit of a nerd after all. Funny story, she actually kicked my ass in most of the games that we played together, I was pretty impressed! The pizza there was like a garlic bomb though, I could smell that for days later, the brushing did nothing!
When we decided to go back we started hearing this classical music coming from somewhere, after looking around for a short time we found this amphitheater which had glass garage doors on the outside so you can look in and listen to what was going on. There was some sort of classical concert that we couldn't get in cause we didn't have tickets so we just stood around outside and listened and watched, personally I think we had the best seats anyways. There was supposed to be a open concert the next day so we said we would check that out tomorrow.
After that we went back to the hostel and just hung out and talked, the guy from Texas was there and we all just talked about our adventures and what we wanted to do. I was applying for jobs the whole time and thats basically how my night ended.
8/1/2014 (8/3/2014)
The next day I was applying for jobs on Craigslist and I got a call almost immediately in the morning, it was for a front desk job at a hotel, I got there for the interview at 1, funny story, the manager was actually from Mokena, and she knew my best friend Chris cause they went to school together, small world right? Long story short, I HAVE A JOB! All it takes to get a job out here is a little hard work, just use craigslist or coolworks or a few other websites and something will come up. I start Monday, I am pretty excited for it, I get a free pass to Copper Mountain, which I have been told is the best mountain up here anyways. Now all I need to do is find a room to stay in.
After I got my job I came back to celebrate, that girl from Romania and I went to see that concert, unfortunately it was just rehearsal so we didn't stay long, it was kind of a bust, but that's okay, cause in Breckenridge there is always something else to do! We stopped at this little Vegetarian cafe and got a sandwich which was actually really good, after we road the gondolas up the mountain and just looked at the mountains. Seriously, I could do nothing but that for the whole day and be completely happy.
Once we got to the top it was this really big resort town with rides and little overpriced activities to do. We climbed up this little snow hill and boy was I tired by the end, I am pretty sure we were at around 12k feet so the air is pretty thing there. She thought I was gonna fall cause I was doing all of this in dress shoes, but little do all of you know I am a master dress shoe climber. (Not really I just need to get my mom to send me my hiking shoes) We went on a little roller coaster ride that was a ton of fun and crazy fast and seemingly incredibly dangerous, we had to sign a waiver just to go on it. After that I was pretty tired so we started making out way back.
About 3 miles from the hostel it started raining, and it was just little sprinkles, this was "water dripping from your hair" rain, we ducked into a coffee shop where I learned that Mexican hot chocolate is not my drink, then we went into this art gallery where it was all basically cowboy art. It was all bears and mountains and horses, I really enjoyed the exhibit, then it was time to just suck it up and walk the rest of the way back. By the time I got there I was soaked all the way to my panties, but it was totally worth it.
I was freezing so first I took a shower, but then I remembered... there is a hot tub here, so we get into that and looked at the stars, I don't know why its so pleasing to do but I love to go into a hot tub when it is cold out. There were like 6 other people in the hot tub and we all just shared stories and relaxed until the sun went down, then we sat by this little gas bonfire that they have on the porch, at some leftovers, got back into the hot tub, and the night just passed by with ease, it was probably one of my best times out here so far.
8/2/2014 (8/3/2014)
The girl from Romania found an apartment out here so I helped her pack her car up and she was on her way, it's cool that I now have a friend out here, we are kind of on the same path so we share out troubles VIA text like "how did the interview go?" it reassuring to see other people around you doing the same thing and succeeding, also if I ever need help I know I have someone I can ask now.
It was so cold this morning there was frost on the cars, but as the day went on it started to warm up. I was kind of relaxing when I remembered that girl we met on the mountain so I shot her a text to find out what she was up too and she was about to leave to go to Manatou Springs, so I tagged along and got to go on a 4 hours scenic drive through the mountains. This is when I got some of the best pictures of my trip so far, including a video, it looked like god was touching the landscape, it was really the most amazing site I had ever seen. We had to stop and take pictures it was so nice.
Manatou Springs is a little hippy town, we just drove through it and went right back, it was really just a long scenic drive and I had made a new friend, she seems like the kind of person who would be fun to travel with. She has been all over and been out here for longer than me so her advice is sage. We were supposed to meet up with her friends out there but on the way he friends kid got hurt and had to go to the ER so it ended up the way it did, which for me was just fine, I love long drives through the mountains.
I got back just in time to look at an apartment, I went to this place that is pretty close but actually a tough drive up the mountain, I am not sure my car could handle that every day, but the people there seemed cool. It was kind of a beat up little mountain apartment, kind of what I would expect for my first place. I also have an offer for a place that is right near where I work, so if that works out then I will take it over this one in Breckenridge.
I got back to the hostel and Texas was gone, I hope he took some of the advice I gave him, I had told him about the Buddhist retreat and he talked about the coast guard, where ever he went I hope it is going okay for him. Instead there are 3 girls in my room, 2 are from Mexico and the other Malaysia, it was late so I didn't get much of their stories, but they all seemed nice, the next morning I taught the girl from Malaysia how to play Cards Against Humanity, one word... EPIC. That is how the last 3 days have been.
Inner Thoughts
This place is really amazing, the highs greatly outweigh the lows in both magnitude but also frequency. If I want to feel better I just look out over the landscape and remember where I am, it is the happiest I have been in a long while. I cannot wait to get an apartment and stay out here for the winter, looks like I am gonna learn some snow sports. Although I do miss my friends and family I actually enjoy that sensation for once, it is better than annoyance or anger, which no one really deserves its all just my own BS. I think my mom and I have talked more in these past 10 days than I have with her in months, and as much as I would like to see her, I think that distance is doing our relationship some good. There is a quote that I heard once on a really really bad tv show, and it goes something like this,
"Love is like a flame, and Wind is like distance, when the flame is strong the wind will make the flame larger, but when the flame is small the wind will blow it out."
I wish all of you well and don't be afraid to comment or send me a message, also if you think I should post more frequently I would like to hear that cause for now its just gonna be every 3 days but I might be able to be convince to do it every other day.
7/31/2014 (8/3/2014)
Wanna know why I love Colorado so much? Its cause you can make friends instantly and just go out and do fun stuff with them. Just about everyone out here has 1 thing in common, they are from somewhere else. If you simply ask anyone "Hey, where ya from?" you are bound to make a friend, or at least have a great conversation.
Today I met some new people, although I think I met them in passing last night, a girl from Romania and another guy from Texas. First Texas and I walked around, that was pretty fun, we walked up some of the mountain roads and just talked about what ever, the scenery out here is beyond compare, we saw a little fox running around and I got a few pictures of it, those should be on here very soon, I just need to pick up a new micro USB cable. We had been walking up this hill and mind you I only have a pair of dress shoes to really walk in, so I am trudging up this mountain road and realize I forgot water and I am starting to really get dehydrated, so I just walked up to this front porch where this girl and guy were talking on a balcony and simply asked "Hey can I have some water?" and thus began a new friendship.
The girl and guy came down stairs and I got my cup of water and we just walked for about 10 minutes. Both of them were just travelers, out here for a few months and just looking to live in the mountains and ski and hike. A storm front was moving in so we had to head out and started walking back to the hostel when the girl drove by and asked us if we wanted a ride, uncharacteristically I said yes. It was only like a half a mile but in that time we all exchanged contact information and suddenly I had a new friend in Breckenridge.
We got back and the storm just blew past us, false alarm, so I kept hanging out with some of the people at the hostel, I wanted to go out to Breckenridge brewery and try some of their beer so I asked the girl from Romania if she wanted to go, we started walking into town when I discovered that she wasn't feeling so great so we changed beer into pizza and a retro arcade. There is a place called Erics Downstairs and they make decent pizza and have a cool arcade with some old old video games like Donkey Kong, she had never played any of them so of course we had to play ALL OF THEM, I am a bit of a nerd after all. Funny story, she actually kicked my ass in most of the games that we played together, I was pretty impressed! The pizza there was like a garlic bomb though, I could smell that for days later, the brushing did nothing!
When we decided to go back we started hearing this classical music coming from somewhere, after looking around for a short time we found this amphitheater which had glass garage doors on the outside so you can look in and listen to what was going on. There was some sort of classical concert that we couldn't get in cause we didn't have tickets so we just stood around outside and listened and watched, personally I think we had the best seats anyways. There was supposed to be a open concert the next day so we said we would check that out tomorrow.
After that we went back to the hostel and just hung out and talked, the guy from Texas was there and we all just talked about our adventures and what we wanted to do. I was applying for jobs the whole time and thats basically how my night ended.
8/1/2014 (8/3/2014)
The next day I was applying for jobs on Craigslist and I got a call almost immediately in the morning, it was for a front desk job at a hotel, I got there for the interview at 1, funny story, the manager was actually from Mokena, and she knew my best friend Chris cause they went to school together, small world right? Long story short, I HAVE A JOB! All it takes to get a job out here is a little hard work, just use craigslist or coolworks or a few other websites and something will come up. I start Monday, I am pretty excited for it, I get a free pass to Copper Mountain, which I have been told is the best mountain up here anyways. Now all I need to do is find a room to stay in.
After I got my job I came back to celebrate, that girl from Romania and I went to see that concert, unfortunately it was just rehearsal so we didn't stay long, it was kind of a bust, but that's okay, cause in Breckenridge there is always something else to do! We stopped at this little Vegetarian cafe and got a sandwich which was actually really good, after we road the gondolas up the mountain and just looked at the mountains. Seriously, I could do nothing but that for the whole day and be completely happy.
Once we got to the top it was this really big resort town with rides and little overpriced activities to do. We climbed up this little snow hill and boy was I tired by the end, I am pretty sure we were at around 12k feet so the air is pretty thing there. She thought I was gonna fall cause I was doing all of this in dress shoes, but little do all of you know I am a master dress shoe climber. (Not really I just need to get my mom to send me my hiking shoes) We went on a little roller coaster ride that was a ton of fun and crazy fast and seemingly incredibly dangerous, we had to sign a waiver just to go on it. After that I was pretty tired so we started making out way back.
About 3 miles from the hostel it started raining, and it was just little sprinkles, this was "water dripping from your hair" rain, we ducked into a coffee shop where I learned that Mexican hot chocolate is not my drink, then we went into this art gallery where it was all basically cowboy art. It was all bears and mountains and horses, I really enjoyed the exhibit, then it was time to just suck it up and walk the rest of the way back. By the time I got there I was soaked all the way to my panties, but it was totally worth it.
I was freezing so first I took a shower, but then I remembered... there is a hot tub here, so we get into that and looked at the stars, I don't know why its so pleasing to do but I love to go into a hot tub when it is cold out. There were like 6 other people in the hot tub and we all just shared stories and relaxed until the sun went down, then we sat by this little gas bonfire that they have on the porch, at some leftovers, got back into the hot tub, and the night just passed by with ease, it was probably one of my best times out here so far.
8/2/2014 (8/3/2014)
The girl from Romania found an apartment out here so I helped her pack her car up and she was on her way, it's cool that I now have a friend out here, we are kind of on the same path so we share out troubles VIA text like "how did the interview go?" it reassuring to see other people around you doing the same thing and succeeding, also if I ever need help I know I have someone I can ask now.
It was so cold this morning there was frost on the cars, but as the day went on it started to warm up. I was kind of relaxing when I remembered that girl we met on the mountain so I shot her a text to find out what she was up too and she was about to leave to go to Manatou Springs, so I tagged along and got to go on a 4 hours scenic drive through the mountains. This is when I got some of the best pictures of my trip so far, including a video, it looked like god was touching the landscape, it was really the most amazing site I had ever seen. We had to stop and take pictures it was so nice.
Manatou Springs is a little hippy town, we just drove through it and went right back, it was really just a long scenic drive and I had made a new friend, she seems like the kind of person who would be fun to travel with. She has been all over and been out here for longer than me so her advice is sage. We were supposed to meet up with her friends out there but on the way he friends kid got hurt and had to go to the ER so it ended up the way it did, which for me was just fine, I love long drives through the mountains.
I got back just in time to look at an apartment, I went to this place that is pretty close but actually a tough drive up the mountain, I am not sure my car could handle that every day, but the people there seemed cool. It was kind of a beat up little mountain apartment, kind of what I would expect for my first place. I also have an offer for a place that is right near where I work, so if that works out then I will take it over this one in Breckenridge.
I got back to the hostel and Texas was gone, I hope he took some of the advice I gave him, I had told him about the Buddhist retreat and he talked about the coast guard, where ever he went I hope it is going okay for him. Instead there are 3 girls in my room, 2 are from Mexico and the other Malaysia, it was late so I didn't get much of their stories, but they all seemed nice, the next morning I taught the girl from Malaysia how to play Cards Against Humanity, one word... EPIC. That is how the last 3 days have been.
Inner Thoughts
This place is really amazing, the highs greatly outweigh the lows in both magnitude but also frequency. If I want to feel better I just look out over the landscape and remember where I am, it is the happiest I have been in a long while. I cannot wait to get an apartment and stay out here for the winter, looks like I am gonna learn some snow sports. Although I do miss my friends and family I actually enjoy that sensation for once, it is better than annoyance or anger, which no one really deserves its all just my own BS. I think my mom and I have talked more in these past 10 days than I have with her in months, and as much as I would like to see her, I think that distance is doing our relationship some good. There is a quote that I heard once on a really really bad tv show, and it goes something like this,
"Love is like a flame, and Wind is like distance, when the flame is strong the wind will make the flame larger, but when the flame is small the wind will blow it out."
I wish all of you well and don't be afraid to comment or send me a message, also if you think I should post more frequently I would like to hear that cause for now its just gonna be every 3 days but I might be able to be convince to do it every other day.
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