Choices Choices

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.