...'Cause you know that I can.

After my last entry, things got real complicated, real fast.

Having spent most of April treating my parents' house for mold, I'd begun looking in earnest for a new job. (My old one was willing to rehire me, but between the commute and the crappy pay they offered me, I told them to go to- decided to try my luck elsewhere. I'd wanted to find an apartment first, but that search was going nowhere (and still is; more on that later).

After a few weeks of abortive job-hunting I got a huge break. The hotel where I'm staying was desperately short of staff, especially in Engineering. Someone informed them that I was good with computers and the like, and they offered me the job on the spot. I like it: pay's good (very good if you include the monthly retention bonus we're getting through September), hours are reasonable, work is challenging enough to be interesting, but not so much that I dread clocking in (most of the time at least), I usually don't have a supervisor breathing down my neck (he's busy elsewhere, so as long as the stuff on my end gets done he doesn't bother me much), and they're willing to schedule around my classes when I go back to school next month. The only problems: 1) Adjusting to a regular job after nearly two months out of work (my longest dry spell to date, not counting the time I had off for shoulder surgery); and 2) Adjusting to a day job after having worked evenings for most of the past ten years. That last one was harder than it might sound; for the longest time I had enough energy to get through the day and little else.

So all's well, or would be, except for one problem: No apartment. Figured it wouldn't be a problem once I started working. I figured wrong.

Y'see, the landlords in this city have LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS. Apartments that went for $300 before the storm, they want $800-$1200 for now. And these aren't top-of-the-line places, either; I'm talking hole-in-the-wall, vermin-infested, one-bedroom dives in neighborhoods I wouldn't have wanted visit without a concealed-carry permit even BEFORE Katrina. And no, the cost of repairs isn't the issue; they got the same insurance payout as everyone else. It's extortion, pure and simple. The few landlords who are charging reasonable rents, I've been beaten to; I'm still mourning that beautiful studio in Marigny that I JUST missed out on. Wood floors, w/d, utilities paid... ::sniff::

So I'm holding out for something more reasonable. Problem is, the hotel wants it's rooms back by mid-August. If I haven't found anything by then, I'll have to....move back in with the family. And frankly, I'm almost rather pitch a tent in City Park. I've gotten rather used to having my own place; to say moving back in with the folks would be uncomfortable doesn't even BEGIN to cover it. Plus all my furniture and a lot of my clothing is still in Victoria, TX; with no place in N.O. for me to put it all I had to rent storage to hold it until such time as I get an apartment. So I'm shelling out money every month to cover that, plus the $800 or so it'll cost for me to rent a truck and bring it all here when I finallly DO get an apartment. I'm starting to wish I'd sold it all when I had the chance.

Still, it could be worse. Cable and DSL are still down for most of the city, but the free wi-fi network they installed downtown actually works pretty well. Here's hoping it goes city-wide; it'll be one less bill to pay. In any case, I've bought a PDA for work; it has wi-fi, so even if I end up without Net access at home, I'll still be able to get on without too much trouble.

Still want my own damned apartment, though. ::sighs::