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New Job. Now Living in Pittsburgh. Who's Going to Anthrocon?
9 years ago
General
A long-overdue update!
First, the negative: The last 12 months have ranged from "okay" to absolutely nightmarish. Since July 2015, I have slept in at least 20 different places, moving between hotels and temporary lodging in San Francisco numerous times before finally throwing up my hands, quitting my job there, and leaving the city permanently. In addition to the housing problem, the enormous expense, and a job that completely failed to live up to its billing, I was almost assaulted twice while walking home after work and was more than eager to put that place behind me.
Now, the positive: I am in MUCH better condition now and I am living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Coincidentally, the home of Anthrocon.) I've secured an excellent job here and I am in the process of moving into a comfortable condominium, after nearly a year of having no permanent home. I'm not too far from my family in New York and can get back to visit them with only an afternoon's drive.
I need to offer a heartfelt thank-you to
guyver47 for inviting me to live with her and her boyfriend for about a month when I first arrived in the city and needed a home base from which I could job hunt. They are both outstanding people (with adorable cats! And some interesting plumbing…) and I could not ask for better friends. Without them, I would've had no place to go.
Very special thanks also go to
daicymru, 
kyoma, and most of all 
danandnite for bailing me out. I am red-faced over the circumstances, but they have been truly generous.
I don't mean to diminish anyone's contributions by not naming them here, as I've gotten an enormous amount of encouragement and emotional support from countless friends over the last year and you've all helped me immensely. This has been a very rough ride, but thanks to all of you, I'm on track to financial solvency and getting my career going again.
I intend to restart graduate school in 2017 to make a more orderly transition to a new career. Onward and upward!
So who's going to Anthrocon? :)
First, the negative: The last 12 months have ranged from "okay" to absolutely nightmarish. Since July 2015, I have slept in at least 20 different places, moving between hotels and temporary lodging in San Francisco numerous times before finally throwing up my hands, quitting my job there, and leaving the city permanently. In addition to the housing problem, the enormous expense, and a job that completely failed to live up to its billing, I was almost assaulted twice while walking home after work and was more than eager to put that place behind me.
Now, the positive: I am in MUCH better condition now and I am living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Coincidentally, the home of Anthrocon.) I've secured an excellent job here and I am in the process of moving into a comfortable condominium, after nearly a year of having no permanent home. I'm not too far from my family in New York and can get back to visit them with only an afternoon's drive.
I need to offer a heartfelt thank-you to
guyver47 for inviting me to live with her and her boyfriend for about a month when I first arrived in the city and needed a home base from which I could job hunt. They are both outstanding people (with adorable cats! And some interesting plumbing…) and I could not ask for better friends. Without them, I would've had no place to go.Very special thanks also go to
daicymru, 
kyoma, and most of all 
danandnite for bailing me out. I am red-faced over the circumstances, but they have been truly generous.I don't mean to diminish anyone's contributions by not naming them here, as I've gotten an enormous amount of encouragement and emotional support from countless friends over the last year and you've all helped me immensely. This has been a very rough ride, but thanks to all of you, I'm on track to financial solvency and getting my career going again.
I intend to restart graduate school in 2017 to make a more orderly transition to a new career. Onward and upward!
So who's going to Anthrocon? :)
hope you have a great time
Will you be there?
=(
ill be camping that weekend
I missed you, as well. It was a major disappointment not being able to go, but it was the right decision. I can't wait to see you next year!
I was a bit worried after not hearing from ya in a while. =P
Things are indeed going much better. Going to do my best to ensure that continues!
Stay cool, big burr~
For me too- after ac 2015 I got a warehouse job thats kinda been hell on my bank account, but just a month ago I got my first IT job in ann arbor, so I'm getting used to that (fingers crossed that I dont fuck up & get fired for not learning fast enough. X.x im worried a bit about that.)
I hope to see you there. I'll make another announcement pre-con, but I'm easily reached via Twitter DM (or mention) during the con to arrange meet-ups. :)
Good to hear you've found a new place to settle.
*https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16989628/
I was definitely in danger there on more than one occasion. A homeless person threw a lit candle at me (large, heavy, church-style) and there were all sorts of other problems. I worked in the financial district and lived in Chinatown from September through February. I liked Chinatown (though I speak Mandarin rather than Cantonese, so my skills were just about useless) but my neighborhood was not great. I'm not sure any neighborhood in that area of the city is great. :P
Hoping for happier times. I went to SF with boundless optimism and it simply was not borne out. Quite a pity.
Hawk Hill is about .1 of a mile farther up (Atop the bunker) and requires a tiny hike, but for all intents and purposes it was Hawk Hill.
37.828250, -122.497715
Yipes about the guy with the candle!
The homeless population in San Fran, while I have sympathy for their plight, is the main reason I go there so infrequently. The constant getting hit up for money, when I don't have all that much myself gets very tiresome. Last time I went to "Loved To Death" on Haight there seemed to be more homeless than hippies in the area.
Please flag me down if you see me. I have a lot of trouble picking people out of crowds, so I am liable to walk right by you. Don't be be shy about stopping me!
Are you hoping to room with friends?
I hope to see you before too long, regardless.
Thanks for all your support.
Safe travels and best wishes to you. Keep in touch while you're abroad!
My misadventures in moving included a $4300 a month apartment that I discovered had no working locks, so that lasted 4 days and I am in the process of suing them in small claims court to get my money back.
Then I lived in an Extended Stay America for 3 weeks in a room next to a nearly-constant domestic dispute (screaming and swearing at all hours), plus a memorable late-night phone call from the front desk that woke me up, telling me the room beneath me had complained about all the noise I was making (my room was on the first floor). That place also included a daily driving commute ranging from 1-1/2 to 3+ hours (each way); I'd get up at 4:30 and be on the road by 5:15, get home past 8 and immediately go to bed.
Then I lived in a furnished "executive suite" for 3 months, which was almost decent, but consistent with most San Francisco housing, there was no weatherstripping on the (all single-pane) windows, heat was almost nonexistent (landlord sent up space heaters), and the bathroom window was just slats you opened and closed for ventilation and there was no seal against the elements, so my bathroom was 35 degrees in late November. This was also the place where a deranged homeless person tried to assault me with a large, lit candle right outside and at the tail end of my living there in December, I was treated to another domestic dispute in the apartment beneath mine that went on through the entire night for two days in a row in Spanish. (I didn't call the police, but my landlord told me I should've.) $4k a month for that little gem. A plus was that it was in Chinatown, so I was able to take a lot of interesting walks and get to know some of my shopkeeper neighbors.
After I returned to San Francisco from Christmas vacation, I lived in a boutique hotel for 5 weeks. I stayed in the skull room. Interesting place, but very tiny, and again consistent with most hotels and apartments in San Francisco, I had to pay extra to have my own toilet. 110-year old cage elevator, also.
This isn't even all of the places I stayed, nor does it include my fun with debilitating motion sickness on the bay ferries during my commutes.
Yep. I'm sour. :P
Things are finally looking up! Thank you for all the good wishes. :)
Look for me in the red vest and beret, keeping the registration line moving, guarding doors, hustling the fursuit parade around and all with the rest of the Dorsai Irregulars. I will be distracted during working hours but am VERY amenable to going out to dinner or breakfast with folks (depending on my work schedule. I may be pulling some late night shifts there.)
Safe travels, please. :)
As for AnthroCon, well, you already know we can't make it this year unfortunately. There's always next year, and as I eluded to, there's no reason we couldn't hang out before AC 2017. :)
Best wishes and good luck in Pittsburgh!
I can't wait to see you. We'll definitely work out a visit after things settle down here. I might be making a drive there in the next few weeks to pick up another comic book collection, so I'll keep you posted!