The most ironic thing of all time happened today.. the regular cart was being used by someone else, so my last 3 trips to the car I filled up an old shopping cart. Talk about looking like a real homeless person.
Anyways, I'm OFFICIALLY HOMELESS!!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
GOODBYE 915 MAIN ST
About to walk out of this apartment for good. It took me SO long today to pack.. 12 hours minus an hour I went to the gym and an hour I went to Sophie's basketball game. So much for 2-3..
The most ironic thing of all time happened today.. the regular cart was being used by someone else, so my last 3 trips to the car I filled up an old shopping cart. Talk about looking like a real homeless person.
Anyways, I'm OFFICIALLY HOMELESS!!
The most ironic thing of all time happened today.. the regular cart was being used by someone else, so my last 3 trips to the car I filled up an old shopping cart. Talk about looking like a real homeless person.
Anyways, I'm OFFICIALLY HOMELESS!!
Friday, May 28, 2010
False perception of reality
Well, when I got back from Russia, I realized that I didn’t exactly have as much of my stuff packed up as I originally led myself (and everyone else) to believe. After my big “Moving Weekend” I had convinced myself that all that was left was a tv, a mattress, and some clothes. WRONG! SO SO SO SO WRONG!! Try: the couch I wanted to get rid of, all my bathroom stuff, all my kitchen stuff, a coffee table, the cushions to my couch, a nightstand, a tv, a tv stand, everything that’s in my hallway closets (which randomly includes my saddle), minimally 2 boxes and 2 suit cases of clothes, my golf clubs, etc. etc.
Needless to say I was in a little bit of a state of shock. Instead of just putting my mind to getting it done, I did everything in my power to procrastinate, meanwhile I worrying about it all week. My face broke out, my sleep was interrupted countless nights by waking up in a panicked sweat, and I couldn’t concentrate at work. Finally on Thursday night I put my mind to actually doing something about it. I took the morning off work Friday to focus on packing, and now I’d say I’m down to maybe 3 hours worth of work..
Since I cant trust myself or my judgment of how much work is to be done, I had to make a promise to myself: no booze until the apartment is COMPLETELY empty. My heart broke into a million pieces when I had to turn down an invitation for happy hour at a dive bar tonight... but a promise is a promise.
Anyways, I guess tonight I am going to get most of it done, finish up tomorrow, and then enjoy the rest of my weekend!!
Needless to say I was in a little bit of a state of shock. Instead of just putting my mind to getting it done, I did everything in my power to procrastinate, meanwhile I worrying about it all week. My face broke out, my sleep was interrupted countless nights by waking up in a panicked sweat, and I couldn’t concentrate at work. Finally on Thursday night I put my mind to actually doing something about it. I took the morning off work Friday to focus on packing, and now I’d say I’m down to maybe 3 hours worth of work..
Since I cant trust myself or my judgment of how much work is to be done, I had to make a promise to myself: no booze until the apartment is COMPLETELY empty. My heart broke into a million pieces when I had to turn down an invitation for happy hour at a dive bar tonight... but a promise is a promise.
Anyways, I guess tonight I am going to get most of it done, finish up tomorrow, and then enjoy the rest of my weekend!!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
This is it...
Months of planning and talking about it, and I'm down to 2 days until I have no apartment to fall back on. I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous.. excited, but nervous!!
Still so much to do:
- Get the rest of my stuff out
- Cancel Cable/Internet
- Book a hotel for next week!!
AHHHH! Here we go...
Still so much to do:
- Get the rest of my stuff out
- Cancel Cable/Internet
- Book a hotel for next week!!
AHHHH! Here we go...
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Hobo Heritage
So I haven’t written in a while, namely due to the fact that I’ve been in the same location. But, I feel like I need to keep this thing going.. so I’m just going to babble for a bit.
So, a while back I was researching what I’m doing is actually called.. I found that I’m closest to being a hobo. Unlike tramps, who work only when they were forced to, and bums, who don’t work at all, hobos are workers who wandered.
At first I was completely turned off by the terminology, but upon closer review, I found out hobos were actually very clever and interesting people.
In fact, I even have a little Hobo heritage in my blood. There’s this story that my Grandpa used to tell about my Great Uncle Victor who was a Hobo. He only ate pickles and garlic, and people on the bus wouldn’t even want to sit or talk to Uncle Victor because of the smell of garlic that would radiate off of him. Anyways, late one night, he needed a place to stay so he snuck into an abandoned house and found a bed to sleep in. When he woke up in the morning he realized that he wasn’t alone in the bed…. there was a cold, dead body laying next to him… He politely called the police, and went on his way.
Now, with blood relatives like that… what do you expect from me?!
Anyways, there were a few things I learned about Hobos. First of all, there was a Hobo Code of Conduct. I was really interested in it until I came to the item that said: “Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals’ treatment of other hobos.” Then I gave up..
Also, I found it interesting that they used to leave signs for each other so that when other Hobos arrived, they knew what kind of situation they were getting themselves into.
For about a day, I was fascinated with Hobos because they get a bad reputation, but in reality all they ever wanted was a little freedom and a free ride every now and then.
So, a while back I was researching what I’m doing is actually called.. I found that I’m closest to being a hobo. Unlike tramps, who work only when they were forced to, and bums, who don’t work at all, hobos are workers who wandered.
At first I was completely turned off by the terminology, but upon closer review, I found out hobos were actually very clever and interesting people.
In fact, I even have a little Hobo heritage in my blood. There’s this story that my Grandpa used to tell about my Great Uncle Victor who was a Hobo. He only ate pickles and garlic, and people on the bus wouldn’t even want to sit or talk to Uncle Victor because of the smell of garlic that would radiate off of him. Anyways, late one night, he needed a place to stay so he snuck into an abandoned house and found a bed to sleep in. When he woke up in the morning he realized that he wasn’t alone in the bed…. there was a cold, dead body laying next to him… He politely called the police, and went on his way.
Now, with blood relatives like that… what do you expect from me?!
Anyways, there were a few things I learned about Hobos. First of all, there was a Hobo Code of Conduct. I was really interested in it until I came to the item that said: “Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals’ treatment of other hobos.” Then I gave up..
Also, I found it interesting that they used to leave signs for each other so that when other Hobos arrived, they knew what kind of situation they were getting themselves into.
For about a day, I was fascinated with Hobos because they get a bad reputation, but in reality all they ever wanted was a little freedom and a free ride every now and then.
Friday, May 14, 2010
longest. journey. ever.
Only 49.5 hours after I departed Iowa, I finally arrived in Nizhny Novgorod. Between weather in Chicago, Volcanic ash, missed connections, lost ticket conformation (on the airlines part), plus the person who usually books my travel being on vacation, it's been a crazy journey. I think we can mark this one in the books as my longest journey ever. Literally, it's even longer than the time I drove to Vegas.
Still somehow, I have all my travel documents, wallets, passport, and both phones!! If you know my track record with holding on to my important items, I think that you'll agree that this was a small miracle. But anyways, finally, here I am.
Destination: Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Purpose of the trip: Business
Hotel of choice:
• Hotel Volna
• Saying “of choice” is a little bit of a stretch considering it is more or less the ONLY option
Hotel evaluation:
• Well, it’s a little like evaluating your own home, so this is difficult.
• Staff: The staff is friendly and knows me by name. However, we often times struggle to communicate. It’s happened before that I’ve had to order food by drawing a picture of it, but this is my weakness that I don’t speak the language… not theirs.
• Food: The menu hasn’t changed in the 2.5 years that I’ve been traveling here. Everything more or less tastes the same, so sometimes I make up dishes of my own. I went through a phase about 2 years ago where I ate sunny side up eggs overtop of buckwheat with hot sauce for dinner every night (??).
• Amenities: They fitness center has been “Under Construction” for the past 4 months. I’m expecting a World Class Gym once they finish. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be disappointed. However, recently, they’ve given free wireless access to all rooms, which is awesome. It used to be that I had to sit in the lobby and pay by the hour.
• Sleep: The sheets are a little scratchy and I sleep on a twin bed. Also, I don’t usually sleep for about the first 5 nights that I’m there. However, they do leave me a chocolate on my pillow every night, which is always a special little treat.
• Also, after being in Iowa, the German businessmen with mustaches beer bellies just don’t compare…
Still somehow, I have all my travel documents, wallets, passport, and both phones!! If you know my track record with holding on to my important items, I think that you'll agree that this was a small miracle. But anyways, finally, here I am.
Destination: Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Purpose of the trip: Business
Hotel of choice:
• Hotel Volna
• Saying “of choice” is a little bit of a stretch considering it is more or less the ONLY option
Hotel evaluation:
• Well, it’s a little like evaluating your own home, so this is difficult.
• Staff: The staff is friendly and knows me by name. However, we often times struggle to communicate. It’s happened before that I’ve had to order food by drawing a picture of it, but this is my weakness that I don’t speak the language… not theirs.
• Food: The menu hasn’t changed in the 2.5 years that I’ve been traveling here. Everything more or less tastes the same, so sometimes I make up dishes of my own. I went through a phase about 2 years ago where I ate sunny side up eggs overtop of buckwheat with hot sauce for dinner every night (??).
• Amenities: They fitness center has been “Under Construction” for the past 4 months. I’m expecting a World Class Gym once they finish. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be disappointed. However, recently, they’ve given free wireless access to all rooms, which is awesome. It used to be that I had to sit in the lobby and pay by the hour.
• Sleep: The sheets are a little scratchy and I sleep on a twin bed. Also, I don’t usually sleep for about the first 5 nights that I’m there. However, they do leave me a chocolate on my pillow every night, which is always a special little treat.
• Also, after being in Iowa, the German businessmen with mustaches beer bellies just don’t compare…
Thursday, May 13, 2010
An Unexpected Overnight
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Purpose of the trip: An unexpected overnight in Frankfurt
Hotel of choice: Sheraton Airport
How I ended up here:
Well, from Cedar Rapids I was supposed to fly directly (which means through Chicago, through Frankfurt, and through Moscow) to Nizhny Novgorod. This was an adventure in itself because my ticket was on 3 airlines: United, Luftansa, and S7. Chicago claimed weather issues, when in reality it was just a little bit cloudy.
- Flight from Cedar Rapids was delayed
- RAN through the airport in Chicago to make my connection to Frankfurt… only to be delayed for almost 3 hours
- Arrived in Frankfurt late, missed my connection to Moscow, and here I am.
A very big part of me considered spending the night in the Luftansa lounge. I mean, they have food and showers and decently comfortable chairs. I’ve spent 12 hours there before, but I felt that 22 was pushing it. My decision point was that if the hotel was greater than $200, I’d skip it and sleep in the lounge. To my luck, the charge was $199.
Purpose of the trip: An unexpected overnight in Frankfurt
Hotel of choice: Sheraton Airport
How I ended up here:
Well, from Cedar Rapids I was supposed to fly directly (which means through Chicago, through Frankfurt, and through Moscow) to Nizhny Novgorod. This was an adventure in itself because my ticket was on 3 airlines: United, Luftansa, and S7. Chicago claimed weather issues, when in reality it was just a little bit cloudy.
- Flight from Cedar Rapids was delayed
- RAN through the airport in Chicago to make my connection to Frankfurt… only to be delayed for almost 3 hours
- Arrived in Frankfurt late, missed my connection to Moscow, and here I am.
A very big part of me considered spending the night in the Luftansa lounge. I mean, they have food and showers and decently comfortable chairs. I’ve spent 12 hours there before, but I felt that 22 was pushing it. My decision point was that if the hotel was greater than $200, I’d skip it and sleep in the lounge. To my luck, the charge was $199.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Down on the Farm
Next Destination: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Purpose of the trip: Business
Hotel of choice:
• Hampton Inn Cedar Rapids
Hotel evaluation:
• Every single Hampton Inn is completely reliable: clean, extremely comfortable beds, 3 stories, friendly staff, awkward signs/posters in the elevators, and free breakfast. It very rarely is a let down. It's kind of like McDonalds breakfast.. not always the best choice, but you're never disappointed.
Noteworthy items:
• All I have to say is guys in Iowa are hot. Basically a bunch of tall farmers with straight teeth. I’m in love.
Purpose of the trip: Business
Hotel of choice:
• Hampton Inn Cedar Rapids
Hotel evaluation:
• Every single Hampton Inn is completely reliable: clean, extremely comfortable beds, 3 stories, friendly staff, awkward signs/posters in the elevators, and free breakfast. It very rarely is a let down. It's kind of like McDonalds breakfast.. not always the best choice, but you're never disappointed.
Noteworthy items:
• All I have to say is guys in Iowa are hot. Basically a bunch of tall farmers with straight teeth. I’m in love.
Monday, May 10, 2010
On the Road Again...
Stop #1 on the Adventure: New York City, New York
Purpose of the trip: playing in the city with Sara, Sara, and company
Hotel selection criteria:
- Must be in the city
- Must be cheap because we plan to spend as little time as possible in our room.
(Sara used Hotwire.com to book the hotel, so it was a complete gamble of what we were getting.)
Hotel of choice: Comfort Inn Central Park West
Hotel evaluation: Well, the expectation of the Comfort Inn really can’t be that high, however, it was overall a fairly pleasant experience.
- Location: Great location. Actually New York is so big and overwhelming to me, it just seems like it's a good location, but I actually don't really know.
- Cleanliness: Well when Sara and Sara checked in, they went up to the 7th floor where our room was, and there was a AWFUL smell. Jokingly, Sara said "I hope that's not coming from our room". Turns out that it WAS coming from our room and that the toilet was overflowing and the entire room was covered in poo-water. sick.
- Hotel Uniquenesses: There were some other noteworthy things about the hotel, like the random air conditioning unit sitting in the hallway.
- Amenities: Apparently they had free breakfast, I was too hungover to make it there.
- Hotel Staff: They tolerated us. We didn't get kicked out. I say they were awesome.
The weekend was a blur of shenanigans, chaos, and randomness. Due to the audience of this blog, that’s all I’m going to say.
Purpose of the trip: playing in the city with Sara, Sara, and company
Hotel selection criteria:
- Must be in the city
- Must be cheap because we plan to spend as little time as possible in our room.
(Sara used Hotwire.com to book the hotel, so it was a complete gamble of what we were getting.)
Hotel of choice: Comfort Inn Central Park West
Hotel evaluation: Well, the expectation of the Comfort Inn really can’t be that high, however, it was overall a fairly pleasant experience.
- Location: Great location. Actually New York is so big and overwhelming to me, it just seems like it's a good location, but I actually don't really know.
- Cleanliness: Well when Sara and Sara checked in, they went up to the 7th floor where our room was, and there was a AWFUL smell. Jokingly, Sara said "I hope that's not coming from our room". Turns out that it WAS coming from our room and that the toilet was overflowing and the entire room was covered in poo-water. sick.
- Hotel Uniquenesses: There were some other noteworthy things about the hotel, like the random air conditioning unit sitting in the hallway.
- Amenities: Apparently they had free breakfast, I was too hungover to make it there.
- Hotel Staff: They tolerated us. We didn't get kicked out. I say they were awesome.
The weekend was a blur of shenanigans, chaos, and randomness. Due to the audience of this blog, that’s all I’m going to say.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Change of Address
I have a new address:
PO Box 331564
West Hartford, CT 06133
(I’ll have a housewarming party soon.)
However, through doing this, I’ve found a minor glitch in my plan. It turns out that there’s a lot in life that you need a physical address for:
- Credit/Debit cards
- Travel Visa applications
- Liscense/registration
- Car Insurance
Our government and society is so discriminatory against homeless people that I imagine it’s so difficult to turn things around if you’re the poor kind of homeless. It’d be impossible to open a bank account to save money, it’d be impossible to get a visa to get out of town, it’d be impossible to get insurance on the few possessions you have… it’s actually really sad.
Because of this, case-by-case, for each of the items that I listed, I have to figure out which lie is the most appropriate to write as “home address”. I tried putting in my license plate number, but no one would accept that either...
As a first step, today I made the decision to make my car insurance address our office address since my car will actually be staying there sometimes. Surprisingly, my insurance dropped from $159/month to $63/month just by changing which city my car is garaged in! Bonus beer money!! Kidding!!… well…. maybe.
PO Box 331564
West Hartford, CT 06133
(I’ll have a housewarming party soon.)
However, through doing this, I’ve found a minor glitch in my plan. It turns out that there’s a lot in life that you need a physical address for:
- Credit/Debit cards
- Travel Visa applications
- Liscense/registration
- Car Insurance
Our government and society is so discriminatory against homeless people that I imagine it’s so difficult to turn things around if you’re the poor kind of homeless. It’d be impossible to open a bank account to save money, it’d be impossible to get a visa to get out of town, it’d be impossible to get insurance on the few possessions you have… it’s actually really sad.
Because of this, case-by-case, for each of the items that I listed, I have to figure out which lie is the most appropriate to write as “home address”. I tried putting in my license plate number, but no one would accept that either...
As a first step, today I made the decision to make my car insurance address our office address since my car will actually be staying there sometimes. Surprisingly, my insurance dropped from $159/month to $63/month just by changing which city my car is garaged in! Bonus beer money!! Kidding!!… well…. maybe.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Lucky Girl
Ok, it had to come eventually… the inevitable sappy/sentimental blog post.
Let me start by saying, I know as a fact that oftentimes I see the world differently than most people, so I really wasn’t sure how people would react to this new life plan. And sadly, even at my age, if I care about you, what you think probably matters to me.
However, as I’ve started unveiling this plan to people, I’ve realized how incredible the people in my life are. My entire family, most of my friends, and all of my coworkers support my plan (we’ve all giggled a lot about it, but support it). This is such a relief because I had such anxiety to tell some people.
Everyone has been so incredible…
- I’ve had countless offers to stay with or visit people
- Among other things, the president of my company gave me his garage code so I could go do laundry anytime I wanted to
- The owner of my gym offered that I could get my mail sent there.
- Another coworker offered that I put her home address as my permanent address when required.
It’s completely insane and unexpected; I have to sincerely thank everyone!
With that said, I vow: not to be a burden on anyone, to never to take advantage of anyone’s generosity, and to always remember that this is my choice.
And finally, I have to mention that I love you all for reading (and commenting on) my blog.
Let me start by saying, I know as a fact that oftentimes I see the world differently than most people, so I really wasn’t sure how people would react to this new life plan. And sadly, even at my age, if I care about you, what you think probably matters to me.
However, as I’ve started unveiling this plan to people, I’ve realized how incredible the people in my life are. My entire family, most of my friends, and all of my coworkers support my plan (we’ve all giggled a lot about it, but support it). This is such a relief because I had such anxiety to tell some people.
Everyone has been so incredible…
- I’ve had countless offers to stay with or visit people
- Among other things, the president of my company gave me his garage code so I could go do laundry anytime I wanted to
- The owner of my gym offered that I could get my mail sent there.
- Another coworker offered that I put her home address as my permanent address when required.
It’s completely insane and unexpected; I have to sincerely thank everyone!
With that said, I vow: not to be a burden on anyone, to never to take advantage of anyone’s generosity, and to always remember that this is my choice.
And finally, I have to mention that I love you all for reading (and commenting on) my blog.
Monday, May 3, 2010
'Cause I'm a gypsy...
Naturally, as Murphy’s Law will have it, I picked the only time ever in the history of Connecticut that it’s 95 degrees in May to be moving furniture. However, to have almost everything out of my apartment feels phenomenal. I haven't talked to that many homeless people before, but I feel fairly confident in saying that no one's ever actually been this excited to be homeless before.
For the next 3 weeks until my lease is up, I’m keeping a mattress and my tv in my living room. I’m still working on some clothes and last minute kitchen stuff, but besides that, almost everything is packed away!!
As a kick off for this adventure, I pierced my nose and make my ringone… “Gypsy” by Shakira.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, here are the lyrics:
'Cause I'm a gypsy
Are you coming with me?
I might steal your clothes
And wear them if they fit me
I never made agreements
Just like a gypsy
And I won't back down
'Cause life's already bit me
And I won't cry
I'm too young to die
If you're gonna quit me
'Cause I'm a gypsy
It's totally legit if you judge me for that last statement. There's nothing like being in your late twenties and acting like a rebellious teenager. Maybe I should try out the emo look.
For the next 3 weeks until my lease is up, I’m keeping a mattress and my tv in my living room. I’m still working on some clothes and last minute kitchen stuff, but besides that, almost everything is packed away!!
As a kick off for this adventure, I pierced my nose and make my ringone… “Gypsy” by Shakira.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, here are the lyrics:
'Cause I'm a gypsy
Are you coming with me?
I might steal your clothes
And wear them if they fit me
I never made agreements
Just like a gypsy
And I won't back down
'Cause life's already bit me
And I won't cry
I'm too young to die
If you're gonna quit me
'Cause I'm a gypsy
It's totally legit if you judge me for that last statement. There's nothing like being in your late twenties and acting like a rebellious teenager. Maybe I should try out the emo look.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Legit... Rabid Monkeys
When I said Rabid Monkeys, I wasn't exaggerating.. it's suffocating. I'm getting claustrophobic, but it's my packing process.
Everything needs to be really organized when it goes into boxes (I'm using this as an excuse of why I'm making such a disaster doing it.)
Everything needs to be really organized when it goes into boxes (I'm using this as an excuse of why I'm making such a disaster doing it.)
New Identity
It's moving weekend. Current status: my apartment looks like rabid monkeys started throwing moving boxes around. There's so much work to do, it's overwhelming. I am going to be packing ALL day... well, except for the hour massage that I booked, and some work that I have to do, and it's sunny out so I better tan on the roof for a bit, and I should make it to the gym, oooh and I need to go grocery shopping, and go to REI...
Anyways, last night I had an eye opening realization that this adventure is going to become my identity. I will no longer just be Hilary (Bill to some of you) but I will be Hilary the Homeless Girl. Which is fine, but it means that I'm going to have to embrace this new identity and even step it up a level. Last night one suggestion that I got was that I should black light hotels and evaluate the cleanliness. Another was to see how much free stuff I can get at what hotel... other ideas are welcome.
Anyways, last night I had an eye opening realization that this adventure is going to become my identity. I will no longer just be Hilary (Bill to some of you) but I will be Hilary the Homeless Girl. Which is fine, but it means that I'm going to have to embrace this new identity and even step it up a level. Last night one suggestion that I got was that I should black light hotels and evaluate the cleanliness. Another was to see how much free stuff I can get at what hotel... other ideas are welcome.
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