I cannot stress enough how much I HATE this process. I would have LOVED to stay in VDC and had Pat & Andrew, but they wouldn't let us. I wouldn't have minded at all staying in RSJ, but I had no roommates since I am a failure at school. I would have KILLED to stay in the Renaissance with Lindsay, but we couldn't afford it. Now I move out at the end of August, I am going back to school (theoretically) so my budget has dropped considerably, and Linds is doing god-knows-what since she's got offers to live with other people and now just as much debt as me. Jeff wants his own place; which I get. I want MY own place, too! I want nothing more in life than to have a job that allows me to finish school AND live in a tiny-tiny studio that I don't have to share with anyone.
I used to be a dreamer. I used to think I could be a rockstar or on Broadway or an Imagineer, or own a bar, or all sorts of things. Now life has worn me down to the point where I can't even see a future in my wildest dreams where I can afford a studio apartment and a dog.
So what are my options?
Option A is to move home:
The Positives
- Don't have to pay rent. (+40)
- Dog & Cat. (+10)
- Have to commute to OC 7 days a week (gas prices & traffic) (-40)
- Have to commute to OC 7 days a week (inconsistent school/work schedules) (-40)
- Have to commute to OC 7 days a week (hate everyone living in the 909) (-40)
- Living with my parents. (-20)
Option B is to live with my brother, who is ALSO being pressured to move home:
The Positives
- Neither I nor Trevor have to move back to Fontana (+80)
- Rent of a studio is 40% cheaper (+20)
- Living with my brother (-20)
- Absolutely no privacy ever (-50)
- Trevor has to pay his own rent by working even longer hours while trying not to fail any more classes. (-30)
Option C is some as-yet-undetermined mix of Option B with living with OC people. Trevor and I split a bedroom (hey, at least this plan gives us a door) and 1-5 people live in 2-3 OTHER bedrooms in some magical mystery dream house/apartment.
Add to all of this nonsense that cutting back on work hours in order to finish school means that, EVEN if I took option A with NO rent, I still won't be making enough to cover car insurance, phone bill, credit cards, school loans and gas $. That closet is looking better and better.