Ups n Downs

Here's the score.

Job prospects - 1 up. Apple came through, but Current is still dragging their feet on a higher offer. Importantly, I do have a job. I would be starting April 14 at Apple as a designer in their motion graphics department.

Apartment prospects - 1 down. I made the mistake of trying to be upfont and honest about sake dog with the landlord. Despite an ambiguous policy and no mention of dogs in the ad, he said no, no way, not ever, it's against policy. Seeing as he is the owner of the building, I think "policy" is a pretty week thing to stand behind. He is the policy. Nonetheless, he has my 2500 dollars. It's been 4 days now, and he says he won't give it back unless he rents the place by April 1. Keep you fingers crossed on this one.

So once again homeless, I got back on the horse and applied for 2 more apartments. I'm supposed to hear monday, so I am again reliant on the good graces of my dear friend Michael. He was headed for Tahoe the first couple days I arrived back, and once again gave me the keys to his castle. Last night he returned to the city, but stayed with his girlfriend so I could remain here. Thank god for Michael. Although he was the one who suggested coming clean with the landlord, so maybe advice isn't his forte but being a savior definitely is.

Dealing with Eric - 1 down then maybe 1 up. I found out that the affair actually started in October, while I was in South America. This brings the grand total of months of cheating and lying up to 5. My sense of stupidity and betrayal rose, but my sense of finality and understanding were also enhanced. Hard to believe that he would continue lying in an essay about integrity. There's no end to his bullshit apparently.

Last night at Zeitgiest, I met up with Donham and Tollef, and I actually hung out with someone that I knew at USC. We reconnected over Facebook, and it turns out that Scott Rose is living in SF too. Our most primary memories of each other are freshman year, when we were both so hung up on our high school gfriend/bfriend that had been left behind. We commiserated often, had wine on his birthday, went to a punk show in hollywood together...and then kinda lost touch through the college years, only occasionally resurfacing in each other's lives. It was good to see him. It's good to have a connection with ones past.

The story of how I ended up in the city came up, and I was all "you might know the girl who was fucking my boyfriend!" Turns out he did know Kate at USC. The USC school of theater world is small. Scott was surprised it was her. And then he said - 5 months? You knew, didn't you? How could you not know?

How could I not know? Luckily, Donham was there to back me up. As a neighbor, friend, coworker, and commuting buddy of Eric's, he had no idea either. No one did. Not Eric's sister who was in the same dance company as Kate and Eric. Not a single one of our friends, many of whom had had conversations with eric about his life and how he was feeling about things. He buried that one deep. And he had a million alibis. That's jeckyl and hyde for sure.

So a lot has happened, and a lot has stayed exactly the same somehow. Still no job or apartment, only possibilities, but San Francisco feels like my city. Whether its riding my bike around town, going to Zeitgiest - the best bar in the entire world with its outdoor picnic tables, or watching a crazy bicycle race set up in the basement of a sports store, where people faced off on track bikes set on stationary pedastals and had their times projected behind them while an audience cheered and drank PBRs.

Going back through LA was a relief. The house no longer felt like mine. I got the last of my stuff out and was happy to turn over my keys. I just wanted to be disconnected from that house of so many painful moments. Seeing it redecorated with eric's stuff, and removing my plants (almost dead and some unrecoverable) felt GREAT. I ran into Eric's younger sister Nichol there. She was coming out to meet Eric that night and arrived early. I am going to miss her a lot. After 4 years, she had become like my little sister, and she is a strong and wonderful lady. She helped me fill in some of the blanks about what had been going on. Apparently within the dance company, no one knew of the whole extent of the affair, but two people suspected that something had at least happened on an off night between Eric and Kate.

I stayed in Eileen and Bj's lovely guestroom (now it can actually be termed that with a bed and all) and enjoyed waking up for coffee with them in their backyard each morning. I had dinner with Kris, Rachel, Eileen and Bj the first night, at El Cholo. That place had been a college fav, but eric never really liked it, so I hadn't been there in years. Their veggie fajitas are still unbeatable. Tuesday was lunch with Suelyn, and dinner and drinks with the Castlefortes, E and B, and Synderella on the upstairs patio at Red Lion. Late into the night, Eileen, Synderella and I hung out and had Gingergrass' thai coffee and talked. I will miss them.

Onward and upward. LA was a success. I ran a billion errands, picked up files from Framework, started my year's IRA at the USC federal credit union, bought sake's favorite dogfood. A last meeting with Eric the morning I left went fine. The recruiter at Apple called and said they wanted to meet with me again. And then we loaded up and left.

Taking the 101 up, Donham and I saw new scenery and stopped for most of the day in Santa Barbara. We went off looking for hotsprings, but just found a really pretty hike, and enjoyed looking at the pretty people of SB. Camping turned into sleeping at the Motel 6 in Atascadero - the same city my car was stuck in when the clutch went out on the 1 years and years back.

And life goes on.