Today I ran. Today I looked for jobs and applied to a few. Today I looked for apartments but didn’t have much luck (I reached out to several but have yet to receive confirmations on showings).
As I’m writing this, it’s 20 degrees in State College (where I used to live) with a real feel of 14 degrees. At 10am this morning when I went for a run in shorts and a t-shirt, it was 25 degrees in State College. By comparison, it’s been between 50 and 60 degrees all day and sunny here.
A major reason why I wanted to move was because I wanted to get away from the miserable winters of central Pennsylvania – winters that made me depressed and unmotivated – winters that made me hole up in the house. Because it’s nicer here (and because I have some time on my hands), I’m running more and spending more time outdoors. I’ve lost ten pounds just by being more active. It was probably more than 10 – I don’t know how many I put on during the road trip.
Losing some weight and getting in better shape has been a goal of mine for a while. I got into a lot of bad habits when I lived in State College. I spent a lot of time at bars and very little time exercising. And when I was exercising, it was often this start-stop roller coaster. I had struggled to find my groove when it came to exercising regularly (the weather and the long commute played a part in that). My recent road trip didn’t help with weight loss. Nearly every night I was at a different restaurant or bar (I had to eat somewhere). And because the alternative was to go back to the hotel or tent, I usually stayed at the bar for “one more drink.”
As happy as I am with getting back in shape and as much as I’m enjoying soaking up the sun, I wish I could make better progress on the housing and job front. Everything takes longer than I expect it to and I spend a lot of time “looking.” Looking for jobs. Looking for apartments. Days go by – sometimes with little to show for my efforts. I may have to pivot slightly and get a sublet for a few months.
One or two of the places I’ve looked at have asked if I could get a co-signer for a lease because I’m unemployed and don’t meet their 3x income to rent ratio. I find this frustrating because I’ve always heard that cash is king, and I have enough cash to afford a year’s worth of rent up front and still live a reasonably budgeted lifestyle. But more than that, I find this frustrating because it’s yet another instance in which different sets of rules apply to different “classes” of people based entirely on wealth, power, and access to financial tools or a lack of those things. A certain former president has had to declare bankruptcy for several of his businesses and was always able to get more financing. That same former president has been found to have committed fraud by overstating his assets and net worth. Meanwhile another billionaire who bought a particular social media platform subsequently refused to pay rent for that organization’s various offices and publicly stated he’ll pay rent “over his dead body.” In other rent and San Francisco news, the city’s largest landlord (a company that owns 293 buildings) recently defaulted on a $400 million loan and today announced it would sell off close to a billion dollars in troubled loans that it is struggling to pay. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why I (and my verified money in the bank – not fake worth based on inflated valuations) am considered the high risk tenant. Further to this, given the number of layoffs that the tech industry has seen over the past year, the 3x income to rent ratio is less of a sure bet than cash.
I don’t doubt that things will fall into place. Until then, I’ll keep running, I’ll keep looking, I’ll keep applying (and enjoying the nicer weather).