Another day

[rebeccmeister]

Another day goes by, another day where I have made no progress on the housing front. It is very hard for me to get organized to call people and then send them "home wanted" flyers. I guess I have written the text I want to distribute. Maybe you have feedback?

Couple seeking organic-friendly housing
My name is Rebecca, and my boyfriend Scott and I are moving to Bryan/College Station in early October so I can work as a researcher at Texas A&M University. We (and our cat) are looking for housing in central Bryan that has not been treated with insecticides inside or out in at least the past 2 years (with things like Raid, Black Flag, etc, used to kill bugs). We are otherwise fairly flexible about living arrangements and are into hobbies like vegetarian cooking and gardening. If you know of a place that could meet our needs, please get in touch with me at: rebeccmeister@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for your help!

I don't like talking to strangers on the phone, especially when I'm not even sure what to tell them or what to ask for. I don't even feel like I know what I'm looking for, anymore. I feel like I'm jumping off a cliff and trying to aim for the right trampoline. Part of me just wants to fold up into a closet somewhere.

Comments

The housing front....

[(Anonymous)]

Finding the right housing is tough in any circumstance: a lot is at stake and your feelings are understandable. A difficult situation, especially when you're in "rice and beans" mode. As for your flyer, the message is clear, but you are at the mercy of people you don't know and navigating from a distance compounds it. Could you proceed first to "temporary" housing, such as a room for a month or two? To get oriented in Bryan and work on this in person. I want to be careful not to meddle too much in your situation (but I am, a little). You will probably find a different solution! There IS a place for you that's just right. It is going to be a very special surprise!! Jan Phillips says: "Hope is the energy that sustains you before your vision is realized." As you carry on your search for the right housing, draw on HOPE!
xo
~mom

[(Anonymous)]

Can't solve your problem, but I can sympathize with the stress of not having a place to live.

[(Anonymous)]

(DM)

[faisdodo.livejournal.com]

All my cousins are Aggies! None of them are in College Station right now, and honestly I'm not sure they'd be the right connections for what you're looking for, but if you don't get any other leads I can see if they know anyone in College Station that you should contact.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks so much! That's kind of funny about your cousins - are they a part of the family that you've written about before? I can't remember. I think I've settled on an approach for the moment, but I'll get in touch if I need to.

[faisdodo.livejournal.com]

Probably not, there's not a lot of drama on that side. ;) It's my mom's side of the family. All of them live in Houston, so most of the kids went to A&M.

[annikusrex.livejournal.com]

Pardon my obnoxiousness, but why isn't the person with the extraordinary housing requirements taking care of this search?

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

This is a good question and it is a difficult one to answer. S is feeling really pessimistic about Texas, and I can't really blame him. He said it took him about 2.5 years to find the place where he lives now in Phoenix because it's really hard to get honest answers from people about a house's history - many people will tell you that they use/eat all organics, but if you open the cupboard under the sink there will be a can of Raid or Black Flag sitting under there. On top of that, it's difficult/impossible to know how long the pesticide washout period will be. It depends on how a house has been treated and with which substances, and pest control companies tend to switch out what they're using too frequently to keep track. It can take Scott a while to pick up on exposure and then several days to clear out his system after he's been exposed to something (I watched that happen in France).

S has also said that I should probably just look for something that will work for me without spending too much time/effort trying to meet his needs. I've found one place on Craigslist that should basically work well for me, so at this very moment I think I am going to go ahead and rent it. I asked the landlord about a short-term lease of 3 months with a potential extension for longer if the house works out...so hopefully that timeframe will allow me to get situated and look around locally if the house doesn't work out. We'll see if the landlord goes for it.

[scrottie.livejournal.com]

3 months, not 2.5 years.

[scrottie.livejournal.com]

Something I've done several times in the past, and that is lame but better than nothing, is get and use a buy-out clause on a lease. This winds up being something like two month's rent unless the place is rented out again before that, which never actually happens.

[scrottie.livejournal.com]

I like how both of our user icons face away from the reader. I guess that still doesn't make goats.cx an acceptable icon.

[scrottie.livejournal.com]

I wrote a reply but it's too long, so I pasted it over here: http://slowass.net/~scott/tmp/bryan.txt

[scrottie.livejournal.com]

Yay, R responded. That means I get to kill my response. So I'll just say "long story" instead. When we have sat down to write something, we've both gone completely different directions. We keep going completely different directions on this, in fact.
-s

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

I cannot seem to view the text file?