daines'n around

I sent a text message to a few friends earlier today.
"Utah is kinda like the twilight zone"

But I think I'm more in the twilight zone than the location itself right now. I'm in Provo with half of my stuff in the car and half of my stuff in Brandon's already crowded apartment. Three hours of looking and I have a few appointments set up for looking at apartments for rent in Provo.

Apparently it is the right season for apartment hunting. The Provo / Orem area are college towns, (BYU, UVSC) and with summer session ending, many students went home for the summer and left their rooms vacant.

Not having a home base is mildly disorienting right now. There are friends here and there, but no haven... no place I can call (at least partially) mine. My car seems to be the only familiar sight and smells. I drove by the office where I'll begin work on Monday. It's on Freedom Blvd. That made me guffaw a little.

This weekend I'm flying to visit my mom, Danielle and check out Nine Inch Nails in the Bay Area. Maybe not what I should have done the weekend before I began my first career-oriented job, but the tickets were non transferable and I miss both of these women.

I should have an apartment tomorrow, so it seems. If not I have a place to crash for a few days until I do find one. There are some photos that I must share from the past few days with friends in Cedar City and on the road.

They sky explodes in a flash of thunder and a thunderous boom. I sit in an apartment in Salt Lake City. I'm leaving at 4:30 tomorrow morning, and I'm sure I'll sleep the entire time on the plane.

It has been 800 miles since I left California. It feels like I've seen 800 apartments today alone. I was moments away from assuming the loan of a couple leaving a one bedroom apartment, just blocks away from my new job, but was then ruled out because I wasn't married.

I shouldn't be surprised, say Provo locals. Many apartment complexes are married couples or married students only. The couple who was ready for me to take over their contract seemed slightly miffed at the fact that I was rendered... unfit? too single? dangerously possibility for promiscuity amongst sex-having married people? Whatever the case I felt it somewhat unfair.
The federal fair housing act says that rentals cannot discriminate on tenants based on:

a persons race, color, sex, national origin, disability, religion or familial status.

The sad part is, 18 states have taken it further and included protection of single people as well. Familial status, in the federal definition, protects people with children unless the community is a senior community.

Utah has no such definition. Perhaps they are scared of the homosexuals invading? I dunno. But it is nearly impossible to get competitively affordable one-bedroom housing and be a single male in Provo. Hasty conclusion after one day? Provo isn't that big.

Today was a a selection of firsts. It was the first time I entered an apartment and didn't see much of anything I didn't like. First time I wasn't shunned or overcharged for being single in my pursuit of housing. First time I've been offered an apartment I'd like to live in.

I found it. After driving around for what seemed like hours, after receiving a speeding ticket when I erroneously made a turn onto a school-zone street in Orem and after a drug test A phone call about a apartment in a complex that was no longer available led me to a newer, nicer complex with a one bedroom apartment opening.

I was greeted with the normal, "Are you married?" When the answer was no, a series of follow-up questions were drilled at me. "How old are you? Are you in school? Why are you in Provo?" Then a him-haw 'we don't usually rent to single people, but you seem like a good guy...' followed by a credit check and suddenly there were two apartments available to rent.

First day of work at the copy desk. All the flashbacks of sitting at computers at The Sundial for hours on end came flooding back to me at the fifth hour of work. There isn't much different from my previous job, other than the fact that it is merely 20% of what I used to do.

Half of my day was pulling wire, formatting it, and laying out the pages. The the local sections went into place and I got to see how well paid reporters do. One writer's stories were so oddly constructed that I had to ask the others at the copy desk if she spoke English as a second language. They laughed. Apparently not.

Not much of an orientation was offered, but camaraderie has begun at the copy desk. I should meet more editors tomorrow. I found out that I'll be on the Tuesday - Saturday shift, with Sunday and Monday my days off for the first few weeks of working here.

Today was the first time I was able to say, "Yes, I am full time."

First time eating that ridiculous stuffed grilled crunch madness thing from Taco Bell. Not as tasty as one might think. It kinda tastes like someone wrapped a bean and chicken and cheese burrito around a tostada. Kudos to them for figuring out how to revitalize their same ingredients so many times over. Their menu is becoming larger than I could have ever imagined for so many similar tastes.

Today is also the first time I am using my loving friend's dialup internet access to post to my blog. I haven't used dialup in almost ten years. It is pretty slow, but it allows you time to do things on the side while things are loading. Makes you wish people used less pictures on the web.

Another first today: My first apartment on my own. I signed the rent and deposit check, and tonight I'm the blissful tennant of a new apartment. New paint, carpet, fridge and microwave sealed the deal. In the college town land comproised of mostly renters, there are pleanty of horror stories.

Like the roomate looking for open-minded males only... what's that about? Or the Cozy studio apartment where you can pee, shower, fry an omlette and pay your bills online moving only your arms... yeah. There are those funny keywords that make you wonder. Convenient... or under a freeway and next to the train tracks? Secure... or bars on windows and cops visiting every house on the block each week?

It is easy to see how work will quickly become a routine. The group we have has great interaction. As i get to know people more, I hope to branch out to doing other things in the paper.

I'll be moving my stuff in the next two days and sitting on the floor until I have enough money for furniture. I hope the residents are sharing their wireless internet connections until i figure out if i want a local phone line and DSL or cable internet.

Email me if you want my address.