Forrest triumphs over adversity!

[ForrestGump]

Well, not yet, but I'm working on it. Next I'll tackle triumphing over perversity, and I expect stiffer opposition in that quest.

A few days ago I got the news that the place where I'm staying (helping out with rent, utilities, etc, in a sleeping-on-the-couch situation) is changing hands and that I had to go bye-bye. Bad news because, even working very hard, full-time at an interim job that pays pitifully low wages, I not only don't have enough income to sustain the ridiculously high rents here in Los Angeles but don't have enough to even move in anywhere. The Reader's Digest version of all this is that I was facing being both penniless and homeless -- perilously close to a trifecta in Bush II's Amerika.

Things were looking fairly glum, and I spent that night and the next day frantically going over various ways in which I might avert catastrophe, as well as figuring out places that I could sleep and how I'd deal with my possessions. Suboptimal.

But then the trumpets sounded, the clouds parted, the angels descended, and several other things happened. The upshot is that I'm almost certainly moving to Las Vegas.

I've thought of it before, because Vegas offers many of the same advantages that I have here but is vasty less expensive at every turn. Rent, for example, is easily a third of what it is here. Not as congested and polluted, either, despite the influx of economic refugees from California these past 15 years. Hardly a paradise, but not bad. Tons of jobs. I'm up for some that somehow (without being full-on PhD-level positions...I'm happy for the break right now) fall within my career field, as it turns out -- stranger things have happened in Vegas -- and am cruising out there for the day on Wednesday to interview for at least one of them. Cool.

So it's just another example from the annals of things-that-turned-out-well-but-that-sucked-rather-voraciously-at-the-start. I love a happy ending. I mean, I'm not there yet, and I've got a long way to go to reclaim my life (finances most definitely included) from the wreckage caused by my wife, but something tells me I'm into something good. Viva Las Vegas, baby...

[NightTrain]

1. What type of work do you hope to find in Las Vegas?

I'm just curious because I spent a year (1995-96) residing in Laughlin, Nevada, and frequently made the 90-minute trek to Vegas on my days off.

Back then, Clark County (home to both Vegas and Laughlin) was ranked as the fastest-growing area in the U.S. Sounds like that growth has continued since I left the Silver State. And you ain't gonna find many other towns with a 24-hour record shop. :evilgrin:

Good luck to you, Forrest!

[ForrestGump]

7. Well, there's only really one natural choice, wouldn't you say?

:D

Thanks, dude!

Yeah, I believe Vegas has changed and grown quite massively, both in the touristy side of things (Steve Wynn's developments, especially), and in its residential areas. Definitely light years from the Vegas of yore, and more a 'real' city. Nice part of the country, as a bonuas...doesn't take long to get into some of the southwest's nicest terrain.

[ornotna]

2. Good luck

hope it works out for you. :toast:

[ForrestGump]

8. Thanks!

I may be out of touch with DU for a while, again, but I'll send DU a postcard.

[Rowdyboy]

3. Its good to start fresh

You get a new perspective and a chance to remake yourself. I envy you in many ways.

[ForrestGump]

9. Thanks, Rowdy one

Seems like there are usually two ways (at least) to look at bottoming out or similar: sort of an "is your life half full, or half-empty?" thing. I envy me...or, at least, the me that's got things a bit more sorted out a few months from now. Wish I was that me now. :D

[SarahB]

4. I hope everything works out for you.

You've been through a lot of stuff this past year. It's about time something positive happened for you. Change can be a very good thing sometimes. Better finances are always nice and I'm sure a new place without all the bad memories might help too. Take care of yourself. :D

[ForrestGump]

10. Thanks, Ms Belle!

May we all experience change for the better this year, whether we move or stay where (physically, if not emotionally and metaphorically) we already are. And that most definitely includes the November election! :loveya:

[nuxvomica]

5. Sounds like this was meant to be

I'm surprised you hadn't done this earlier, considering your Presleyan bent. Good luck, Forrest!

[ForrestGump]

11. Thank you. Thank you very much.

:D

I'd not tend to associate Vegas with the word 'healthy' (unless preceded by the prefix 'un'), but I think it'll prove the right place at the right time, at least for a while.

[NightTrain]

6. Bright Light City gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire!

Got a whole lot of money that’s ready to burn,
So get those stakes up higher
There’s a thousand pretty women waitin’ out there
And they’re all livin’ the devil may care
And I’m just a devil with love to spare
Viva las vegas, viva las vegas

How I wish that there were more
Than twenty-four hours in the day
’cause even if there were forty more
I wouldn’t sleep a minute away
Oh, there’s blackjack and poker and the roulette wheel
A fortune won and lost on every deal
All you need’s a strong heart and a nerve of steel
Viva las vegas, viva las vegas

Viva las vegas with your neon flashin’
And your one-armed bandits crashin’
All those hopes down the drain
Viva las vegas turnin’ day into nighttime
Turnin’ night into daytime
If you see it once
You’ll never be the same again

I’m gonna keep on the run
I’m gonna have me some fun
If it costs me my very last dime
If I wind up broke up, well then
I’ll always rememberethat I had a swingin’ time
I’m gonna give it ev’rything I got
Lady Luck, please let the dice stay hot
Let me shoot a seven with ev’ry shot
Viva las vegas, viva las vegas,
Viva, viva las vegas

[ForrestGump]

12. You got it!!

Hmmmm...maybe I'll look up Ann Margret...

:D