I suppose that finding a place to live, getting a job and making friends aren’t really that simple. But they are the basic stuff that you need to do. I got myself a room in a dive of a hostel in Kings Cross, which is the red-light bar district of Sydney. Doing it in style. Finding a room was my first concern. Sydney is huge and I wanted to experience the inner-city life, so I narrowed my area down to the Eastern Suburbs. After a lot of calling I made an appointment with this dude who had his own apartment in Potts Point. Potts Point is right on the harbor. Beautiful location. It was a gothic-style apartment block out of the late twenties. The lift had a sliding door and a sliding cage with purple carpet on the walls. It was rad.

I had the interview with him and his girlfriend. I really wanted that place. Apparently about 50 other people wanted the room as well. Whenever I need something I act in my life like I already have it. Strangely enough this usually results in me getting what I need. I immediately went out to the flashiest department store in town and bought an expensive purple towel for my hoped-to-be room. Four days later I called him up. The room was mine. An empty room. With no bed. So I bought a bed, and some sheets and a blanket and pillow and paid the first two months rent and I had about $50 left in my pocket. But I had a place to stay. One step at a time. I also had two new friends – Jeremy and his girlfriend Kate.

I went out and walked from bar to bar until I had a job. It took me about three hours. I started that night. So I had the basics sorted out. Pity that I was emotionally crushed. But I had a new city to explore. I did a lot of walking. I love walking in new cities. Especially if they are pedestrian friendly as Sydney is. I wanted to make some more friends so I signed up to a little writing course. The course was crap, I ended up arguing with the teacher who was just absolutely crap. But I made a new friend. She was in her late forties and was also from Perth. She had also recently made the move across. She was reinventing herself after her kids moved out of home and she ditched her husband. She got me another job as well.

It was a job as a telemarketer for a new-age help guru who ran seminars on mind power and meditation. It was only for ten days and I absolutely hated it. But I resolved myself to do my best and I ended up selling something like 40 courses at $350 a pop over the phone. The guru dude offered me a full time job. I took it with one eye open for something better. The Friday after I started full time the flightly girl who took care of the desktop publishing quit in a huff. I found my boss in a bit of a panic and he explained the problem to me. I immediately told him that I knew heaps about desktop publishing and that I could do the job. Anything to get off those horrible phones. He was ecstatic. I got the job. I had until Monday to learn everything I could about desktop publishing on an Apple Powermac circa 1994.

Just about every job I’ve ever got I’ve lied in some way to get. Tell them what they want to hear. Figure it out as you go along. If you don’t know something, ask. If they quiz you on why you don’t know say that in the other job it was slightly different, blah blah blah. I read the manual back to front over the weekend and on Monday I waltzed in and hoped to hell that I could pull it off. There were some tight moments but I got the job done. I also had some new friends in the small office. We went out for drinks after work. I hoped I wouldn’t bump into my ex.
I play the guitar pretty well and I wanted to meet some muso’s, so I signed up for some advanced jazz guitar lessons at a little guitar shop. The teacher was good, I learnt some new stuff and I met a few cool musicians and we got a little jazz-funk band going. At the same time my boss asked me to help him on his tours. I became his personal assistant. We did weekends in Sydney, then one up in Newcastle. Then we did a week in Brisbane. Flying up, staying in a 5 star hotel, getting paid for it. It was all good. Then we did a two week trip to Cairns. Way up in the tropics. I fell in love with the town. I remember sitting at an outside cafè on the esplanade. I was drinking a coffee. A guy sat down and started talking to me. Just like that. Then a girl. Then another girl. Nobody knew each other. It was just so laid back and natural. I knew that this would have to be my next stop. We went back to Sydney and a few months later we did another trip to Cairns. That sealed it for me. We got back to Sydney and I put in my resignation. My boss wasn’t surprised. He said, “I knew I’d lose you sooner or later.” He gave me a bonus. I packed up my bike, gave away my bed and other stuff I’d collected and set off on the 4500km trip up to Cairns.

I replaced the chain on the bike before I left but not the chain ring. Very silly thing to do. In the middle of ******g nowhere the chain tore itself to pieces. And ripped the chain ring to shreds into the bargain. I hitched 800km back to Sydney. The bike was a write-off as I crashed it when the chain tore up. I was OK. Just a little shaken. A very good mate from Perth called me up two days after I got back to Sydney. He was in town. He had driven across to surprise me. Decided to do what I had done. I told him what had happened and that I was set on going to Cairns. That was cool with him, he’d come to Cairns too. So off we went in his little Suzuki Vitara.

When we got into Cairns around a week later we weren’t talking. Something about him not letting me choose any music on the stereo for the whole trip. He wanted to stay in a campsite out of town which meant that I would have been dependant on him for getting around. I told him to drop me off in the town and catcha later dude. I needed some time by myself. So here we go again. Checked into a nice little boarding house right on the beach. And proceeded to do it all over again. House, job and friends.

This does sound interesting and I'd like to hear stories about this as well, but is this just another way of saying mid-life crisis?

more please

Will do tomorrow. It's bedtime now in Italy.

Somebody picking up and moving to another place is interesting, but its not really hard. They just have to do it. I am wondering if someone has a cool story where they quit their job and opened their own business and were able to succeed, anything along those lines. I saw a cheesy family movie 'In America' recently which made me think about that.

Now I can't wait for the rest of this.

This is good reading.

Ha, awesome. I feel like i've stayed in everyone of these. Funkhouse w/ the acid art, the black one on the opposite corner which doubles up as a club and has Miss Backpacker awards and the general ones like Globe Backpackers etc. We shared a room with a painter who had no teeth and a healthly drug addiction. He came back to australia 4 months of the year to work 60 hours a week then live in thailand for the rest.

Kings Cross was awesome, there aren't many places you can see a 45 year old hooker tripping on acid while eating your breakfast.

Back on note, I feel like my life is starting to suck atm since i'm not making any decisions about the direction of my life. Maybe i should start a thread, for 30 days El Diablo Forum gets to plan my life day by day/week by week, you tell me what to do/where to go/things to experience that you think will benefit me, i'll pick the best few and stick to them.

Wow great stuff Adsman, more please!

"It's bed time here in italy" is such a tease

A+, I hope part of this story involves a stint as a journalist or writer.

Everyone:

If you have a story like this, post it. I guarantee you it might seem regular or ordinary to you (it's your life after all), but the rest of us will enjoy it. it is pretty damn hard to write a bad life story.

i guess my memory is just better than most but i thought everyone knew adsman was living in italy doing rafting, owns a club

i'm making plans now for a big change: (i intend to be soon) moving from vegas to playa del carmen, mexico.

i've only been there once before, for 2 weeks, but i absolutely fell in love with the place.

any advice for me? for example KKF, i'm curious why you choose not to tell anyone what you do? i've been thinking about this, and i guess i had kind of planned on just telling people i meet down there that i play poker online. i figured it would be easiest that way, so that i wouldn't have to be secretive or try to come up with some kind of story...

but yeah, any other thoughts/advice is welcome.

Does escaping on a boat and being captured by pirates before getting rescued by coastal guard count as good story?
I've been wanting to write this story, but have forgotten the names of all the cities that it took place in. Gotta do some research and get all the names spelling correct first. Also quite busy at work and Chinese New Year coming up so it may be awhile.
If anyone is familiar with Thai geography, please let me know.

Jay: Do a thread and give my advice priority Come visit me in Amherst

KKFool: In America is not corny, it won academy awards and deserved them. Also picking up and moving somewhere is not easy, I tried and failed. Also did you write about your life or is that a lie? You like to lie a lot and talk very selectively.

" But I had a new city to explore. I did a lot of walking. I love walking in new cities." - People say this a lot and also say they like to hang out in cafe's and restaurants and watch the city life happen but I find this very boring and unsatisfying. Is anyone else with me on this?

Adsman: When you move from place to place to start a new life, do you find yourself having to deal with a lot of hassles when you move? For instance finding an apt., moving furniture or cleaning out old stuff etc. or maybe it's not a hassle to you. And how much time has it taken you to get comfortable, happy, content in your new life? To make new friends, find good things to do with your times, etc.

I'm with you bruiser. I actually love those things, but after about 5 minutes I'm going out of my mind - are we going to *DO* something yet or just sit here?

ps. you're not in SF any more?