For the month of July, I am committing myself to post daily on this website.   Writing is one of my passions.  It’s probably the thing I love most.  Being an English major sucked the love of writing out of me.  Constantly having to write about things I wasn’t passionate about only to have them dissected by peers and professors but still trying to prove something because writing is the thing you’re suppose to be good at.

I left school only three months ago and I can’t believe the change.  It didn’t happen immediately, but slowly my creative juices are coming back.  Plots are popping into my head, characters I have created are starting to come alive again.  Right now things are coming together in my mind and in a few days I’ll be ready to get the words out.  I can’t explain how excited I am.

Before moving from Wyoming to Nashville, I took up an opportunity that my company has to transfer my job.  I work for a major retailer and figured it was better to move with a job than without one.  I was dealt a blow when I arrived at my new store.  I arrived at my new store two days after arriving in Nashville.  My new manager sat me down and let me know that there had been some sort of miscommunication.  I was only going to be part-time instead of full-time and I had to expand my availability if I wanted any hours at all (my availability since I started working at the company had been 7AM-10PM).  My boss promised to keep me working around 30/hours a week, but I was devastated.  Financially it was going to be tight and I hated the hours they were giving me but I needed a job.

Over the past three weeks I’ve been working my ass off and it paid off!  On Monday my boss came up to me and said they were going to make me full-time and start giving me a normal 8-5 shift.  I’m so happy!  I was bummed because for all my relationship my boyfriend and I had been long distance.  Then I finally move in with him only to find out that I would rarely see him because he works 8-5 and I have been working 2-11.  It’s going to be nice just to spend time sitting on the couch with him.  So exciting!

Have you ever felt out of place somewhere and you knew you didn’t belong?  That’s how I felt at my last apartment.  My roommates weren’t horrible, but we just weren’t a good match.  They were great friends and I was the third wheel.

They didn’t understand that I had to be at work at 8am every morning and seemed frustrated when I declined their invitations at midnight to stay up and color (I’m serious–they had crayons and My Little Pony coloring books).

I didn’t understand their lack of cleanliness.  From March until May they did the dishes once.  There was one day where I spent two hours washing, drying, and putting away the dishes.  After finishing, I went and got ready for work and in the twenty minutes it took me, they had refilled the sink and counters with dishes they had in their rooms.

Simple things like watching TV or going out and using the kitchen were uncomfortable.

I’m in a completely different situation now.  I’m living with my boyfriend and his best friend.  They are both the most laid back people in the world.  You can definitely tell it’s a guys place.  A moving box sits in the living room that acts as a ottamon/coffee table.  The real coffee table is filled with various different sauce/ketchup packets from local fast food places.  We have a Playstation 3, X-box, Wii, Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, and other game consoles that I don’t know the names of.  And there is no shortage of duct tape.

Still, it’s nice to be able to sit out in the living room, like I am now, and feel comfortable.  It’s nice to feel like you’re at home again.

My life has changed since the last time I wrote.

I was somehow evicted from an apartment I was no longer living in.  I have started working towards completely getting rid of my credit card and student loan debt.   After some soul searching I decided to take a break from school.  Then I transfered my job, spent one and a half days driving across the country, and moved in with my boyfriend.  We now live in Nashville, Tennessee.

I couldn’t be more excited about my new life.

Life has taken many twists over the past week.

The hardest of all has been a life lesson.  In January I moved out of my old apartment, where the lease had ended, and moved into a new one.  It was a good choice.  At my old apartment there was never any hot water.  I tried showering at 5AM, 7AM, noon, 3PM, 7PM, 10PM and no matter what after about two minutes it would go cold.  As I had no dish washer, it meant I would have to wash all my dishes in cold water.  The sidewalks and parking lots never had snow cleared and the internet (included in the rent) never functioned.  It was also a good choice financially as I have been saving over $300 in rent since I moved.

Last week I received a letter saying I owed over $1800 in back rent and if I didn’t pay up within ten days I would have to go to a hearing and possibly be evicted.  I wasn’t surprised.  Since moving out in January I have called, emailed, and shown up at my landlord’s office multiple times to do things like a walk through and to see about getting my deposit back.  Each time I received an answer that they were unable to do it at the time because of a staffing storage and someone would contact me at a later date.  Now they are saying that even though I put in my notice that I was moving out that the lease was automatically renewed when I did not complete my the walk thru, returning my keys, etc.

I feel screwed.  In court it would really be my word against theirs as I have no proof that I did give them notice that I was moving out.  I signed a document stating so but I did not get a copy and they are saying I never did.  I’ve talked to my boyfriend and friends about it.  They’ve given me the helpful advice of bringing my bank records to show how I always paid my old rent, current rent, and things like car insurance on time.    Also, printing out a copy of my phone records of the times I’ve called them.  Still I feel defeated and worry that something like an eviction is going to haunt me for a long time.