First off Let me thank my Connect…
Ahem
But In All Seriousness, I have to thank God for bringing me through this past month. I’m aware that not everyone that follows my blog believes in the existence of God so feel free to substitute “God” with the “Universe” or whatever higher being you feel a connection to.
That being said.. Thank God that He got me to where I am right now. I’m writing this post from my new place, in almost the exact set up I wanted for myself, and within the exact area that I wanted to live.. and it all happened within the span of a week.
There was a post I wrote on Facebook within my first two weeks of moving to LA, and here’s the exact quote:
Just some thoughts I had at church… I always joke about how I don’t want to have a rag to riches story where I had to sleep in my car, etc just to “make it” cuz there’s enough of those stories out there already lol.. but after listening to the message I would prefer to be a success story where God’s involvement was undeniable, and let that be what inspires people.. more so than just a “hard work ethic”
Those are words that I will continue to believe in and stand by… I just didn’t know that it would’ve started so soon.
I’ve already stated how much of a miracle it was that I moved to Los Angeles by my target Date. It was something that I know was a sign that it was my time to be out here.
Fast forward 3 months later, and I’m looking for a new place to stay. There are a lot of reasons (that will be discussed in great detail) about why the place I was living at wasn’t working out, but the short version of the story is that I had 30 days to find a place or I’d be homeless.
Everything about Los Angeles just seems to be more difficult, especially in regards to finding a place to live. My initial thoughts were that if I looked Nonstop (I’m talking whenever I wasn’t at work or sleeping, I’d be place hunting) that I’d find a place to live within the first 2 weeks, and spend the last 2 weeks of the month getting everything situated to move in.
I stuck to my goal. I put EVERYTHING to the side. I put Acting on a complete hold for a MONTH just so I could devote more time to finding a living situation. I was on every website that I could think of looking for a spot, I checked Craigslist before I checked my email, and I was asking everyone about any open residencies that they may have heard about. I found Not. One. Thing.
And when I say “Not one Thing” I don’t mean that literally. The thing about Los Angeles is that there isn’t a shortage of places to live. You can also find some really nice places with a decent to great setup at an affordable price.. The single greatest issue is Location.
The city of Hollywood is overrated. The traffic is horrible, the parking is even worse, and overall,things are somehow even more expensive (Gas prices there are generally a dollar higher just because) So for those who don’t know, finding an affordable place that isn’t too far from any one location is nearly impossible. and yet that’s exactly what I was trying to do (Sunland isn’t exactly known for it’s proximity to other places) and finding places that seemed to get worse and worse as I kept looking.
It was always something. At first, it was common things like the price being too high or the distance being too far but then it started turning into other things like 3-4 people sharing one bathroom, or the entire place smelling like animal droppings, or just straight up robbery (one person wanted me to pay over $700 a month to live in a “Room” the size of a small closet… that had a curtain for a door but somehow it was “worth it” because it was located “Only minutes away from all the big studios”
Suddenly, I find myself 3 weeks into the month, with no potential leads on a place and I am STRESSED. I prayed for peace in my spirit, which helped keep me calm despite the fact that I was now 7 days away from being homeless. And Ultimately, I WAS homeless, for like a day.
I found a place to live four days before I had to leave my place and was able to move in the day after I left my old place. I couch crashed the day I moved out, but there’s something about riding around with your life’s possessions in your trunk that gives you a deeper perspective about what’s really important…
It took about a week,but I’m finally settled into my new place, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, and now I can finally get back to focusing on what’s important..
As for my next “Tales From The Westside” Prepare yourselves as I give you a play by play of everything that went wrong at my first place in LA
