Off Of The Couches And Into The Streets!

Lego Rome wasn't built in a day

63 days.
 
It took me 63 days, return date from Geneva to today, to actually get into a somewhat normal living situation and off of random people's couches. Granted, there were some mitigating factors at play that dragged out the process, including being unsure of my permanence in the country at first, the sudden nature of my leaving The Continent, and a complete lack of certitude as to my eventual landing spot. Any immediacy in settling on a sub-par sublet was eviscerated by the amazing reception I got from all my friends, many of whom offered me keys, room, and board, all at the low low price of the pleasure of my company. Without a reliable budget or even a geographic focus, I was truly forced to embrace the nomadic lifestyle of a couch surfing corporate wash-out, replete with rolling bag full of unlaundered clothes, constantly asking the world, "what's the wireless password here?" Truly, it was a harrowing process and the extremely long delay in landing a new sublet was due to a million outside factors beyond my control.

Either that or I'm just a lazy bastard. Personally I think it's the former, but I could feel murmurs rippling through the crowd that suspicions of the latter were fast crystallizing. I'm still recovering from the emotional and physical toll that my recent adventures took on me, soul and body, and I did myself few favors given my lifestyle in the two years leading up to fleeing society. Hell I barely remember the first 30 days after I got back, mostly due to exhaustion and needing to sleep for a week just to get back on my feet. I needed some time to slow things down, take stock, and rest before getting back to it. But 63 days??

In 63 days, rabbits, foxes, and kangaroos can successfully reproduce. In 63 days, if you count for only 8 hours a day at a relatively fast clip, you can count to a million...three times. 63 days is longer than the Falklands War, the Indo-Pakistani War, and the 6 Days War...combined. And hell, it only took the Apollo 11 astronauts three friggin days to get into lunar orbit! Now, as a matter of course I believe that the marketplace of ideas should decide belief and that we must balance all the facts before making any decisions, but the numbers appear to be stacked pretty solidly against my near-glacial pace of house hunting.

Despite my stutter-start failure in getting my rear in gear, at least I am finally making some progress. I'm all set up in a new West Village spot for the coming weeks, and after a quick trip to visit my parents and steal every ounce of unclaimed food in the pantry I should have enough food to last me at least through the weekend. The job hunt is slow but I'm registered with the proper temp agencies and eventually will make one of these assignments work. And possibly best of all? Last week I got new jeans! Yup, things are looking up, to be certain.

What's to become of the next 63 days? From where I'm sitting, seems like it takes about 48 days to sail around the world using only natural forces...but I'll settle for getting dental insurance.