So, about the move…

And sadly, this is not about the late ’60s British psychedelic rock group whose entire existence is often boiled down to a trivia question about the band that molted, shed its skin, and turned into ELO. I’ve been asked a lot lately about what the situation is with my seemingly permanently-imminent move. I thought I’d better try to explain it as concisely as possible and just have one place to point people to for an explanation.

In January 2023, a month after I was laid off from my graphic design day job, I started logging into the resident portal for the duplex I live in because I expected the lease renewal document to show up for me to digitally sign. It had been under new ownership and management for several months, but since moving in here in October 2020, aside from ongoing quibbles like non-working air conditioning, I didn’t have a big laundry list of complaints. I bought my own window A/C units, and Flex-taped my bathtub, because I’m classy like that and because maintenance requests seemed to be instantly dumped into the memory hole. But there were no ceiling leaks, I took care of my own pest control, and… I could afford it. That last bit goes a long way toward explaining why people stay put a lot of the time. They can afford it.

But my lease renewal never showed up. The end of January was drawing near, and with it the end of the last lease I’d signed, so I called the office to find out what was up. No leases were being renewed. Everyone was going month-to-month. Oh, and we’d all have to move out, all the buildings are being sold – the new owners had bought the place just to renovate and flip every building. At first there was a lot of talk about turning each duplex into a single-family dwelling and “creating opportunities for first time home buyers”, though that got dialed back over time; everything was going to remain a duplex, but was still being sold off. I still wouldn’t be able to stay. I started packing. My once really cool living room went from being nerd heaven to looking like a warehouse full of boxes.

Then a bunch of other stuff snowballed on me. I prioritized locking down enough freelance work to replace the income I lost from the day job, but then got hit with an eye infection that made it extremely difficult to complete the work I already had, never mind trying to get more work. And then Hollywood went on strike until the fall, and with most of my freelance clients being entertainment-adjacent, they downed tools in solidarity… and I was all but out of work at that point. I had to crowdfund treatment of my eyes (which, fortunately, are now back to something very near normal, for which I’m very grateful) because the state of Arkansas has been pretty steadfast about denying me health insurance or any other kind of benefits, forcing me to self-pay for everything, including rides to and from every ophthalmologist appointment. But as the strikes and the eye problems continued, just keeping a roof over my head exhausted my savings (which I normally kept at a level capable of paying the rent and bills for at least one month). My situation at the end of 2023: I have no cushion, I live or die by the next paycheck that comes in.

That’s a bad situation to be in when you’re expected to pay application fees, deposits, pet deposits, first month’s rent, last month’s rent, and the move itself. Right now I’m doing good to sit here in my slightly crappy $700-a-month side of this duplex. I’m finding that rent has soared while I’ve been here. When my eye crisis was still going on, I called the rental office to plead my case for just staying put – no renovation, no special requests, just let me stay. Their counter-offer was: move into one of the newly renovated units and you could literally just move across the street. For a thousand dollars more a month. Forced gentrification sucks ass.

If I had moved earlier in the year while I was better equipped to survive a move financially, I’d be in a more expensive place now that I couldn’t afford. So, with the eye problems going on, I have continued to stay put and worry that the first of each month was going to begin with a knock on the door to hand me my walking papers. This hasn’t exactly been a stress-free year. No matter how you slice it, it’s a disaster. I have work coming up in January that represents a potential start-to-get-slightly-ahead point. It took every dime of the Gofundme to get my eyes back to where they work, and I’m pleased to report that I’ve have now made contact with a company outside of the showbiz ecosystem needing some of my skills, and negotiations are well underway to do stuff for them. A great many of my other freelance clients are waiting until the new year to ramp things up again. But none of it’s happening fast enough to be of any real help in securing a new place and moving. It’s not about me not working or not wanting to work; this year has been about either barely being able to see well enough to work, and then about not having enough work, or as much work as I had this time a year ago. I had a “rainy day fund” set up. Then I had more rainy days than I had funds.

This Friday is December 1st, and if there’s a day I’m worried about, it’s that day. It would make sense for the rental office to want to get the last of us stragglers out of their hair at year’s end. (The neighborhood is very thinly populated now – an average of one half-occupied duplex every other building – so I am making my last stand with a few fellow stubborn hangers-on back here in the cul-de-sac of duplexes.) If that happens, I’m screwed beyond belief. As much as I hate to do it, I’d have to crowdfund that whole move, because I’m doing good to feed my cats and myself and keep the lights on at the moment, and I’m not even managing to do that without help. (The eye Gofundme, which is technically still open, will probably turn into the moving Gofundme at some point.)

So there you go – that’s the move story. I’m pushing the boat out for as long as I can, because if I have to jump into the boat and start rowing, I can’t afford the oars right now. I hope this answers everyone’s questions.

My sincere thanks to everyone who has stuck with me this year – my Patreon patrons, everyone who chipped in even a single buck on the Gofundme, and this year more than any other, all of the very, very patient people I work for. I’m hoping I don’t have to ask any more big favors before the year is out. Because it’s been an exhausting one.