I need a job in the San Francisco area if at all possible.
I don't normally ask for assistance in finding jobs or places to live but this is urgent. Like, "Amanda is no longer able to cope with living here and needs to escape with whatever can fit in her small car" urgent. "Amanda loves her stuff but is sick of being emotionally abused" urgent. "Amanda got sucked into a shitty situation post-divorce but she is desperately trying to amend that mistake and will do almost anything other than prostitution" urgent.
Suggestion, connections, ANYTHING PLEASE. Help me get out of here before I lose the will to live completely. I'm not being overdramatic here. I am in a horrible situation that I will not delve into on the main page, my ego is pretty much non-existant at this point, and I have never moved anywhere for a reason other than school. I have about $2500 in savings and may get more if I find a bartending job for the next 1-2 months.
I also have a credit card with an $12,000 limit and am willing to use it.
If you see a place that is hiring while you are about, please get information for me. Really. This is very important. If you're at a restaurant and you notice that they are hiring cooks, ask for information. Tell them that your friend is an excellent culinary enthusiast in Wisconsin and wants to move elsewhere. Tell them that your friend has been making bernaise sauce since grade school and has yet to denature the egg proteins. Anything that you can think of is appreciated.
Killoggs helped me out once before when it bought me an airline ticket to D.C. right after I left my husband and needed to evacuate the state. I'm hoping that it will assist me again in a non-monetary manner, here.
I'm looking right now too, and I'm using a combination of sources to find a job. Indeed.com combines all of those sources, so I'm constantly firing off my resume and stuff when jobs that match my keywords pop up in my RSS reader.
Also, best temp agency evar, IMHO: Nelson Staffing. They've helped me many times over the years, and led me to my current FT job.
amanda [email] said at 2:09 PM 10-30-2006: Grr! Amanda got the flu this weekend. Amanda will email them after she catches up on the myriad number of things she now needs to do first, which were suspended when she was sleeping or trying not to puke.
neilbert said at 5:17 AM 10-28-2006: I lived in California for three years and moved there on a whim also. It's something that I would not suggest unless you have a place to live already set up and a very high paying job already set up. San Francisco is one of the most expensive places to live in California (and the country) and it requires a lot of money AND a very good credit rating.
Keep in mind that the average rent for a one bedroom is $1400 a month and that mostly all landlords require that you make at least three times the rent or they won't rent to you. I have heard landlords requiring not only paystubs, but W2's as well.
I know what I am saying is simple obviousness, but keep in mind that you need to make at least $50,000/yr to live anywhere near a "middle class" anywhere in Califonia, otherwise you will just be living paycheck to paycheck and that really sucks living in California with so much to do.
One day I will return to California, but not till I have saved up a lot of money and have a stable job there ready and waiting.
amanda [email] said at 12:47 AM 10-29-2006: Chicago=seasonal depression. I like to visit but I seek milder climates.
Portland=I did not like it at all when I swung through it on tour.
[Why is there male genitalia with eyes and a nose drawn on it in random images right now? I thought that Brandon had left?]
My reasons for having my heart set on it are multitudinous and will likely be mentioned in my journal when I get around to doing that. I will probably be visiting around either the end of next month or the beginning of January, depending on my seasonal jobs and how busy everyone is with the holidays.
nelson. said at 2:20 AM 10-30-2006: Portland is a cool town, but it's a much different place then SF.
There is far less to do in Portland, plus the amount of time people spend bitching about the foggy SF weather would increase tenfold if Portland's climate was transported to SF. The amount of rain Portland gets is a big deterrent to a lot of people, which is a big reason that it's a MUCH cheaper to live then the Bay Area. Also, the Portland economy is not nearly as strong as the Bay Area's. Don't get me wrong, I think Portland is a nice town, and I could see myself possibly living there one day. However, it is a much different place in many ways ( climate, cosmopolitanism, economy ), and these differences account for the vast difference in cost between the two cities.
nelson. said at 6:43 PM 10-28-2006: I moved to SF on a whim four years ago, and I'm still living in this wonderfully quirky, albeit expensive, burgh. However, I was also willing to live in a three-story place with 15 other people the first year. It was the Dirt Farm meets Real World San Francisco, but we made the most of it.
I don't think you necessarily have to have tons of cash to live here, but it really helps if you're into outdoors activities. It took me about a year and a half to land a decent paying gig. Since I did not have a lot of moolah to spend on partying, I spent a lot of time hiking/bicycling. It goes without saying that this town IS a lot more fun if you're earning an income that allows you to check out all of the concerts/cultural events going on all of the time here. I think it also depends on how bad you want to live here. I was so sick of living in Louisiana that I was willing to do anything to get out of there, and I fell in love with this town on a trip I took right after I graduated from college. I struggled through some broke times, but I met some great people; got a better job; and now I live in a nice place. I'll probably leave the city one day( due to a desire to own a home eventually ), but I could see myself living in the Bay Area for the rest of my life. I'll keep my ears to the ground for any cooking-related jobs. Best of luck!
amanda [email] said at 1:13 AM 10-29-2006: Thanks, Nelson. I have non-cooking related skills as well, though most of those involve photography or digital retouching or restoration of photos, and that's a very difficult market to crack unless you know the right people.
Oh. I also have 6 years of college with no degree. Yay! me and my experimentalism!
brad [email] said at 1:34 PM 10-29-2006: If you like bartending, you should just do that. There are plenty of cool bars and plenty of money to be made. I temped for awhile when I lived in Oakland (worked in SF), and when the work was steady, it was plenty of money for the essential stuff. I also had a part-time job on the weekend, which I recommend if you're going to do it, because you never know when the temp work will become scarce. So if you temped plus bartended a couple of nights a week, you should do fine, especially if you don't have a car to worry about. If you must have a car, you'll want off-street parking, and I think that runs about $100/month most places. Good luck.
courtney [email] said at 12:36 PM 10-30-2006: Yeah, I've really liked my temping experience here in the Bay Area. There are a ton of high tech companies that pay their temps well. The agency that I've used is excellent at getting you the right assignment and keeping you as busy as you want to be. It's a really good way to start out here.
myriam [email] said at 12:23 AM 10-29-2006: This is an excellent idea. You would love SF. Don't worry about money, it'll come together. People manage to live everywhere on all kinds of salaries. Don't listen to the naysayers! (unfortunately i dont' know anyone with a job...but i can try to extend moral support if not monetary!)
amanda [email] said at 1:09 AM 10-29-2006: Thank you, Myriam! I know that we've previously discussed how I'm not a Midwestern or East Coast girl by nature, so I think that you understand why I need to attempt to do this, even if it winds up being a somewhat temporary home for me.
Chicago is nice and I like Milwaukee as well, but in truth they are still too reminscent of where I live now. It's the same people that I've known since I was 17-years old and so many of them are just as unhappy and stagnant as they were then, even if they do live in a larger city now.
I want and need change and it will require sacrifice and inconvenience and probably a lot of slumming it for awhile, but when I place the option of having my dignity and will to live sucked from me during all waking hours of my day next to "Amanda will have to live on ramen noodles and vitamin supplements and not have a phone or most of her possessions," I will choose the latter anyday.
craig [email] said at 2:23 PM 10-30-2006: If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
abby [email] said at 1:31 PM 10-30-2006: i hope amanda has more marketable skills than i do. i couldnt manage to live in philadelphia with my bottom-tier earning potential, and i can barely manage to exist in the gigantic food stamp of baltimore without help from my trust fund. so, no, its not possible for anyone to exist anywhere. some people are pieces of crap with zeo earning potential.
cricket [email] said at 2:57 PM 10-30-2006: i take extreme offense to this name calling of yourself!!! you're in school and trying to join an exclusive fantasy club. cut yourself some slack.
Oona said at 12:19 PM 10-30-2006: Amanda, speaking for Carla, who is now in SF and works for an agency, who doesn't have access to Killoggs from work, but tried to email you about this but wasn't sure she had the correct email address. Anyway, I'm passing the message on that she's trying to contact you about this.
amanda [email] said at 1:20 PM 10-30-2006: Cool! I got her email and will write her back after I finish doing some data entry work for my father. Thank you for passing along the information to her.
