#49 After a month or so of gainful employment, it was decided that we wanted to get into a house sooner than later. One of Brents coworkers at Starbucks was a girl that moved to Portland from the Bay Area. She rode a motorcycle, practiced marshal arts, and was amazingly sweet. Brent, being a good friend, had spent several weeks talking up his buddy Lyle to her, and vice versa to me about her. His plan was to play match maker when I moved to Portland, but by the time I got there, she was already dating another guy. Being that she was immensely cool, Lupa still wanted to meet me and hang out, so we got together as a threesome and roamed about the city, going to shows, seeing indy movies, and drinking coffee late into the night. Lupa liked me for some reason and felt that she should set me up with a friend of hers. Kim was a lovely little red head with amazing eyes and we hit it off pretty fast and started hanging out. She was a few years younger than me and, even though we had little in common, we got along well. We had different interests and motivations - she actually wanted to do something with her life and I just wanted to play music and hang out with friends - but our paths crossed with her love of Hip Hop and my interest in rap. It helped that she seemed to like me and I her. Unfortunately, there was a small gorilla hanging out in the corner. After going through the 9 month relationship of intense wonder and pain, I was feeling a little gun shy about jumping back into something serious. My reluctance to commit to much more than a peck on the cheek in public and a hearty, Im fond of you, should have been an immediate warning sign. Instead, Kim continued to spend time with me. My ability to smooth talk must have worked. A few weeks after Kim and I started hanging out, Brent and Andy gave up their apartment. The overall goal was that we would each find a place to stay for a month while we saved up the needed cash for the first months rent and deposit on a house. Kim was kind enough to offer up her bed to me and her couch to Carl, while Brent stayed with his girlfriend and Andy stayed with his sister. Even though Kims roommate was less than pleased to have two strange guys crashing on her floor, Kim was gracious enough to smooth things out with her long enough for us to make some money to get a house. After 3 or 4 weeks, we had pooled enough for a place and started looking. We were fortunate to stumble upon an old Portland home in the Hawthorne district. The owner was a firefighter and he and his wife lived in the area. We met with him, toured the house, and figured out that it was perfect for the 4 of us. We made arrangements to pay our first and deposit, and then set about moving into the house. The house was built in the 1910s and had an unfinished basement and a finished attic. On the main floor were two bedrooms, a living room/dining room, and kitchen. Upstairs was an open office area, a regular bedroom, and a living area slightly larger than a walk in closet. Carl and Andy took the bedrooms downstairs, Brent took the bedroom upstairs and I took the walk in closet area. I didnt have much stuff to move in; the extent of my furniture was an old metal bureau and a futon, and I didnt mind having a small room. I was just happy to be living in a house and not in an apartment or duplex. Brent and I decided that we could use the basement for a practice area, but that was quickly vetoed the first time I turned my amp up as loud as I could get it. The landlord didnt live far away and after a vigorous hour long practice session, we discovered a message from the property owner on our newly hooked up answering machine telling us that we could most definitely NOT use our house for band practice. We still had rent left at The Palace, so it really wasnt a big deal. With our new house in play, we were able to finally feel like we had settled permanently in Portland. The Hawthorne area was becoming a popular place to hang out for 20 somethings like us, and we were fortunate to get into a place that was relatively inexpensive. I had good friends, a great house, and a band that was under my direction. It was hard not to think of every day as a good day... It Was A Good Day - Ice Cube youtube/watch?v=WoIgiwEVCUQ
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 12:39:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015