I've been paying $700 a month since mid-December, 2023. I can barely manage, and I'm sure I can otherwise do better.
I'm trying to find the right connections when I move. I don't just want a business arrangement. I have a lot to offer in terms of trade. I go into that in detail in my previous versions.
I'm writing this on May 21, 2024, and it's a standing request until serendipity strikes. As I think about it more, I'm looking for a proverbially if not literal remnant of a remnant. There is hope I'll find something approaching a home. I just have to keep at the search.
I'm still in metro Atlanta right now, but I'm ready to move just about anywhere. I work remotely, and I can easily whittle my stuff to a carload or else install a trailer hitch and rent a small trailer. When I move, I'm trying to solve several challenges and find the right people (or just one person). The right people are far more important than the place.
Who are the right people? Looking at my site for very few minutes will probably result in a quick yes or no. I plan to pump Gab again for the right people, for one. The right people are probably on there or would enjoy being on there. As an update, I am pumping Gab.
The right people are those who are (at least) vaguely as angry about "Covid" as I am. "Covid" cleanly divides the population into followers of the "mainstream" (to put it very politely) and those who see the "mainstream" as murderous. My views are pretty clear all over this site.
For the basics, I'm 49, male, and straight. No children, no pets, no one who is going to come over very often if at all. I've never tried smoking or drugs (legal or illegal). (As something like a right-wing anarchist or anarcho-capitalist, no one has the right to criminalize such things, but I've never entered that scene.)
Including the water, I've drunk roughly 4 gallons of water-alcohol mixture in my life. I like the taste of many types of alcohol, and I enjoy tiny amounts. It doesn't take much for the room to start to tilt a bit, and then I've had quite enough. I had just a bit of champagne on Thanksgiving a few days ago. Before that, I don't think I'd had a drop in roughly 4 years.
More of the basics are in various editions of my ads (below), but a bunch of stuff I mentioned weeks, months, or years ago is becoming less important. We'll likely both know a plenty good enough match when we see it. On the other hand, I give more ideas on what I'm looking for, or at least ideas I've had. I'm open to other ideas.
One thing I should emphasize more: I'd like to think I have the potential to do what Gen. Flynn calls "digital soldier" work. This site has stuff that I usually write in a hurry, but hopefully it's useful. If I had a stable place to work from, I'd like to think I can do (much?) better. I can elaborate on this if need be; for right now, though, I'm trying to learn not to exhaust myself until I start to have the discussion with someone.
2023/12/04 18:24
I moved in early October, but I moved into a house that I knew was going on the market. Unlike every other house for sale, this one went under contract in 10 days. The closing will likely be in mid-to-late November.
The following versions of my housing wanted ads are still very much valid, but I started a rework of the topic.
This recurring issue is part of a larger problem. I need to form, and / or join more of a community, preferably with at least one member in the real world. I need to have a permanent go-to solution for a number of problems. As I explain below, I have valuable services to trade. I want to be a proper member of Galt's Gultch.
The following is my late 2021 ad, and then earlier versions. My contact info is on my resume. I wrote a new version on July 17, 2023 that was removed by a Craig's List moderator at 1:38am, less than 2 hours after it went online. That version is (for now) near the bottom of the page.
I'm male, 49 (in 2023; born roughly 1973). A blue collar barter is possible and not at all beneath me; I am able-bodied. A white collar barter should be more unusual, though, and thus hopefully more interesting to the right person. I'm a software developer. One reason I want to barter is that I'm a night owl, so 9 - 5 software jobs are not doable. I sleep from roughly 4am - noon.
Software / technical stuff should bring up obvious options. I keep my personal expenses in the double entry, open source equivalent of QuickBooks, so accounting is doable. I can tutor anything at the high school level and several subjects to the general education college level. I should make a good researcher. Hopefully that gets the ideas started.
Getting back to the blue collar, I've spent quite a bit of time taking care of dogs and cats. (I have none of my own.) My soon-to-be-former roommate's cat and dog both want me to pet them right now, but I need to find a place to live. I have spent quite a bit of time petting that cat, her brother, and her feline housemates. Once upon a time I babysat children several times from the time they were babies until they grew somewhat older (3 - 4 years old). All those references are still around--the babies are adults now.
I've never smoked or tried even the mildest drugs. If you count a 750mL alcohol bottle as 750mL rather than the fraction of pure alcohol, I've drunk roughly 4 gallons of alcohol in my life. I think I accurately remember 750mL after 15+ years just because that's how my mind works. I've never gotten a traffic ticket, let alone anything more serious.
I'm more interested in finding the right person or people than where. With that said, I won't go any closer to the "Covid" Curtain. I have managed not to wear a mask during this deliberately induced disaster, and I don't plan to start. Most of Georgia is fine, but not all. Florida would be great, and I've heard good things about Texas. Most of the Southeast, in fact, would be ok. I'm not sure how much farther I'd go, but we can always discuss.
This got flagged off after almost exactly a month. I wanted to record it for the record:
I'm male, 47. A blue collar barter is possible and not at all beneath me; I am able-bodied. A white collar barter should be more unusual, though, and thus hopefully more interesting to the right person. I'm a software developer. One reason I want to barter is that I'm a night owl, so 9 - 5 software jobs are not doable. I sleep from roughly 4am - noon.
Software / technical stuff should bring up obvious options. I keep my personal expenses in the double entry, open source equivalent of QuickBooks, so accounting is doable. I can tutor anything at the high school level and several subjects to the general education college level. I should make a good researcher. Hopefully that gets the ideas started.
Getting back to the blue collar, I've spent quite a bit of time taking care of dogs and cats. (I have none of my own.) My soon-to-be-former roommate's cat and dog both want me to pet them right now, but I need to find a place to live. I have spent quite a bit of time petting that cat, her brother, and her feline housemates. Once upon a time I took care of babies through somewhat older (3 - 4). All those references are still around--the babies are adults now.
I've never smoked or tried even the mildest drugs. If you count a 750mL alcohol bottle as 750mL rather than the fraction of pure alcohol, I've drunk roughly 4 gallons of alcohol in my life. I think I accurately remember 750mL after 15+ years just because that's how my mind works. I've never gotten a traffic ticket, let alone anything more serious.
I'm near Sawnee Mountain in Cumming, and it'd be easier to stay in the area. I'm not sure I'd go farther south. I would go much farther north.
As you've probably gathered, I could go on endlessly, but I hope this is enough to get discussions going.
Update: After 3 days, I've had no legitimate responses. I suppose I should explicitly state that if this post is still up, you can be 95% sure I'm still looking. It's been rare that I leave posts beyond their useful life, but I've done it at least once, in 2007, that I can remember. Otherwise put, unlike some people, I am aware that deletion is an option, and I do it.
[END CL ad 2021, November]
I was looking in April and now looking again in October, 2018. THAT is a long, maddening story.
I'm male, 44, with a BS in computer science, no children, no pets. I'm fine with your pets; I have lived with dogs and cats before. I'm living with cats now.
I'll try to emphasize how boring I am in the right ways. I've never smoked, tried illegal or even prescription drugs, and I almost never drink. Mostly recently, I haven't had any alcohol since mid-August when my roommate / landlady moved out. My TransUnion FICO score is 810. That's "exceptional" and beyond the 81st percentile, and it's only that low because I've never had a need for anything beyond one credit card. I've never let my credit card roll over into interest charges. I've never gotten a traffic ticket. I've been pulled over 3 times.
Continuing on responsibility: I babysat friends' children many times when they were in diapers and a bit older. I've cat, dog, chicken, rooster, plant, and house sat many times. I was suddenly put in charge of my landlady's 6 cats on August 21. (The reason I'm in charge goes to why I need to move.) We've figured out what to do with most of them; I'll be down to 2 in mid-October. Even the half-feral cat was letting me hold her for up to 3 minutes. (I will find a place for the last 2 cats.)
Going to stability, years ago, I was in an apartment for 10 years (probably foolishly) and in June 2018 moved out of where I'd been for 9 years because they sold their house. That was a family of 5 whose children were leaving the nest during the time I was there. That former landlady has been looking for places for me. Until their house sold, I was the only one living there for the last 14 months of their ownership. I was the house sitter and security guard.
Again going to desirability as a roommate, my landlady's sister has offered to let me move to her place, but she thinks my night owl ways will "drive her crazy."
REFERENCES - All of the above people will be references for me.
WHY I'M LEAVING: It doesn't seem appropriate to get into on a public forum. I'll tell you the tale in due time. You have reason to know, just like an employer asking that question. I told the story on the 3rd email to one respondent.
LOCATION - I'd like to stay in Cumming. Almost equally tempting is Kennesaw Mountain / any of the KM Park. Close enough would be something like 5 miles to the parks. Maybe some of the Chattahoochee parks, and maybe the north GA mountains. I'd consider other places, but they get fuzzier to me.
WORK / LIFE: I work from home as a freelance software developer. I'm technically a freelancer / direct contractor (no intermediate agencies), but I've had one client for 2.5 years, an attorney. He can attest to income and such. Depending on how warm it is, I go out for a long afternoon walk at Sawnee Mountain for 2.5 - 4 hours every day, but, other than that, I'm around a lot.
NIGHT OWL STUFF: I tend to work from 8pm - 1am and then stay up for another few hours. I usually sleep 8 hours, but the exact 8 hours vary. During the summer, I tend to sleep during the period 6am - 4pm. From mid-September, I've been getting up around 10am on average. Historically, I get up earlier as winter comes (and "Winter is coming!"), but I don't expect 10am to last. It'll probably become more like noon or 1pm. I can sleep through quite a bit, and I'm fairly quiet. Unless you're doing light industry within hearing distance, I'm not too concerned about noise you make. I'm more concerned about how much you can sleep through when I'm up late.
FOOD - An ideal situation is someone who cooks (or eats raw) or else for whom it's inefficient to cook for one, but would be inspired to cook for 2. I will probably hold out for that. I eat anything; we can go for health later. My roommate said that "My new hobby is feeding the Kwynn." I so happily eat anything that's offered that I'm fun to cook for.
As of July, I was paying for my groceries and probably most of my landlady's / roommate's. I calculated how much I spent eating out before I moved here, so I was happy with the money part of that. In other words, I think we can figure out how much cooking is worth to both of our satisfaction.
MONEY - In July I was paying about $900 total for all of food (and household supplies), rent, and 100% of the utilities. I was financially and physically paying the utilites as in pushing the buttons. About $530 was rent plus utilities, and the rest ($370) was food / supplies. The $600 in my subject line is rent and utilities. The food is obviously extra and hard to quantify in advance. I mention July because that was the last month in "steady state" before the situation changed.
SPACE - I fit in an average-sized room (roughly 120 square feet), and we were sharing one bathroom.
HEATING AND AIR - I tend heavily towards what is cheaper, even if I'm not directly paying the bill. In the winter, I can almost go without central heat. There probably is a point of too hot that would be uncomfortable for me, but perhaps we don't have to worry about this until it gets warm again, which seems like a long way away. During a summer day, if you run the A/C continuously, that's what finally drove me out 9 years ago. The air needs to run enough to take humidity out and cool some, but not make the inside 20 degrees cooler and 30% relative humidity.
NO APARTMENTS, ETC. - My recent model of being in the same house as the owner seems to be a good one. I'm not totally opposed to a house full of non-owner roommates, but it's a minus.
I'm male, 44 years old.
I've never tried smoking or any drugs, including prescriptions. I last had alcohol roughly 5 years ago [see just below]. I've never had a problem with it; I just don't find it interesting. I only have it at a certain friend's house, and I haven't seen them much in that long. [Then I moved in with one of those friends in June, 2018.]
I've been in the same place for almost 9 years. I'm leaving because the house, which I don't own, is under contract for sale. My landlady and her daughter are already polling their friends for other places for me because they don't have the space for me anymore.
Statistically speaking, my credit rating is higher than yours. :) I'm tempted to be specific, but it just doesn't seem right on a public site.
I work from home, I'm a freelancer, I tend to work from 8pm - 1am, and I tend to sleep 6am - 2pm. I go out roughly 2pm - 6pm every day, but, other than that, I'm around a lot. (I'd like to work on not being around as much, but that's theory as opposed to my history.)
I can sleep through quite a bit, and I'm fairly quiet, but those facts probably eliminate a lot of people. Eliminating people should be the goal of such an ad. :)
Depending on the size, I could probably fit into one room. In theory, that's all I need.
In response to specific questions, I don't need a kitchen nor my own bathroom.
With that said, I've always had at least 2 rooms. I'll just say that various other factors are more important than this one.
In terms of heating and air conditioning, I want to stay relatively natural, by which I mean: people who run the air all day, every moment, during a hot day are right out. Previous to this place, I had plenty of reason leave--let's just say that the sheriff's deputies had stopped coming to "visit" certain other people only because both they and the neighbors had decided that certain people were a bit crazy but a harmless crazy. That should have driven me out, but it was running the air all day that finally DID drive me out.
My rough estimate is that air should be run 15 - 25% of the time during a hot, humid day. Yes, I want the humidity taken out, and I don't want the inside to be 85 degrees, but 72 degrees inside with 30% humidy just feels wrong. I don't want to have to bundle up and then take some clothing off to go outside.
I'm less fanatical about the winter, but I could probably do with zero central heat most of the time and just a space heater where I am. People who run the heat a lot are annoying but not as motivating as A/C.
Years ago, I was in an apartment for way too long. I'll do my best to never do that again. Among other reasons, the idea of the owner being a fictitious corporate entity is unappealing. (On the other hand, if you live in a house that is owned by a non-state-dependent-for-existence trust that you are beneficiary of, that's pretty cool. There is a place for fictitious entities.)
My more recent model of being in the same house as the owner seems to be a good one. I'm not totally opposed to a house full of non-owner roommates, but it's a minus.
I'm not sure I want to look at how much I spend on food, although I have the data. An ideal situation is someone for whom it's inefficient to cook for one, but would be inspired to cook for 2. If needed, I'll calculate how much that's worth. My landlady will tell you that I'll eat anything. :)
I just can't bring myself to talk about specific credit scores, incomes, rents, etc. on a public site that is directly linked to my identity (named after me). In terms of space / amenities, above, that will give you some idea. I'll almost certainly get into that in a first or second private discussion / email.
I want to throw the idea out there: bartering for some or all of rent. That's more complicated than I want to get further into here and now, though.
I'll get to literacy in a moment. First, my less quirky points:
I'm male, straight, 49. No criminal record, never a traffic ticket. Never tried smoking or drugs. I'm not sure I've drunk 4 gallons of alcohol in my life including the water that dilutes it. (I take the libertarian view of such things, so perhaps none of those are a problem on your side.)
I have no pets, no children, no girlfriends / SOs at the moment--no one likely to visit. I have always liked my roommates' cats and dogs, though, and often I've taken care of them for up to 12 days. I once took care of 5 cats for 2 months.
My FICO score was [well into "exceptional"] in Aug 2020. It's very slowly dwindled to [past halfway into "good"]. (That tale may be relevant, but too much for round one.)
I would really like to barter, but those details are also too much for now. Literacy is more important:
As for literacy, I have found over and over that I get along best with people who (will) use email. Often a few written sentences tells me more about you than an hour in person. Given that this is an in-person trade we are discussing, if things progress we will soon get on the phone and meet. That's expected. I just don't want first replies that say precisely "call me" (and maybe a phone number). History shows I won't call, and I'll spend too much runtime kvetching about it. I need those few written sentences because I've been burned too many times when I don't filter for that. Those tales may be more relevant.
Ideally I'm looking for a minor miracle in terms of finding the right person / people. I may not hold out for miracle status, but let's see what happens.
Wow reading your ad makes me think that you think that your above all the rest of us. Like were all a bunch of snaggletoothed inbred hillbillies or a clan of prehistoric neanderthals still dragging our knuckles and communicating with grunts. Well were not. So hold out for your mericle (sic - miracle) and best of luck to you Mr. Literate Asshole.
It didn't occur to me that "T" is a moderator until hours later. I thought he or she (or it or some other pronoun) was a respondent. I'm not certain T is a moderator, but my ad was gone 16 hours later. It was probably gone before T emailed. I am dead serious that he or she or it passed my writing tests. I don't care about the various small mistakes. The email is perfectly readable, and I laud it a second time, below.
For the record, all I know for sure is that the post was "flagged for removal."
Hi T...,
That is well-written. I would tend to say you passed my writing tests.
Kwynn
PS - Put another way: With most people, I can't tell that they are a human versus a robot. It has nothing to do with being "above." I can't even tell they're alive. I'm convinced you're alive. Heck, you're INTERESTING.
I've begun to speculate that being obnoxious might work better than being polite. I was actually not trying to be obnoxious in my post, but it seems you took it as some variant of obnoxious. On the other hand, I think it's fair to call your email obnoxious. But it is effective. I responded twice so far.
And, with that, I'll try not to bother you more, unless you want to continue. I was once very obnoxious with a robot that sent me an email. It was a robot; I'm still sure of that. But the human behind the robot responded. He was pretty cool, and I told him so. I think he answered me a second time, then he wandered off. It was too bad.
2023/12/11 15:31 - I've updated several times in the last few weeks. Now I'm posting a link to my Gab user, as opposed to Gab's home page.
2023/07/18 21:09 - clarification on age of children I once babysat (in reply to a friend's reading this). I may not post this for a while, though. The date is the time I made the change locally (on my SSD).
2023/07/18 after 20:22 - new version - CL moderator and my replies
2023/07/18 AM - "renewed" the importance of the ad
2018/10/17 10:03am - new version - seeking housing again
Original ad / page: April 21, 2018, 6:45:39 PM EDT