Entry #5
 
4:01 PM - Friday, January 7th, 2000
 
Marty MOOSE has to go back to Columbus. Our 3 person plan has now been demolished and there doesn't seem to be much light. When we applied for the lease it said if anyone had broken a lease previously they would be immediately denied. So Jess and I put everything in our names. 'Cause MOOSE had to break a lease last year. No biggie. Everything's in our name, I trust the MOOSE. Got it all worked out...everything was fine - we headed west.
 
Unless your name is on the lease you are considered an unauthorized occupant, and you forfeit your lease. Now most of you know this. Your landlord says you can't have your girlfriend/boyfriend there, you sneak them in anyway, it's usually all good. The difference in this case is that we've already paid our entire lease. 6 months. Up front. We had no choice. Because we didn't have jobs to prove an income they wouldn't rent to us - unless we paid the entire thing. And here's what kills me: WE DID. Through 2 huge loans and our entire savings (minus $500 for the trip out), we pulled it off. They have all of our goddamn money. Why does Marty's credit mean anything? THEY HAVE OUR MONEY. But if he stays we run a pretty huge risk. I sat and talked with them for about a half an hour. I had to be up front because they saw Marty just as much as they saw us. They said they could NOT budge. It's a pretty shitty situation. Not only for Marty, but now for Jess and I, because we knew we couldn't do this as a 2 man gig. We have people to pay back...bills to pay, and everything is expensive as hell. It would've been a struggle with 3 people...and on two people's salaries it's rather incredible. Let alone the fact we have to get a freakin' refridgerator and my back is killing me sleeping on the floor since we couldn't fit our bed in the trailer.
 
So bright and early this morning, Jess and I went out looking for a refrigerator, and a bed. We soon realized that we simply cannot afford anything. We opened bank accounts and we had to give them $300 to open a savings and $100 to open a checking, and those are the LIMITS. We get charged if we go under it. But we needed it to pay bills. DOH. Our credit card had $1000 on it before we got here, and now with the trip we simply cannot add to it. The $1000 before was for this computer - the final 4tvs piece. So we're kind of stuck. We jumped back in the car and just bummed. We have a little cooler that my dad gave me for the road and we bought ice for it...and got some water. You cannot drink the water here. When we asked the people at the front office they laughed at us. Alrighty then.
 
It's a pretty foreign feeling to tell you the truth. Both Jess and I have applied for jobs, and are about to go apply at more places but at this point eating is more of a
priority. For the first time in my life...I'm hungry. Wow. It's strange. We have about $45 between us, and we're still feeding MOOSE until he finds a way home. I'd love to be able to give him the $100 he needs to get a greyhound ticket, but I can't. And we're in some shit if they see him here anytime past Monday. This place is like a village. It's all gated and there's no outside apartment entrances. Kind of like a big outdoor hotel. They see EVERYTHING. What a mess.
 
And on top of that WE DON'T HAVE A GODDAMN REFRIDGERATOR so we can go to the GODDAMN GROCERY STORE to make some GODDAMN CHEAP FOOD. So back to me and Jess in the car:
 
"Well, we simply cannot buy ANYTHING until we get a paycheck coming in or else that credit card bill in a couple weeks will floor us."
 
"Adam...that's a refrigerator..."
 
"What?"
 
"Look..."
 
And there it was: a nasty yellow broken fridge someone was throwing out. Open it up and it's a mess. Broken shit everywhere the freezer is beat to hell...dirty as hell, but it was about to be taken away in a dumpster and we threw it in her pick-up.
 
I doubt anyone of you can imagine how euphoric it feels to have found this. We had NO choice here. We had NO money, and could not eat anything that needed to be refrigerated. Even if this thing didn't work - it was a big ass cooler. We could buy ice and keep stuff cold. Just like the old school ice boxes back in the diZAY. We cleaned it up and though it leaks some nasty brown shit - it is cool. Not very cold, and we can't freeze anything - but it is cool. Oh, and the movie today is of MOOSE and I carrying THAT up the steps...heh heh. A little easier I must say.
YouTube link added 02.13.09
 
So the day ends with a nice little ray of light. I must admit, being halfway across the country...halfway? Uhm, being on the OTHER SIDE of the country, knowing no one, having a third of your nonexistent income go away, and wondering what MEAT tastes like because it's been so long...is an adventure. I need this right now. Losing weight is a nice bonus. And staying hungry is what makes people tick. 4tvs is a kick ass idea. I know I have what it takes. I know that all of you reading are pulling for us. This has immediately become an extremely interesting book. We already have intrigue. Adam & Jess are screwed. We're both gonna have to work 2 jobs to keep up and on top of that I need to try and push the show. It's the biggest challenge I've ever faced and I honestly don't know how to pull it off. Then again, we have a refrigerator right now. The human spirit will never die.
 
Jess & Adam...
 
master video file never saved :-(
 
REACTION
JANUARY 2000