Phase 11: Hoko's

So my sister lives above Hoko's in scenic East Vancouver. Hoko's is a great place where a very nice Korean man runs a small, struggling sushi/karaoke establishment. For a while, he started having shows. He genuinely loved the music, as one could tell from the fact that he would break out his camcorder and record the shows in between sushi orders. Unfortunately, this city has stupid priorities, and felt the need to shut down shows at a sushi restaurant on a completely deserted street where the majority of people out after 8 p.m. are on crack or heroin.

Anyhow, my sister lives on top of Hoko's. Hoko is her landlord. I've always wanted to live on top of a store and in an open space. I got to try it out.



Conclusion: Super nice but very very cold.

Sihking nourishment.

To commemorate my last day at the Cuisse de Nymph house, Besh and I went down the road to the Sihk temple to eat. It was an interesting cultural experience. Everyone there was a white-skinned mooch just like us. It sort of feels like standing in line at the soup kitchen when you're not actually homeless.

Damn the Torpedos

So I just found out that Aaron has been referring to the room I share with Besh as "The Refugee Room". I like it. I will say I've never shared a room with someone who had such a high tolerance for my love of the snooze button.



Besh has made my new keys into her office:






So I'm moving out now into my sister's place for free. Here is my October budget:

Rent: $241.50
Storage: $75
Car Insurance: $133
Extra Gas: $100
Total (rounded): $550

My savings this month will add up to about $140. Not bad.

Easter Van: The big, crowded house.

Okay, so this house is Aaron, Ben, and Dan.

First, Ben went on tour and I moved into his room.

Then, Dan went to Indonesia and Besh showed up and started subletting his room. Dan's room is awesome because it's huge and it has two beds and a giant movie projector that shows DVDs on the wall. At this point, the house was me, Aaron, and Besh. Besh's friend Juls showed up from the East Coast and started staying in Dan's room too, since it has two beds. Aaron doesn't seem to mind when things like this happen. Eventually Juls left. Then, one day, I came home to discover Ben had come back from tour. Since I had nowhere to go, I simply dragged my possessions into Dan's room, where I'm now sleeping. Besh has a bed, I have a bed, and we're both chilling until Dan gets back. Dan is back on the 22nd, and my sister leaves on the 21st, so I have a place to stay continuously. Sweet.

Phase 10: Cuisse de Sublet!

So why haven't I been updating? This weblog is supposed to be about living rent free, and I sort of haven't been living rent free. I had originally planned to leave on my trip in September/October, but then I found out my friend Ben from work was leaving at the same time on tour. We can't both leave at once, and since his was a booked tour and mine was an unbooked vacation, I postponed. Here is Ben:



When all my friends started ditching the suburbs and moving to Vancouver, the first house that got going was the A.A.A.K. house, featuring Aaron, Aaron, Amy, and Kris. This was almost the prototype for my first two houses, and a lot of the same people lived in 2 or 3 of those houses. The A.A.A.K. house continued for years with high turnover, including a point at which no original resident lived there. Aaron was a founder, and ended up living there at the end as well. Ben and Dan are two people who both lived in the A.A.A.K. house over the years. Aaron, Ben, and Dan are the current residents of the Cuisse de Nymph house. Since Ben is away on tour during a time I expected to be away, I'm subletting his room. It's cheap, but when one adds storage and vehicle costs, it's probably about the same:

Rent: $483
Utilities: $40
Storage: $75
Car insurance: $133
Extra gas: $80
Money saved by having my own kitchen and cooking less often: -$50 (estimate)

Total: $71 extra was spent this month as compared to the Backside House.

Keys are the Bane of my Existence

Keys are everywhere. I think right now I have about 25-30 keys, and at points since I've been doing this, it's been worse than that. Lately I've been strategically splitting up my keys. For example, when I was with Nevada and Tara and I had a broken foot, I kept my apartment keys on my van keys, then left all my other keys like for work and stuff in my van. My latest key-splitting endeavour had me separating the house keys at Shannon & Jordi's from everything else. The main reason for this was sheer bulk.

So last night I was leaving their place, but I left my stuff there. I had planned on coming back today to get it. I left on my scooter, which also has a separate key, and I made a point of bringing their spare house keys with me.

Today, I worked late and everyone else was gone. When I went to leave, it made me realise that although I had keys to a scooter and two apartments, I didn't have keys to work. To make matters worse, my work has the kind of locks that you even need to use a key on from the inside. I was trapped because I simply can't be bothered to carry all those keys at once.

David rescued me. My keys apparently are still at Shannon and Jordi's, and I can get them because I have keys to their house still. Still. Ridiculous.

You've got me Winnipeged

I was at least a little sheepish about staying at my girlfriend's place because her landlord lives right upstairs, and all the laundry I was doing and vehicles I was parking had to go at least a little noticed. I needn't have worried. Winnipeg hippies are now living in a van in the back yard!



My favourite part is how they set up a tarp over the van and tied it to the fence. The boys who live in the middle (between Lindsay and the landlord) seem to be their hosts. They've been camping out for like a week now. This is actually how I expected at least part of my summer to go.