The 3rd World Rocker

Alright everyone, great news.
I’ve got a place to stay, w00t. Its called The Muse.
So, now I’m going to go get ready for the Open Mic.

So I finally have a place to stay, yaaaay!!. Nomad is considering getting one of the other rooms that will be available, I tell him he should, it would be awesome, but he’s looking at other options. The important thing is I will not be sleeping in a tent TONIGHT!! woo hoo.

Alright, goodnight my peoples I shall write more tomorrow.
Salaam.

So things are looking up, as soon as I walked into the Nomad Cafe I was introduced to Guita, she is the landlady of “The Muse”, the place that I want to get into. She’s from Iran and she’s very cool. We chatted a bit and she told me that the room I saw the other day is available now (sweeeeet), the price was even sweeter. The fact that we are friends of Julie & Kirk helped, because usually they have a screening process that they put people through, but it seems like we may get the hook up =)

I exchanged information with her, and hopefully tomorrow she should be contacting me to finalize everything. This would mean that John will stay with me in the mini-apartment until one of her other rooms open up, which should be by the end of the month or so.
I’m feeling a little more hopeful about this situation, so Insha Allah thing will work out soon.

I’ll keep updating once something significant happens.
Salaam.

Still nothing.
We saw the $600 cottage today, its actually really nice, about a 25 minute walk to my UCB location for work, even less if I bike it down (it will be one hell of a bike up though). I called the family today, everything is going great there, I was so happy to hear that Meezo now has my car (sweeeeeet), and that everyone is happy and doing well. That totally brightened my day.

There was some kind of festival going on on Shattuck Ave, so we walked around, saw a few bands, and enjoyed the slightly chilly (for Ash) yet still enjoyable weather. Got text info from Heather about her show in San Fran next week, John and I are planning to go over and say hi to my favorite rockstar chica from the East Coast.

We are back at the Nomad Cafe, I got me a sandwich and a smoothie, and about to hit the web in search of a place to live.
Wish me luck ya’ll =)
Salaam.

Things are looking good.
We saw and filled out applications for rooms in a house about a mile from my work, it’ll be quite a hike, but hey, exercise is good.
We also looked at this place called The Muse, which I think would be perfect for me, we couldn’t find the owner, but we will be going to see their play tonight and hopefully they will be there. We also looked a room available in a house not far from here, Nomad likes that one, I don’t. I’m secretly hoping the room we saw at the Muse would be available, it more like its own little studio apartment, only without a kitchen, which is fine with me since I don’t cook anyway =)
There is a place that we will be checking out tomorrow as well.

I just hope things settle down soon, it would be great to have a place before I start working next week, it will give me time to settle in and explore the neighborhood a bit more. Also my travel journal is really filling up, it would be nice to end the journal with my settling down, that would be wonderful.

We are now back at the Nomad cafe (aka The Office), to do some more online searching and what have you. I hope you are all doing well where ever you are.
Salaam.

Alright, so the UCB folks have officially accepted me as one of their own. I signed my papers yesterday to be their Lab Tech, starting next week. They all seem very cool and kind, and they enjoy my “internationality” =)

We are still scouting for a place to stay, John just found a “cottage” and he tells me that if he gets it, then its done, meaning that “I’m own my own” after that.
good to know.
He got a call to go check one not far from where we are sitting “The Nomad Cafe”, so if he likes that, then I might contact the cottage he liked, I’m not doing that now because I don’t want to be stepping on his toes, or taking it away from him. I will also call this other place, hopefully they’re not too far from UCB either.

I still have not heard from “the Muse”, and its really frustrating with people “don’t” call as they are supposed to. Very unprofessional.
grrrrr.
hopefully these other places are better.

I’ll write more later.
Salaam.

Things are defiantly looking up, I had received and email from UCB offering me the Lab Assistant Job, w00t. We (John, Kirk, & I) are at the Nomad Cafe, actively searching the web for a place to stay.

There has been talk that there are 3 rooms opening up at a building called The Muse, which is literally across the street from where I’m sitting right now. They have all spoken very highly of it, we just gave our contacts to Sarah, one of the people who actually lives there and knows the owner.

Things are defiantly looking up Al-Hamdulillah (Thank God).
Insha Allah (God Willing) I will meet up with Michelle (UCB HR person) and get things squared out, I’m starting to feel more and more optimistic about this move, the first couple of days have been a bit rough, but I guess all new things are.

Our current headquarters is a tent at our friend Kirk’s backyard, we make sure to travel together, because we only have John’s car, but hopefully if this whole “muse” thing works out, then I might end up getting a bicycle by the end of the week or so, that way I could either walk or bike my way to work.

Speaking of work, I met a few of the research team yesterday, Elizabeth, Michelle, & Jut, they are all so cool. Elizabeth shot me a couple of emails about Hasan Elahi, who was mistaken for an Arab terroriest, who we turned his life into a art project, that way he can have proof of “where” he is at all times. Very cool.
And it turns out that Michelle and I enjoy the same combo at Jack In The Box, so it seems that I will fit in just fine =)
awesome.

Alright, time to do some more online house hunting.
I’ll check you all later.
Salaam.

My first day went pretty well.
We met up with Kirk, met his baby daughter Matilda. Had some breakfast at the Nomad Cafe, walked up the UC Berkeley campus (very pretty place). At night John and I went to the Starry Plought, Krik came later to watch us play. The open mic was fun, we got to be the featured artiest on November 11th (how cool is that).

Today, is supposed to be all business. Its our last day at the Hostel, so we are supposed to be actively scouting for a place to stay. MY criteria is kind of simple, I want my own room, a shower, and not to have to commute to work. That kind of limits my options, but that was the whole reason as to why I left the car, to be close to my work place.

Hopefully with some research and even some walking around in the neighborhood we would find something that will suit both our needs. It seems that eventually I might end up getting a bicycle, it seems to be the best means to get from point A to point B at a much quicker passe than walking. But we shall see.

I think tonight we are going to hit an open mic in San Francisco. I’m personally very excited, it would be great to run into someone running a start up who would need my tech skills and BAM have a job interview right there on the spot =)

So that’s the plan for tonight.
we shall see if it pulls through.
Check you all later.
Salaam.