Exodus..... Movement of My People

Yes, for the third time in eight months I'm going through the hell that is moving. Oh, did I tell you I found a new place? I got the call back on Tuesday right after I'd given up and decided to move into a hotel. The new house is literally a block away from where I am now in the Mission. I'm moving in with three other people that all seem really cool. One roommate, Maria, is a late twenty-something who's opening a restaurant in San Jose. I've only talked to her for about twenty minutes, but I get a really good vibe from her. I don't know how old Martin is, but he seems like a cool guy.... works in the financial district for a venture capital firm that specializes in bio-tech. The third roommate I've barely said hi to but I'm assured by the other roommates that I'll love her.

I did have an experience earlier today that made me apprehensive though. When I called Maria this morning to see if I could start moving in I didn't get an answer, so I just walked over hoping to catch one of the other roommates. I knocked on the door and a minute later the roommate who's moving out answered the door. Shirtless and bleary eyed, he looked like I just woke him up. Turns out he's not starting the move until probably five thirty in the evening - hence my sitting here at the coffee shop writing this to you. We exchanged phone numbers so we could coordinate the move and I noticed he had a 480 area code.

"You're from Phoenix?" I asked.
"Yeah"
"So am I, what part?"
"Glendale, Chandler, then Tuscon. Where are you from?"
"Scottsdale mostly, spent a couple years in Tempe when I was going to ASU. I just moved out here about seven months ago for a job. How long have you been here?"
"About a year. I got a tech job in the city."

At this point I'm having another one of those moments where I realize I must fit into some bizarre, highly specific subgroup. I am not a special unique snowflake.

"So why are you moving out?" I have to ask.
"Well, Maria and Martin are never around and I was really looking to meet some new people. I just got a room in this five room house with four other people. It's a total circus."
"Yeah, I'm looking to meet some people too..."

So here's a guy, my age by the looks of him, who grew up in the same city as me, who also got some kind of technical degree from a college in Arizona, and moved out here for a tech job some five months before I did. And he's looking for the same type of living situation I am so he can meet new people. And he's moving out. As the ramifications of this information set in I felt a familiar sinking feeling in my chest. How long will it be until I move again?

The answer is probably a long time. I'm sick of this moving shit, and the roommates do seem like really great people, even if I don't see them that much. I can only assume that I'm following the well worn path that members of my subgroup must follow to where we're headed, wherever that is. Who knows, maybe I'll give this guy that's moving out a call sometime and see if he wants to hang out. Nicole, if you're reading this, we should all go out and have a Zonie party.