2 months and 2 weeks.

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Am I really spending the summer in New York? Yes, I am, I cant believe it! I should be some where near the pacific coast line right now, enjoying the sun, beach bumming perhaps. I think now, if it hadn't been for me losing my construction job I was working in Austin, I wouldn't be up here right now and instead some where in mexico or Baja California. I took up that construction job to save up for my big move to the pacific, but I got fired. I made a slight error, and already not having a good relationship with my fat ass foreman he cut me no slack and let me go. I had only managed to secure a bit below 3.000 dollars, my goal was in the high 6,000 figures. I got discouraged from my plans but figured I still wanted to travel, that's when I thought of my then friend who lived out here in New York. All I knew was that after spring break I had to be some where else that was not Texas. I figured that with the little money I had accumulated I could still travel inside the states, where if anything, the american economy could always help me get back on my feet. So I started planing my spontaneous trip soon after, and the rest is history.



I've been thinking of Texas a lot in the past couple weeks, and the inevitable trip that I will make to west coast mexico sooner or later. Anthony has made the decision to move down to Texas and I've offered him my support. Anthony is a chill kid I work with and who was cool enough to let me into his place. A 22 year old guy and like a lost brother or cousin I found in this city, Anthony is an orphan. He was raised with group homes his whole life, alternating within multiple families until the age of 21, when the city helped him to reach independence, a help that he will receive until the age of 25. A program that works with Anthony's case helps him pay low rent by cooperation with the land lord. A couple days ago, Anthony and I decided to cook breaded chicken and left the chicken defrosting in the sing with the water running while we went to the nearby supermarket for some ingredients. when we got back to the place the land lord was waiting for us outside. Apparently the we had flooded our floor and water had gone through to the 2nd and first floor. Anthony got yelled at by both the land lord and his case manager on the phone. The lease is supposed to be up this upcoming first of July, and it seems like the land lord is fed up with the program and wants to find new leasers for our floor. The leaser also intends to charge us for the damage done by the water. We have also made the decision to bail before the month is up and before we get charged the insane amount i can already imagine the land lord wanting. We already got our eyes set on a few places nearer to Manhattan and some right in the heart of uptown. We plan on moving without a trace.

Anthony seems stressed out, sometimes he wishes he had not been raised an orphan in such expensive city. He knows nothing of his parents, whom put him and his 18 year old sister up for adoption when they were very young. He was barely raised with his sister and he refuses to look for any family he might have. The man has no support to fall back on, besides a couple of best friends scattered across the city, and a girlfriend living in Sweden, I am the only one at the time who can help him fall back if he ever needs to. I got places where he can stay in Texas, where he could help himself out to the more relaxed ambiance and prosper with his girlfriend whom he plans in bringing over eventually. I told Anthony my plans in New York would conclude by October, after that I would make my way back to Texas, and soon after the west coast. He will finish up his trade school and head towards Texas by march of next year. He really plans to settle down and start a life of his own-- something I just quite don't appreciate for myself at this age. I guess he is naturally more allured to the idea of family, simple, suburbia life. I just wonder if his girlfriend would not mind coming to Texas and not New York city like she would have otherwise.

I was somewhat enjoying this current community though. The different cultures centered around here, especially the Indian and Pakistani cultures. The rich smells of food I had never gotten to whiff before, the new languages yelled across the streets by the kids playing outside, the beautiful women, some dresses in their typical cultural clothing, and some of them quite american in their way of style, but none the less beautiful. For the first time here in this neighborhood I was not part of a quite large "minority" group, for the first time it was I to wonder about my neighbors and be the curious one. It's been fun, but the hustle resumes in July, and I'm not 100% sure we will find a place nor if we will be able to figure things out, but I am excited, excited because the adventure resumes.

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