It sucks.  But I guess it'll all be worth moving back to my childhood home for a few months... barely.

Most of my furniture is in storage containers, and while I might be able to arrange to pull a few things out, I'd prefer not to rattle my stuff any more than it needs to be.  The cats will be happy at least, maybe I can give a few of them away as Christmas presents.

The worst: I've always had to pay utilities in other people's names, like my grandma, who passed away a few months after I was born!  I wish I had her credit rating.  408$ deposit required just to turn the lights on.  No idea about telecommunications and street gas (for heat and the stove).  Not paying the water bill, traditionally, that gets paid by the landlord.

Anyway, this is my last day at the hotel, which costs 120$ a day |:  I should be back online in a few days, where I'll elaborate a little further on things, such as reviving an old Cape Cod farmhouse, after being dark and dampish for almost 2 months.
 

Long story short, there's no room for old farmers north of Philly (for less than a grand a month).

Going back to see if my stuff's still there, and the cats are okay.  All this would've been unnecessary, if the new owners would've just drawn up a simple 2-3 sentance rental agreement, nothing fancy, just some paper saying it's okay for me to stay there for a given period of time...

The old farm I left won't be destroyed right away, if at all.  It could get flipped, permits denied/approved/delayed... but it's much better someone live there, to prevent dumping, arson or squatters from moving in.

Ambiguity is 90% of the problem, as it is most of the time.... hope to see you all soon.

I guess any place you live, you leave something behind.  And woof, I've sure got a list: 2 farm tractors and attachments, roughly a dozen cats, my 8 core PC, my dishes, my VHS tapes, ugh the list could take the whole page.

Almost everything durable enough for commerical transport, is in 2 rectangular containers, built to withstand a Cat 5 storm... but not the NJ Turnpike.  As I entered 8A on my trip out, a semi kinda rolled over a Prius, right at the North/South section, must've happened a few minutes earlier.  Sure was a fitting goodbye.

Anyway, I'm spending the weekend at the Fort Washington Best Western (which is a damn site better than the ones in NJ).  From here, I hope to convince an Airbnb member to take me in.  Now, if I had a Google+, LinkedIn, or Facebook profile, Airbnb would've gladly accepted a copy of my driver's license as a form of personal verification ._.

Tonight I'm just going to get bombed at the hotel bar (Indian restaraunt, kinda fitting, since a few Indian families bought the family farm from us 3rd gen'ers), and let tomorrow play out, as it will...using my will, willpower, whatever :p

UPDATE 10/28/15:  Leaving the area tomorrow to go back to the farm, to check on my stuff at the rental next door, as well as the cats.  I wasted a huge ton of money, time and hope here, trying to find a decent place to rent in the short term.  Had I known this area was no better/cheaper than where I left, I never would've come looking here.  Maybe I should've known better than to stay anywhere near Megacity #1.

The electric company finally got around to sending a lineman out to cut the cord to the farmhouse, which means as soon as I get back from the library, the neighbors are getting a few pounds of butter and some frozen veg PDQ

Yesterday, I finally got a hand in moving my stuff into the containers (2 of them), for which I'm extremely grateful!  I've packed containers for people before, but not one of my own.  Luckily I  now have enough room for the house furniture as well.  While we were doing that, the Phillipino surveyors showed up, and one of the new owners of the farm was not far behind.  Though it's an extremely late date, he said he'd get me an extension for another 2 months in writing, something I wanted from the very start!  Even if he should come through with the paperwork, it's likely I'll split anyway, and hope the dozen cats I leave behind won't starve (gonna pay a neighbor to feed and water them once every morning).

So, that's where I'm at now: no power at home, 90+% of my crap all boxed up and ready to get stored off-site this Friday, and a shit-ton of ambiguity everywhere else.  One thing about ambiguity: it doesn't do well in the daylight out on the road, where it's sink or swim, all the way.

I guess this day was long in coming.  Once my father passed away (almost 3 years ago), the family will came into force, and stated all my parents assets (including the farm) were to be sold, and the profits split between the surviving kids, of which, I am the least (and most put-upon) of the 3 ._.

My feelings in this matter are pretty indifferent, but I'll do my best to make the best of a lame situation.

10.17.15 Update:  The farmhouse is pretty much cleared out, except for my loney bed and 2 dining room tables.  Yesterday I had the smaller of the 2 Pack-Rat storage containers removed to a safe location.  Since it's going to be below freezing tonight, I'm getting a local hotel room ._.  Still waiting on the new owner(s) for a final walkthough on the property, which is crucial if I wanna get back my 5,000$ deposit.

10.17.15 Update #2:  This hotel room seriously sucks, there's no washing machines on site, no smoking in any of the rooms, the bathroom is hellatiny and the toilet clogged for no apparent reason.  Can't believe this is worth 120$ a night... might ask for another room Sunday.

end of line

A few weeks ago, I scheduled the gas, electric and phone/internet services to be shut down tomorrow, Friday 2 October.  Guess what?  A nasty storm front's moving in, JUST when I'm ready to accept help in moving the bigger things!

Anyway, I still need to contact a few AirBnB people, in the hopes my partial profile is enough for temporary tenacy.  To provide complete verification, you need both a picture ID (photoed or scanned and sent as a jpg), as well as a (wait for it) social networking site profile.  The three options were: LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+.  That's it.  And I need both an ID, and one of those three accounts to get a better validation |:  Not gunna happen

I also got a GPS and smartphone this week, neither one of them will ever access teh interwebs, not on my watch.  There's being prepared, and then there's being tagged, unresourceful, 24/7 plugged in, and I don't think I'd like that.

Welp, I'll likely be back here someitme after my 43rd birthday, on Thursday the 8th.  Helluva birthday present, right?  My family's been living on this (now sold) farm for almost 80 years, and, again, I'm the last one out the door.  I've closed more business doors than I've opened, which doesn't bode well for the future (at least locally).

Without a home of my own, I'm really at the mercy of people I haven't met yet, and that's fucked up yo. 

Take care Newgrounds, see ya in a week or two

Well, just over a hundred hours, but all my comfort zone stuff is still in place, and most everything's boxed up for local storage, or storage in containers... which I have no idea where they will be stored O_O  Same with the 10 or so farm cats; all the local shelters are booked solid, animal control would gas them within a week... guess I better pay off the neighbors, have them feed and water the poor things.

A close friend here asked me how house hunting is going.  It's not at all, same with a temporary rental (don't like apartments, but may try it).  I've been so busy sorting and storing... it's all gotta get reduced down to an extended vacation, with access to limited amounts of stuff for a rental.

Roughly speaking, I have to be suitcase-ready by noon Tuesday the 22nd of September, or face a 200$ a day penalty, for overstaying my welcome, in the only home I've ever really known.  I guess I have to cancel the utilities, ostensibly, permanently.  Take down the bell, pull the mailbox, board the housecat, woof.

On a happier note, next week I plan on staying in north Philly for a week or so, visit with as many Newgrounds-pounders as possible while I'm looking for a rental during the day.  Talk about being ungrounded, still need to put a hold on my mail!

I'm hoping maybe Tom can hook me up with the Sleepycabin cast, maybe sit in on a Sleepycast.  My life's been so out of sorts since my father died (almost 3 years ago), I haven't had the time to split my interests here on Newgrounds.  I've met Ricepirate and Stamper briefly at the past 3 Pico Days, mostly under awkward circumstances.  It's a shame they're living the life I did 15 years ago, a life that pretty much died the day I picked up Tom's digital torch of  a website, soon to be breakout success.

I leave my old world behind, and hope the new one is full of friends and, well, personal stability.  Thank you all for your kind attention.  Anyone in Newgrounds City fancy a visit from VicariousE.. I mean Steven?  I'll spring for lunch!

EDIT 21 September:  The new owner and his extended family came over Saturday evening, and reassured me, I have another week or two to consolidate and leave (verbally, not on paper, eek), hopefully without being penalized 200$ a day!  They could care less about me, but would like the farm worked, right up until they break ground... getting me out is a necessary evil.

In two weeks time, I have to leave home, and find another... or more to the point, leave the farm and find another, which is a tad more complicated and potentially pricey, especially during the transition and investigation.  By the seat of my pants, I will go, and be a fugee (refugee), no forwarding address.

I've made so many good and patient friends here, who've listened and talked to me about pretty much everything that means a damn in my life... except for farming, my other passion, my other dichotomy rooted away from technology.

Anyway, I'm posting this to let you know I'll be offline after the 21st, no idea when I'll be back.  Also posting this to let folks here know, I'm likley going to get quite desperate and philospohical as my eviction date nears (I doubt the new owner will grant me an extension to stay on, and search for a new home from here).

So I'll say, "Take care of yourselves while I'm away!" now, before I lose my internet connection and comfort zone.

New Jersey is one of the only states in the union, that require gas attendants to dispense fuel.  Some states require you pay/leave ID before you pump... it's been over 15 years since I gassed up out of state!  No idea why that should bother me...

My parents farm finally got sold in late July, and I can stay until September 22nd... though that may be extended (long story, see previous post comments if you're that curious), despite the insistance on the 2 month agreement ($5000 secuitry deposit, and $500 per month for 2 months) before the farm sold.

Yesterday I finally got internet here, as my neighbor/tenant cut off her wifi to me about 3 months ago.  I'll have to spend time each day packing things away, looking for a new home in rural Pennsylvania online... or even a bare piece of ground - I'd consider buying a trailer and building a garage for my stuff.  Wade gave me the number of a good real estate agent near him, but I fear the area's too far outside my price range.

I've got cats to relocate, dirt to shift... gonna be an interesting outtro to my time here in NJ.  Meanwhile over a hundred NG responces came in while I was offline.  By the time I catch up, it'll be time to move!

It took many months, but the second prospective buyer followed through, and bought the 13.9 acre farm.  Sometime next year, it'll be sub-divided, the lowest section will be 'gifted' to the town... and people will roost, where crops were once sown.  Seems kinda wasteful, considering how much of our country isn't farmable...

I'll be taking over the phone service soon, so I'll be back to wasting some time on Newgrounds, while also searching for a new homestead.  The prelinimanry agreement allows me to stay for 2 months (?!), but the new owner says he can extend that, no problem... so I'm paying 500$ rent for what used to be my childhood home.

In the meantime, here's a turkey, which really should've been America's national bird ;)  I took this pic last year... why did the turkey cross the road?  Be seeing you all again soon!

July 2nd, was when the founding fathers got around to signing thier names to a document, which could've gotten themselves killed, as traitors, spies and enemies of the Crown of England.  After signing, Ben Franklin said, "We shall all surely hang together now."

July 4th, was the day, all the signees finally agreed on what they wrote.

Still have no internet at home, the sale of my parent's farm has been delayed for another 3 weeks (and may or may not be sold), and my savings are almost completely drained.  So, I'm not happy in general. 

At the very least, all the watermelon, canteloupe, pumpkin, basil and corn seed is in.... finally ._.   We'll (my older cousin and I) see how things progress; we had a lot of rain just before planting, and there's a chance the seed moved around under the ground a bit, but it doesn't look like any of it got washed away.  Also sprayed some putrified egg whites and garlic juice on the pre-existing plants, to keep the deer (and hopefully, groundhogs) away.

I have a huge complaint: big companies.  Take McDonald's for example.  Here's the most successful fast-food joint in global history.  It's sales are finally dropping, their menu is all over the place and it's corporate governance is (also) finally souring.

Now, you'd think they'd be proactive about things.  No.  Everything in between sesame seeded buns, causes loose stools.... not  a good selling point.

Since I've been offline, I've noticed the packaging, from almost all Fortune 500 companies, are utter shit.  Not so much in structure, but what's printed on them: cheap, lame graphics.  I saw a plastic cup advertsing an African-American arts festival In New Orleans, with a pastel graphic of a happy woman... looked like total shit, would've gotten under 4.0 in the Art Portal, and more than a few unsatifactory reviews ._.  And that's the best I've seen!

It's all a waste of good ink, and good money, on the part of the American people.

So, in conculsion, fuck these big companies, they have no heart or soul, and should have no part in our culture.  They are morally bankrupt and a hinderance on the things that matter most in life.

I have no idea why I wrote, what I wrote.  Just pissed off, lonely and frustrated, most likely

The work below is a commission I took out with http://sucho.newgrounds.com/ last month... nice, huh?!