astillar | Eight weeks later, (Reply)

Since last I posted, I moved in with David & Kelly up in Richardson. I have a little bedroom that barely contains my basic necessities, but it’s big enough considering that I’m hardly ever there. It’s been fun having dinner with them, playing with Sunny, their super-loveable cat, and being included in their various activities, like biking or David’s birthday party. There’s even a girl in the neighborhood that I’ve been trying to meet, work schedule permitting. I also went to see my brother and his wife and new baby a few times.
For a couple of weeks, this arrangement dovetailed nicely with my work assignments. The job was just half an hour north of their house, so I could easily spend my 4-day weekends there rather than driving back and forth to Austin all the time. For the past year or two, this job has consistently kept me working in the DFW area; that’s what made it possible for me to sustain a long-distance relationship with Courtney. I was up in DFW at least 80% of the time for work.
For two weeks, it worked out well. Then the biggest idiot in our office wrecked one of our two drill rigs. He says a deer ran out into the road, but knowing him, I’m 99% sure he was dicking around with his phone while driving. With that boneheaded mistake, he wiped out half of our drilling capabilities, shutting down that job that I’d been relying on.
Unable to drill, it became a very real possibility that some of us would have to be let go. I sat at the house for a week. I didn’t mind at the time because I was so busy with packing/moving/unpacking, but I was worried. I was relieved and grateful when my boss found me an assignment. It was in Louisiana, but now wasn’t the time to be choosy. That job ranked almost equal with my Canadian assignment in terms of sheer suckiness. Working in the marshes with the mud and thorns and mosquitoes and rednecks. I made no money off that job and we had virtually no time off for six weeks; the job could’ve been done in 3, but the drillers stretched it out to milk it for as much as they could. I learned more about dope-slinging, cock-fighting, and assaulting police officers in that time than I ever wanted to know.
I had to sit at the house for another week once I got back and that drained the last of the vacation time I had in reserve. I’d been told that I’d be going back to the DFW job this coming Monday, so I was optimistic that my living situation would return to optimum. But that plan flew out the window today.
Effective IMMEDIATELY I’ll be working here in Austin for at least a few weeks, possibly a few months if the follow-up phase gets approved. Austin is the one place that my company won’t pay me per diem to work in; they still think I’m a resident here. Telling them otherwise would just open an ugly can of worms. Any other time in my 8-year career, I’d be delighted to be guaranteed work that would let me stay in the Austin area near my home, except my home isn’t here anymore. Yes, part of me is happy about the prospect of being back in familiar territory, but now that I’ve made the move out of town, this is terribly inconvenient.
I’m not too optimistic about staying with friends here. When I was debating between staying in Austin or DFW, I didn’t get hardly the same offers of help/lodging here than I did up north. I’ll have to shake the apple tree again, regardless. I can’t afford to stay in a hotel while I work here; that’d negate the savings I get from being a housemate. And the pessimistic part of me believes that even if I do somehow find a way to move back down here, my work plans will change the instant that I do.
So tonight I’m sitting in an Austin hotel, wracking my brain for some solution that won’t set me up to be screwed over again. If I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow, I’d be drinking this frustration away.