Homeless Please Help

As summer approaches, my need to find temporary housing is intensifying at a startingly pace. And the process certainly isn't getting any easier. Whereas a week ago there were multiple listings for furnished studios in the most desirable areas, now it seems that the only post on Craigslist is for a small room in an "international warehouse" which is already home to 12 self-described "international" -- i.e., disturbingly eccentric -- people.

That's not to say I haven't been putting in effort. I received an underwhelming response to an ad I posted about a week ago. Evidently, I didn't make it clear enough that I'd rather not live deep in the heart of the Castro or in the most dangerous parts of the Mission.

Ultimately, if everything works out how I'd like, my temporary home will be located in either SOMA or North Beach. It will consist of a furnished studio or shared two-bedroom apartment from which I can walk to a grocery store and have easy access to SF's nightlife. Perhaps this is too much to ask.

The importance of securing housing before school ends is heightened by the fact that I've committed to a weekend in Vegas with the college crew immediately prior to my first day at work. Given how tired I usually emerge from Las Vegas, it may not have been the most prudent decision. But what's done is done, and I'm not withdrawing regardless of my situation on May 11th. You see, the preservation of the ad hoc college reunion depends entirely on attendance of the invitees. Once people start allowing responsibilities or other factors to preclude seeing friends who live all over the world, those friendships are put at risk. At least until it is absolutely unavoidable, I won't allow that to happen.

But I digress. If no other housing alternative presents itself between now and then, I can always hole up in a hotel for the first week of work, and postpone the housing search until week two. So all is not lost - yet. At a minimum, I'd have a place to sleep, and, more importantly, housekeeping -- something that most of my living situations would have benefited from.