Nick! I have a proposal.
You remember what happened when you got to Wilmington, and why it happened. We were all a little naive to believe you, Natalie and myself could live comfortably in that little one bedroom apartment. You remember I was on supervised probation at the time and very frustrated with everything. I was having trouble finding work, while you and Natalie were constantly arguing. The position I was in was very fucked up; I needed Natalie to split the rent, so when she demanded that you leave, I had to comply. Had you two been able to get along we could have all put our heads together and gotten a bigger place, I think. You remember how it went down; for the first couple weeks we all got along… then things started to fall apart. Now I don’t blame anybody for what transpired… it was just bad chemistry.
My situation now is this. I am not on any kind of probation, and I am set up near the beach in Virginia, a state with extremely lenient laws for sex offenders. I have the most freedom in this state so I plan to stay. I have been living in my van (still got it, you remember… the Chevy Gladiator… she’s in excellent condition) and working at a temp service. This isn’t a realistic long term plan, though, because I’m not making much money… just enough to live day to day. I want to eventually get a place and start subcontracting again. In order to do this as efficiently as possible I need a partner. Here is my proposal.
If you wanted, you could come down here and set up with me. We would work at the temp service; you get job assignments each day, make between minimum wage and ten dollars an hour, depending on the job, and you’re paid at the end of each day. Very convenient. When we got our money right, we could rent a place. Next, I would get an insurance policy and start looking for contracts with builders around the area. Construction is happening everywhere. I could teach you carpentry… we’d get small jobs like apartment unit interior trim or building decks. You would be my partner and we’d roll in the dough. Working with me you’d be averaging between twelve and seventeen dollars an hour to begin… later as you got better, we would get faster, and make more money. By subcontracting we’d be getting paid by the square foot or by the job… no hourly wage bullshit.
Now we’d have a decent place and steady work. We’d work when we wanted. If the work was slow, we’d always have the temp service to fall back on.
I propose this because I can’t go into business without a partner… well I could, but it wouldn’t be very efficient. I don’t know what you are doing but I imagine you aren’t making much money and are probably stuck working for some asshole or company that’s a dead end.
VA Beach is a great place. Google the area and check it out. The oceanfront is a hot spot, lot of action and things to do. Cool people and places to hang out. Coffee shops everywhere. Very resourceful for nomadic wanderers like ourselves.
If you wanted to do something like this you would want to wait until the summer breaks before you came down. It’s hotter than a mutherfucker down here right now, and being homeless in this heat is a pain in the ass. If we played our cards right, by late september we’d both have enough put aside to get right into an apartment when you came down. Then we would set our sights on subcontracting. And you know me, I can build a house with one hand tied behind my back, so having me as your partner would be a good investment for you. I won’t have you climbing roofs or doing any hard labor like that. The work I will get will be fairly easy… and it will pay really well.
A longer term goal for me is leaving the country eventually; I’m looking at India (Americans can stay up to ten years without a visa), central America and south-east asia. The currency exchange rates are outstanding. A dude can live comfortably on twenty dollars a day. If we get into countries that only extend visas up to ninety days, we can border hop; we’d cross into a neighboring country, then come back a day later, resetting our visas for another ninety days. Repeat.
I don’t know what you have going on up there, but if you aren’t happy with it, consider my proposal. This time there wouldn’t be any arguing or tension like there was in Wilmington.
Think it over man. We’ve got plenty of time to plan this thing. You’re good peeps and I could hang with you. An intellectual anarchist like you is always a friend of mine. It’ll be like old times man… minus all the headaches.