So...I signed on the dotted line today. I'll be over there next week. I have a week to cease my life here and prepare to start one there.

Sorry for my absence from the board...I've had things on my mind...I'll try to catch up when I make the move.

Thanks for all the support and advice. I'll prolly be calling on some of you for moral support over my time in the US. I'm looking forward to it but I'm kinda scared.

Here goes...
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Twitter: jefftunes

Yay! I guess you're allowed to be absent from the board for a while. Only one week?!

You definitely have to get in touch when you're ready to take in the sights here in the nation's capital. I also have a 20-something niece living in NYC who might be persuaded to show you around there.

Wow. That's really quick. If you find time to come visit Massachusetts, there's an unusually large proportion of board-people here (Hill, John, Jillybeans, Dave, me, I know I'm missing people...) We'll show you the sights.
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Well, I guess you left me with some feathers in my hand.

Ok...I'm slow on my reading lately, and I just picked up this thread. Anyway, being the only almost native Detroiter here, there are a few key questions I have to ask you.

1. Where are you moving from?
2. What sort of job is it?
3. Will you actually be living in the city of Detroit?
4. Do you like Eminem?

Here's the story on Detroit. It's a nice place to work, but you wouldn't want to live there, or leave the 1.5 mile radius that all of the actual large businesses are located within. Chris is right, Ann Arbor is about 45 minutes away, and that's where I live, it's nice. If you live outside of Detroit in one of the suburbs like Royal Oak, Dearborn or Sterling Heights, it's really not so bad. Traffic sucks and the roads are bad, but it's not horrible.

Good things about the Detroit Area
1. We're getting the Superbowl next year
2. If you're into theatre, we get some pretty decent shows traveling through
3. We get some of the best concerts
4. There's usually always something to do
5. We have the Detroit Tigers, a team that nearly took the record for the most losing team in baseball, and because of that you can get tickets to see them play really good teams for really cheap since no one wants to go to a Tigers game. 20 dollars to see them play the Red Sox? Yeah baby!
6. We have the Red Wings, when they're actually playing hockey
7. We have 3 major colleges within 45 minutes of each other, which is cool
8. There are casinos if you like to gamble
9. We're a stone's throw from Canada
10. I live here!

Bad things about the Detroit Area
1. We're an industrial area, so things are always dirty
2. Winters suck
3. There's that whole crime thing in certain areas of Detroit
4. There is absolutely no area around here that one could classify as "beautiful"
5. The city is dirty
6. If you don't drink, sometimes it is hard to find something to do
7. People are a bit trashy
8. Every white guy in Detroit under the age of 30 wants to be Eminem
9. The people around here do love their Nascar and Monster Truck Rallies
10. Class and race lines are often drawn very deeply
11. Did I mention that winters suck?


So there you have it, the good and the bad. Don't say you weren't warned!


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"During sex, I'm kind of like wet panties. Annoying, and you just want to get me off so you can go back to doing what you were doing."

3 Arborites and Counting

Becky - There are at least three A2 folks on the board (you, me, disco). Maybe we should have a welcome for FFPF? Drag him off to a Stilyagi party or something.

Eh, Disco is living in the lovely biblical side of the state now, and well...I don't know where you live really, and technically I'm not REALLY an Ann Arborite, since I live in Ypsilanti. Anyway, I'm not a huge party person, but it is a possibility.
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"During sex, I'm kind of like wet panties. Annoying, and you just want to get me off so you can go back to doing what you were doing."

A witty Englishman with a very clipped ( I am assuming ) posh accent a la Terry Thomas, will go down a treat in Detroit. North Americans have a rather odd fascination with us English folk. I should know. I have been faking my accent for years.

Paul R
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'la putain et le moitier-voleur ont perdu leurs boucliers de gencives pendant le dessus-dessous'

Not many days to go now.

I have no computer, no CDs, no anything cause I took it all up to my parents at the weekend. I don't even have a car anymore.

I'm busy cancelling things and changing addresses and talking to government officials about tax and electoral registrars and all the rest. My Mum cries. People ask me the same questions over and over and over and as I recount the story for the 176th time I start to hallucinate that I have the ability to kill with just my words (which has been suggested once or twice) and that maybe, just maybe, they'll learn not to keep asking as they see someone elses head explode.

The whole thing is scary...at least I'll have a guitar...
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Twitter: jefftunes

FattyFattyPorkFace wrote:

The whole thing is scary...at least I'll have a guitar...

You didn't mention the guitar, Fatty. With that and the accent you should be able to get laid any night of the week.

About 7 years ago I did a cross-country move on less than two weeks notice. For me, everything went so fast I didn't have time to go crazy. Try to enjoy the ride.
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"I don't want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career."
-- Lloyd Dobler

Sunday...

Looks like I'll be flying out on Sunday. Not much time left now. Thanks for all the advice and encouragement, you may never know how much it has been appreciated...but it has.
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Twitter: jefftunes