Northampton nor Telford... erm ..ampton

Hey all, been a while since I've checked in but not a lot of things have changed since my last admission to the intermaweb.

Probs one of the biggest things that has happened in recent weeks is the event of a possible move to Northampton with Adam, a move which has fallen through I am sad and a little angry to say.

Let's go back a few weeks to the day of my interview with Telford based company Midland Computers. I was up for the role as web programmer and was given a lift to their premises by my Uncle. The job had it's allure as it was a relatively local job and "could" be commuted from Wem, although if I obtained the job, I would aim to move out of Wem, perhaps to Shrewsbury. Anyways, that aside, combined with a recon trip to suss out where it was, and our efforts to find the place on the day I discovered that the company is nowhere near the centre of Telford, and frankly a bitch to get to.
Nonetheless I went into the interview with a lot of hope that I could get the job. Saying that I am pretty sucky in interviews, getting far too nervous unfortunately. Coming out of the interview, I felt relieved that it was over, felt the interview could have gone better (as always) but thought it was alright enough to warrant a 2nd interview.

I got home a little later, just coming down from the stressball I had ingested prior to the interview, and my old friend Adam came up on the MSN with some important news.

Quite a while ago, Adam had this crazy idea of sorting out houses/flats in a Friends style that we could all live in, those people being me, Adam, Billy and the possibility of Eric and/or Derron etc. Well it all sounded pretty good, but I treated it like one of those pipe dreams, or a large "what-if" question. Anyways enough of the background, Adam came on MSN to say that he's found a house, and proposed that I take up the last and fourth spot.

The timing couldn't have been worse - here I was about to potentially commit to working in Telford for a lengthy amount of time, and I was asked to commit to living in Northampton, a fair distance the other side of Brum for a fair amount of time. This was only made worse by an extremely stupid and choking deadline, my signature was required in at most 4 days.

The simple fact that the Telford job was more than slightly inconvenient to get to, meant that I was considering going for the Northampton house, the thinking being that I can continue my so far unsuccessful search for a job there, being closer to the larger cities etc.

Put on the backfoot, and having this pressure to commit forced upon me there and then, I hastilly agreed to go down to Northampton for the weekend, Adam sorting out a viewing of the prospective house.

I arrive at Northampton station and was met by Adam and then when straight to the house. The house itself was amazing, large spacious rooms, good kitchen, back garden for bbqs, it was a great house. It also had the cherry on top, the icing on the cake, that being the 3rd storey or the attic, was one giant room cut off from the rest of the house with a door and a staircase. Adam was saying that they were going to turn it into an entertainment room, and rightly so, it was an awesome expansive space.

We left the house shortly after, and I was starting to give serious weight to a move to Northampton - Adam was keen for that to happen too, and he was more than willing to sell the house and the surrounding area to me. The formalities of the visit aside, and I was left to enjoy myself as a guest with Adam. That meant promptly acquiring some beverages and then putting on the FA cup which we had missed, but had been fortunate enough for Adam to record.

A few beers later and we then moved on to the new and very shiny Halo 3 beta and spent a considerable (to under-exagerate) time, learning maps, new gametypes and the tactics that go along with it, not to mention pushing up our rank levels in the ranked matches.

The next day I had originally planned on going back, but too long spent in spoons eating and creating "Plate-face Man"(tm) meant I missed my train, but I could afford another day in Northampton, and so it was. That meant more Halo 3, a bit of filming for a documentary that Adam was co-producing for some coursework - not sure exactly what it was although they had me saying "it's a cunting disgrace", so there you go.

Late in the evening, another suprise from Adam, we paid (literally) a visit to the Casino which Adam frequents. So much so that some of the staff know him on a first-name basis. The Casino itself was actually quite a lot of fun - Adam treated me to having a go on two tables of poker, and well I didn't get very far, cos well I was a bit nervous that we were playing money and as my Red Faction friends will testify, I can't bluff for shit, but saying that it was a lot of fun. I was quite proud of winding up this guy commonly known as "Mad Dog" so much so he was physically rubbed his face - yep, I bluffed him good, all I had was a high King lol.

That aside, I had enjoyed my time in Northampton, we went back after the Casino, got some food and watched a french free-running-themed film which was actually not too bad. I had to leave quite early the next morning, but I had all decided that the move to Northampton was the right choice. I had visions of getting my life back on track after what has been a year of stalling it has to be said.

But, as the twist in the story goes, it was not to be. I got a call from Adam a couple of days later in which he told me that him along with Billy and Wu, the other housemates had a vote to who should be the fourth and last housemate. It was made out to me that I was the only option and when I had had my arm twisted rather easily, I assumed that that was that. But as I said they all had a vote, and Billy and Wu had decided to go with someone else, someone they knew from University I assumed. Adam backed me, but unfortunately he (and myself) was 2-to-1 down. He told me that he was sorry, and there was no real way to change it. I had to be forever diplomatic on the phone, but I was pretty much fuming underneath but I'm sure that I covered it well enough and Adam didn't detect.

I was angry at Billy and Wu, but had no right to be, but for the short time I felt I had to dump the blame somewhere. No, it was not their fault, they would have to live with this person for probably a year, perhaps more and it was the blaringly obvious truth that they simply did not know me that well, I was effectively a random in their eyes. With the roles reversed I would make the same choice, and it's not even a difficult choice to make, in all honesty. For a time I was particularily angry with Adam, although I didn't tell him as much. It was his fault that he pushed me into thinking that it was a viable option, and had me thinking that I was the last piece in the puzzle, the only piece that would fit. I don't enjoy rejection especially when it comes after getting so close to the "reward" of what I'm aiming for/trying to achieve.

On a closing note, I also did not get the job in Telford, so I am continuing to search for jobs, this time not letting the locality of the position blur the negative aspects of the job. I borrowed some games from Adam and need to return them, which will happen after he has finished moving into this new place. I'm not even sure I can bring myself to visiting this new place, the house that for a short time I was destined to be living in. I fear that I may just flip out at Adam for getting my hopes up over the place and that I may let out too many passive aggressive remarks out of the side of the mouth towards the new housemate, and those that voted against me. But we'll see that it just over a week away - I may try and make my excuses and put it off, hopefully forever.

Begrudgingly still in Wem