Gamer Girls

After everyone got kicked out of my previous place, I found a new place to live that was near to my previous place. So still in this impoverished area of London.

By the way, I never felt unsafe or anything in London. The only minor incident I can remember from this time was a HIDEOUS young white English woman approached me and asked if I have a “fag.” I did not. Then her boyfriend or somebody came walking by and he was eyeballing me. He seemed upset that I was talking to his girlfriend. Even though it was her who spoke to me and all I said is that I don’t have a cigarette.

But I wasn’t afraid at any point in this encounter. I was just insulted. I was insulted that this guy thought that I was interested in this absolutely repulsive-looking woman.

Anyway, I had to move my stuff. The reason I was looking for a place nearby was because I couldn’t afford any kind of transportation costs. I didn’t have a lot of stuff to move so everything would fit in a taxi but even a taxi was too expensive for me.

So I moved everything by hand. I took a few trips. I had like a 15 inch CRT that I moved. That was the biggest thing that I had to move. But it all got done.

When I originally viewed the place, I was shown two sets of drawers: one that looked new and one that was totally dilapidated. The drawers weren’t aligned, it didn’t look like you could even open some drawers, this kind of thing. I was told that the drawers would be shared. Like we’d each get half of each set of drawers.

No. That’s not what happened. The roommate immediately said that one set of drawers were his and the other set were mine. No prizes for guessing which set were mine.

It was the same situation as the previous place. There was a guy who was on the lease, he had his own room, and he sublet the place out to four other people. The guy who was actually on the lease paid nothing for rent because he was overcharging everyone else. I think that it was the same £50/week that I was paying at my previous place or maybe it was £55.

Everybody was from Brazil. I didn’t talk to them. I didn’t hang out with anyone. But everyone was fine except for my roommate. He was a giant fucking asshole.

He played in some band and he would regularly boast to the other flatmates about all of the sex that he got up to. It’s surprising because this was not an attractive guy. Chicks must really dig musicians, I guess.

Right after I moved in, he would complain about the large tv box in the room. There was no place to put it and I was still sort of unpacking. “Get rid of the box. Get rid of the box.”

He complained about me being in the room too much. He made passive aggressive comments about how I should find a job.

I’d be watching television and he’d suddenly turn his radio on. And it would be on all day. He would do this constantly.

There was a time when he was taking a shower, he had the radio on, and I turned it down. He saw me doing this and asked what I was doing. I said, “You’re taking a shower. Why is the radio on?” He said, “Don’t touch my stuff.”

He had a friend over. Just some Brazilian guy. The guy picked up my newspaper. There was a picture of that guy falling from the World Trade Center. This guy showed it to my roommate and started talking about this. My roommate said, “That’s not mine” and this guy just dropped the newspaper.

So I go to the guy who’s name is on the lease. And I wrote out a list of incidents like I’ve done above. And I said that something has to be done, this guy is a giant asshole.

The head tenant says that this guy didn’t want a roommate. So this head tenant told the guy that if he doesn’t want a roommate, he has to pay double the rent. He didn’t want to do that.

So I don’t know if this guy was intentionally an asshole hoping that I’d move out or if this was just his natural behaviour.

In any event, during this discussion the head tenant says that it doesn’t matter because we all have to leave. The landlord raised the rent and this guy doesn’t want to pay the new amount. I was there about two months.

During this time, I was also going to job interviews. I went to an employment agency for a teaching assistant job. An Eastern European woman was conducting the “interview”. We get to the subject of references. I explain to her the cultural differences between the US and the UK. In the US, they do not fill out detailed questionnaires for job references but if you just call them, they’ll confirm that I worked there and there weren’t any problems. She said, “It’s just a short form.” I explained again that they will not do it but if you call, they’ll confirm everything. She said, “I’m just supposed to call them? That would be pretty stupid.”

So I got up and left. She started panicking. “No. No. It’s just a short form. I — oh.”

Hey. Moron. Listen to what I’m telling you. They don’t fucking do it. I’ve been through this process dozens of times already.

These employers in the UK refused to change their policy at all as did my previous employer in the US. This could have all been easily resolved. All that my previous employer had to do was fill out a short form. All that the employment agencies had to do was call my previous employer. But neither party wanted to deviate from their protocol.

This reference was a huge problem. I had to get a UK reference. So I started looking at volunteer work. I can use the volunteer work to get the reference.

Political parties need volunteers. That sounds like it might be interesting. Maybe it would even lead to a job. So I sent my resume to every political party in the country. The major parties, of course, but also everyone I could think of. Green Party. British National Party. Everyone. I don’t give a fuck. I just need the reference. Although, looking back, perhaps a reference from the BNP wouldn’t have helped.

I got one reply. I won’t say who the party was but it was one of the major parties. They invited me to come in for an interview at their headquarters.

So I went there. There was a short “interview”. They explained what the job was. And then they asked when I can start. Great.

But this was all happening right at the time that I was looking for a new place to live. So it was difficult.

I was able to find a new place, though. It wasn’t nearby. It was in Wembley, which is in North London. According to the most recent census data, Wembley is 50% Asian. And when they say “Asian” they mean “South Asian”. Like Indian. But I don’t think that these people were Indian. They were Sri Lankan. Sri Lanka is an independent island nation off the coast of India.

Wikipedia doesn’t mention Sri Lankans AT ALL on their Wembley page. They seem to suggest that the overwhelming majority of Asians in Wembley are Pakistani. But I don’t think so. Because you didn’t see Muslim shit there. The ninja garb and whatnot. You saw saris. Women walking around in saris. Like they do in Sri Lanka. Or India.

Also, 50% Asian seems WAY lower than the reality. I’d put it at 90% Asian. No exaggeration.

Anyway, the new place I found was with four guys from Sri Lanka.