Ever lived in three apartments in one year? Have you had more than four jobs? COLLEEN LONG checks in with two women who know your pain.
Christina Amini, left, and Rachel Hutton have the scars to prove their transient lives in the book "Before The Mortgage." (AP Photo/Bernadette Tuazon)
Rachel Hutton and Christina Amini tutored children, coached coed soccer teams, and worked in product design and book publishing. Hutton even had to dress up like a nurse for a job promoting Smirnoff Ice.
They've each had more jobs in seven years out of college than most of our parents did in their entire adult lives.
They moved back in with their families. They dated countless people.
But their stories aren't that unusual -- and they have a whole book to prove it.
The two edited "Before The Mortgage," a collection of essays and witticisms written by 20 and 30-somethings searching for a career, love and a location to call home. The title refers to the years after college but before you own your first home -- when you're considered an "adult," even though you're still trying to find your way.
Amini and Hutton graduated from Stanford and moved to New York where they got 9-to-5 jobs they hated and eventually quit. "New York isn't the easiest place to quit your job and be without cash," Hutton said. "But we just weren't doing what we wanted to do."
They moved back home -- Amini to the Bay Area and Hutton to Minneapolis -- and lived with their parents while they plotted their next moves.
While hunting around for work, they wrote essays and traded them back and forth by way of e-mail.
"We did a lot of editing each other's work," Amini said. "It helped keep us sane, and helped us to keep being creative."
Hutton and Amini started a zine -- a self-published booklet that resembles a high school literary journal, except with more sex and talk of health insurance. They found contributors by e-mailing their favorite writers, who they figured were likely suffering through the same types of problems.
The zine, which they since began publishing online at beforethemortgage.com, turned into the book that includes contributions by "This American Life," correspondent Sarah Vowell, author Thisbe Nissen, and actress Anna Chlumsky of "My Girl."
Chlumsky's essay, "Peaking at Ten" deals with her life after fame and her eventual return to acting. (She worked on four indie films last year.) She said she was a good writer in college, but had never really tried to do it professionally.
"It really made sense to me," she said of the zine. "So I pitched a story to them and it changed and I changed and I'm really happy with how it turned out. ... Writing is a lot like acting. It's up to you and it's up to patience."
Hutton said she was a little worried when it came to editing, because the contributors were such professionals. "But they were great. They listened to our suggestions," she said.
They've done readings with contributors in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and New York and plan to keep the Web site running, all while maintaining day jobs.
Amini is now an associate editor at Chronicle Books in San Francisco, and Hutton is an editor and writer for Minnesota Monthly in Minneapolis. They say they're happy and feeling a little more ... settled. Amini is engaged to her girlfriend.
But you never know.
"My roommate joked that he was going to come home one day and I'd be gone, there would be a note saying 'Hi, I moved to Washington.'" Hutton said. "But then one day he moved to Juneau, Alaska."
In the spirit of the book, Hutton and Amini reflect:
___
WORST JOB EXPERIENCE
Amini: A job low-point for me was writing the items of a 100-page catalog, writing the name of every item on a post-it note. It was their way of organizing a catalog. But I should change it because that boss came to one of the readings and said 'I want you to sign this book and officially forgive me.'
Hutton: I can't even talk about the one-day paper route. Smirnoff Ice was worse. So I had just moved back to Minneapolis and I had to get some cavities filled, it was going to cost like $400, and I needed some extra-quick cash. So I answered the ad on the back of the alt-weekly 'Do you like to do advertising?' Well it turns out I had to dress up like a nurse and go around with a guy in scrubs and we carried around six packs of Smirnoff Ice when it was just coming out and had to say 'We're here to heal your thirst.'
___
ROOMMATE PET PEEVE
Hutton:: What about when they ate your very expensive birthday cake?
Amini: No, too painful. Can't talk about it.
Hutton:: This isn't really a pet peeve, because I'm really happy for them, but my roommates started dating each other -- a boy and a girl. She told me right away, but when she told me she was like 'Oh, I hope it doesn't complicate things.' But I went into the situation fully knowing they'd get together.
___
DATING DISASTER
Amini: I had lost heating in my apartment, so I went out on a date with a guy because he had butt-warmers in his car. That he had a car in New York was exciting enough, and then he had butt warmers in it, I thought 'Oh good I can get out from under the covers.' I didn't really want to go, the guy was like 40 and I was 22, so I asked I could bring my friend. So Rachel came too. The clincher was when he said '13 years ago, when I was in grad school.'
Hutton:: I went out with this guy who was really different from me. He lived in like a four bedroom with one roommate and I was sharing a bedroom with my friend Megan. So he was a trader on Wall Street and his TV was huge and he had protein powder in a huge thing. He knew jujitsu. He was nice, just really different form me. My friends rinse out and reuse plastic baggies and he didn't even vote.
___
asap reporter Colleen Long once dated a guy who bought her a Bible and told her she needed to repent.
___
Want to comment? Sound off at soundoffasap@ap.org.
©2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
