Coping with uncertainty

I don't really like experiencing major life uncertainty. And I've been going through some lately, although pretty much vicariously. The uncertainty I have is only a pale shadow of the uncertainty my flatmate, Stephen, is experiencing, but I'd like to whinge anyway :)

Last year, Stephen told his company that he would move to Texas if they wanted him to. They said they'd get back to him. So at that point, it was about 5 months before he even knew if he might be going to Texas. Nothing to do but wait.

Then, in about March, he found out that he might be going, maybe, probably. But no idea when. Maybe he'd find out sometime the following month. Then in April they said yes, he probably would be going, pending security clearances and various other things, and it probably would be sometime later this year, maybe June or July. So I started seriously contemplating what _I _would do after he left. Yeah, yeah, I'll miss him and all that. I don't do soppy stuff, so I started considering the practical aspects.

The problem is that I really have too many choices:

• I could stay where I am and live alone. I really can't afford it though, but I maybe could just manage if I scrimped a bit
• I could get another flatmate. But I've been pretty comfortable with Stephen. I don't really want to adjust to living with some random stranger. I think I'm too selfish, so I'd really quite like to live alone for a while.
• I could find another cheaper place to live (alone). But I don't really want to be further from the city, in fact I'd rather be closer. Places closer to the city aren't that much cheaper. And then I have to decide what to do with the car (cheaper places don't have carparking - it costs extra) and my furniture (the cheapest shoeboxes are usually furnished).
• I could move back in with my parents. But this would be the second(!) time. And anyway, I'd have to pay for the ferry, and I have a problem of what to do with my furniture (storing it costs money, selling it seems wasteful if I am going to find a flat eventually) and car. I still don't know what to do. At the moment, I am leaning towards staying and trying to bear the cost for as long as I can before switching to a skanky shoebox.

Then, at the start of May, Stephen was told he would be leaving on the 22nd of May, about three weeks time. We have to give 21 days notice if I want to leave this flat, so there really wasn't any time to decide. I didn't give notice just yet. We got a whole lot of boxes and started sorting things out to pack away.

Just two days after that, he was told that actually he maybe wouldn't be going at all, because the company he was going to work for cannot hire South Africans. Now, the only way he will be going is if his citizenship application is completed within the next month. So, he's now either leaving within a month, or not going at all, and we don't even know when we will know!