My new job will be channeling Pat Benatar, Nancy Sinatra, Whitney Houston, and Queen.
It’s been awhile. At times, I’ve had stuff to report, but I’ve also barely had time to sit at the computer and make it coherent. Which of the following do you think are true?
a) I got an apartment right away from "Liz."
b) I met several brokers and none of them showed me anything I liked…so I will remain a Brooklynite for the forseeable future.
c) I found a place that was expensive, and had to decide whether it was worth it.
d) I moved already.
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Well, the answer is c (isn’t the answer always c?). I actually did meet several brokers ranging from super-hot (George at Realty 2000), to ice queen (Sonia at BuySell Real Estate) to flake-tastic (Angelica at Capital Realty, who Lauren and I nicknamed "Little Orphan Annie" due to her petite stature and poof of red hair), among others. The first broker (the afore-mentioned Liz) was totally disorganized; when I got to her office, there was another client there, and she told both of us that all 3 of the apartments she’d listed were gone already. Then she took us to see a place that made me feel like I was trapped in the bottom of a boat with old people…essentially it was little more than a studio, and felt like a basement even though it wasn’t…plus it was fully furnished by the elderly and highly inquisitive landlords, not to mention rather far from public transportation and shopping… She also got on the phone with some other landlord, speaking in Italian to him (not knowing I could understand) about how old I am (apparently, 27-28 is too young?).
But I digress. In the end, I wound up agreeing to my absolute maximum rent price on an apartment that was otherwise ideal, well-situated, etc. It was shown to me by Little Orphan Annie herself, who also turns out to be the landlord…but only revealed this to me after I had agreed to take it, signed the lease, and paid her a large amount of money- besides rent and security, she actually got a broker’s fee from renting the upstairs of her own house. I guess I should be flattered that she liked/trusted me enough to let me live upstairs from her and her daughter, but it still seemed a little odd to me.
I have not moved in yet, since I have no one to drive me there, need to buy a new bed, and as yet possess few cooking utensils to speak of. Some of my friends have chastised me for the fact that I am already paying rent but am not taking advantage of the place…however, I had basically anticipated this happening and resigned myself to the idea of that cash output regardless. Hopefully I will be moving a substantial amount of things there this weekend, then doing a major Target shopping trip the following weekend.
What else…well, in other news, some of you already know about the ups and downs of the past week. I don’t feel like getting into too much detail at the moment, but I kind of flipped out last week due to some work-related drama. Probably not coincidentally, I am now battling a feisty and exhausting little cold. I was seriously questioning my decision to work summer school, among other things, but I guess for now I’ve already shed all the tears I currently have at my disposal. So the only thing left to do is try to keep on keepin’ on.
One thing that helped me (at least temporarily) was a Saturday evening excursion with a couple of my ladyfriends. Originally, I just planned on meeting for one drink, then going home to make a scheduled phonecall. This is not what happened. I did have just one drink at the FIRST bar we went to…but this was followed by multiple glasses of a certain cocktail mix at a certain karaoke bar. At about 2:30 AM I sent a text message to 10 or so of my friends and acquaintances, providing a rundown on both the negative (beer thrown on my shoe) and the positive (I sang a Pat Benatar crowd-pleaser of a song, and also found $15 under the table! So I actually MADE money by going there!). Later, we almost got into a fight with a South African lesbian who was enjoying a birthday party and aggressively pursuing total microphone control…I didn’t care too much by this point -live and let live, and so forth…I could still stand up there and sing anyway- but Jackie was getting pissed. Then Vanessa accidentally hit someone with the microphone while swinging it around by its cord, but I think the victim was too drunk to notice. All in all it was a worthwhile excursion, despite the ensuing throat pain.
Got home at 4:30 AM, yet still somehow rose again at 8 to go get the keys to my new digs. At work, a certain coworker pointed out that I could only blame myself for my current symptoms and discomfort…I rasped back: "I can’t help it if I am a social butterfly." He had to agree.
