2005-07-29
Day Two of Apartment Search - EXTREME!
Today was day two of the extreme apartment search. The first place we went to was one of the 'unassuming' places we'd peeked at yesterday. We had an appointment with the owner between 1:30pm and 1:45pm. We got there at 1:47, thanks to traffic (it was raining), and the guy was not only nowhere to be seen, but we couldn't reach him on his phone for a while. When we finally got hold of him, he said he was 15 minutes away (?!), so we sat in the truck, wasting time until he arrived. When he got there, he had a woman with him, who showed us around.
The first place wasn't bad. It looked run-down on the outside, but I thought we could probably fix that, and do something with the yard. It was $750/month, which is $50 over our budget, but I thought that if I liked it, I'd pay the extra $50. There was a screened in porch, and inside there was carpeting in the rooms and the office area, and hardwoods everywhere else, I think. There was an upstairs and a downstairs; downstairs was the living room, a sun room, a small kitchen with W/D hookups in it, and the bathroom, which was also small, but had an old school free standing tub with the shower head attached to the top. It was the kind of shower that would need a shower curtain all the way around it. Upstairs (very narrow stairs, might I add) were the bedrooms and the office. The bedrooms were large and had ceiling fans, but there were no closets, just these small The Grudge-esque spaces with doors instead, and the windows were high up in the wall and not very large. I kept trying to understand what the little holes with the doors were in the wall, the things they had for storage instead of closets, but every time I peered into one, raw terror rumbled in my stomach, and I slammed them shut. It probably didn't help the creepiness factor that it was raining and gray out today, either. What we really didn't like about the house, though, was the fact that the W/D hookups were in the kitchen, which would make everything really hot, and that the bathroom was at the back of the house, past the kitchen. It just didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense.
The second place the people showed us was marvelous. I loved it as soon as I saw it. It's on Boulevard, the street our apartment complex is on, and in Grant Park, a nice(r)neighborhood. It was a large, old house with three apartments. The apartment we looked at first was kickass. It was huge. The ceilings were very high, there were wood floors, and it was the kind of floorplan where you have to go through one room to get to another. The first room you walk into is a living room with a closed off fireplace [ :( ], and then you went through another room (dining room) to get to the spacious kitchen. Now, there were also W/D hookups in that kitchen, but that kitchen was large enough that it wouldn't matter much. There was also a nice pantry, which was a first in our search. The bathroom was a respectable size, and the two bedrooms actually had closets, though they were a bit tiny. The place was HUGE and wonderful and I was in love immediately . . . then we found out that it was $850/month, well out of our price range. I told James if we got the place I would pay the extra $150 plus bills, but we both realized we can't really afford it. I mean, we could afford that apartment, but I would be working so much to afford it, I'd never get to enjoy it. Plus, we wouldn't have money left over for food or anything, so I guess it wouldn't really be worth it. But God, I loved it.
The third place we saw was another apartment within the same house, but it was horrible. The door was really hard to open, and when we finally got the door open, waves of mildew came out to greet us. There was terrible bright blue carpet everywhere (except in the kitchen), and you could tell that the floor underneath was rotting. We both immediately agreed that was a 'definitely not', even though it was only $570 a month.
Afterwards, we stopped by the coffee shop. I was dismayed to see that the seating and shelves had been rearranged in a formation I think looks horrible. I ordered a chai (definitely not on my diet, but I've really strayed a lot from it this week anyway --- thanks, stress) and sat down to drink it, but the new arrangment made me super uncomfortable, and we didn't stay long. I feel that they really should have talked to someone about the feng shui changes the rearrangment might cause. I don't like it at all. Lots of frustrated energy there, plus it just doesn't look as nice.
When we got home, I checked my email while James started grilling the ribs he marinated last night. He decided he needed more charcoal, and started to leave to go get some when he came storming back in. Apparently managment left us a note saying that they'd scheduled a showing of our apartment to someone else tomorrow, and thanks for our cooperation. Steaming, James called the office and curtly told them we wouldn't be able to do that tomorrow, as we're having company all day (lie). I'm irritated and more stressed out now, because we still haven't even found a place to move, and we just put our leave notice in yesterday, and already they're trying to give someone else our apartment??! We told them yesterday that we may or may not move then, but they're showing it off anyway?! We're both upset, and subsequently even MORE stressed out now. Wonderful. As a result, I'm giving my diet a big fuck off, and eating comfort foods. I know it's horrible, but it's either do that, or pick smoking back up. Granted, smoking instead of stuffing my face would be better for my figure, but as I'm to the point where I almost don't ever get cravings anymore, I don't want to start back up. Egh. Off to smoke and make phone calls.
aigre-douce at 4:04 p.m.