I wouldn’t say that I’m living illegally in my apartment, oh no. But, I haven’t signed a lease. And, I wonder if my rent is going to go up every month until it’s time to sign a new lease in October. That said, there are things in the apartment that need to be fixed.

While cooking chicken McNuggets last night, the metal hook you pull to open the oven door fell off. There’s a nail which fits into the metal, but it got me as to how to screw it in. Unless, this would be a task worthy of an electric screw-driver? Well, surprise, I don’t have one. In fact, I’m wondering if there are any magnets that can be bought to suffice. Or, hmm, maybe duck tape? I feel like I’ve turned into my grandpa in terms of fixing things. He fixed EVERYTHING with duck tape. So much so, that on his 80th birthday, his children created a card for him purely out duck tape, with paper inserted.

The light switch for the living room has also mysteriously vanished. Well, touché, it was gone long before I took the apartment. And, the paint on some of the walls is showing more crack than a 14 year old girl wearing low-rise jeans for the first time.

Additionally, the front door lock badly sticks and it tends to take about 1-2 minutes just to lock the door on the way out; the lock is so old, it likely needs to be replaced.

The thing is, are these issues worth bringing up with the landlord? Do landlords raise rent based on their tenants’ (valid) complaints?

Or, would investing in “Apartment-fixing”’ for dummies be the more prudent route? It may be time to visit ye olde Brooklyn bookstore. . .

**On the plus side, guess who put together her brand new desk using TOOLS all on her own? Yep, this girl! The feeling of putting together furniture is so empowering – it’s a bit tricky, and doesn’t come easily to klutzes like me, but the rush of stepping back from my now standing desk —- Amazing!

Did you like those quotation marks up there in the title? Aren’t they kinda sneaky? Like, hey she’s not really living alone, she’s living in a three bedroom – what do they MEAN?? Well, those little quotations mean just that – that I’m not really living alone. And if you recall, my main predicament was that I was worried about whether or not I’d be lonely. And there was no furniture. Like, zilch.

I'll get to the roommate-ness in a second, but we did finally get furniture and thank goodness for that! It's amazing, how wonderful a couch is -- and a dining room table for that matter. One roommate took it upon herself to go to IKEA and order up said couch and table, as well as matching chairs and a side table. I, in turn, hung up some tapestries that I've collected through the years, as well as a throw blanket my mom knitted and...wahlaa. The living room looks--lived in. I can't tell you what an amazing time I had this past Thursday just relaxin in front of the TV, stretched out on the couch. Last night, I even fell asleep on it.

I’ve yet to hang out with my roommates, and it’s been over a month (by hang out I mean, just all be home watching TV at the same time). But, my life is blossoming in so many other ways, I find myself not really minding. It is rather nice to come home and not have to explain myself or my day to anyone. To just BE in a pissy mood and not have to make polite conversation. Or, for the few nights a week I actually watch TV, to do so in peace and silence instead of having to hear the details about someone else's day. I can’t quite walk around in my underwear or belt out showtunes at the top of my lungs (hey, don’t judge me!), but I can close to door and effectively feel like I’m on my own Brooklyn-eese Island.

It’s still not the apartment set-up I would have wanted ideally, but I’m getting my 8 hours of beauty rest and have enough cupboard space to put m’groceries.

Now I just need to figure out how to handily put together all that furniture waiting for me in my bedroom...

Dumpster Diving

It’s a pretty great term, right? It sounds almost exotic—maybe even hipster cool these days. I mean, Mary-Kate Olsen’s even made running around like a Hobo look hot. Hear me out though -- I’m not recommending that you jump headfirst into your smelly neighborhood garbage can, but welcome to the Christmas of moving season.

May 1 is primetime when it comes to both kicking off the summer moving season as well as D-Day for large garbage collection. I know friends who have gotten everything from couches to coffee tables by being vigilant when walking around their neighborhood around now – and while the large garbage pickups do only happen once a year, the ‘I need to move out ASAP and can’t bring it with me’ season of giving goes straight through until September.

However, while freebies are totally awesome, do beware of certain things when bringing fresh meat er furniture into your apartment.

1) First, of course, watch out for bed bugs. Dateline actually just did another investigative report on these mangy creatures in terms of recycled mattresses, but bed bugs can crawl into couches, sofas, anything with fabric so beware. Inspect your finds carefully lest you invite a can of whoop-a#& into your home.

2) Secondly, before you lug that TV up three flights of stairs – try to determine if it works. This might take a bit of guts, like, ringing the doorbell of the apt/house and asking, but that 10 seconds of awkwardness is definitely worth the amount of man power it takes to lift heavy things.

3) Finally, for those really looking to make a killing, you might want to gather some fellow searchers and rent a van. Does that sound totally ghetto? Well, with the price of food, gas, and even beer (Ack!), there is no shame in being thrifty. And, free is free. Usually, you can find out about the large garbage pick-up days by a quick google search. Of course, what this also means is that the week after this pick-up is a *GREAT* time to go to the Salvation Army as they’re sure to be ripe with fresh donations.

As ya’ll might have guessed, I’ve been having a rougher time of it of late. And, yeah, I realize that much of it is in my head – and has little to do with the actual apartment but more with my general everyday living experience in a new city. But, it’s easier to blame an inanimate object (ie my apartment) than look inward and see what I’d need to do to really make myself happier.

The anonymous poster hit it more or less on the head. It’s a great apartment, good location, -- what more do I want? Well. I want to feel like I belong after only 7 weeks. I’ve been thinking about this totally ludicrous demand and where it comes from. Part of it, gentle blog readers, is that I feel like I’ve been moving for three months straight – first I had to find a sublet, then a subletter, then sell my furniture, then a new permanent apartment, then a sublet for my sublet, then buy new furniture. I—am—exhausted.

But, more so than that, gentle blog reader, is that this ‘expert’(and I say expert veeery loosely) mover is tired of moving. I’ve lived in 12 places since I graduated high school; I am only 25. There were always good reasons; teaching/volunteering at a summer program in Virginia for gifted urban middle schoolers looking to beef up their education; studying abroad in Ireland/moving to Ireland to work; transferring colleges, moving to Spain to teach English, moving home after college, moving to Chicago to live/work with friends one college summer…the list goes on.

A friend in Spain asked me when I told him I was leaving, What Are You Looking For!? I’d only lived in my town for 6 months, after all. There were a lot of mitigating circumstances: the town was 2.5 hours by bus to any major city; it was so small there wasn’t even a movie theater; the town was very close-knit and working only 15 hours weekly, I felt incredibly lonely; the Spanish government didn’t pay any of its language assistants for three months…etc etc.

Something, I said. I’ll know it when I see it. It was a half-truth. I kinda knew what I was looking for -- passion, excitement, interesting people, a boy I could fall in love with, people interested in the world around them, motivating work, adventure . . . And, really, isn’t that why anybody moves to New York? There are just prices you pay for such a quest – like loneliness, feeling unsettled, and having a fair bit of self doubt. I’d like to think though, for myself, for you, gentle blog reader, and for anyone who takes any risk by moving towards the unknown, that the ultimate rewards merit the temporary discomforts.

As you’ve probably noticed, most of my advice comes from my own experiences. I don’t claim to know everything(oh, oh, I laugh), but I do have 20/20 hindsight vision. That said, I’m still unsure as to whether or not I made the right choice in taking my apartment.

To recap—it was the 3 bedroom in Park Slope that was gorgeous and in the perfect location – with roommate I met who seemed “okay” and the other I’d have to agree to live with without having met as two rooms were “open”.

The place really doesn’t feel like a home and I don’t know what to do.. I mean, not in the slightest. I’ve decorated my room with all my *worldly treasures* (i.e. postcards, and random pieces of art I’ve collected along the way. Shout out to my framed flamingo chalk drawing all the way from Prague!), and it feels like me. But the rest of the place…we have two folding chairs(I picked up), a TV stand, and a coffee table…feels like No Man’s Land.

Supposedly, one roommate ordered a couch and a dining room table…but it almost feels like I’m playing telephone. So-and-so roommate said the other so-and-so roommate was getting/got this. I came home Saturday night to find the TV gone and a McCain mug chilling in our kitchen cabinet and nearly had a heart attack. Mostly because I thought we got robbed by a bunch of snot-nosed republicans. She kids!

Mostly, because I had no clue what was going on because no one has communicated anything with anyone. Then, thankfully, I saw the note on the fridge which listed the “Public Service Announcement” of an old roommate picking up her TV, which made me feel better. Add to this that the old roommate asked our landlord to re-do our lease. . . I’m having one of those moments where I’m like, why in god’s name did I move to this crazy city.

To bring this post full circle, to the “hey, I’ve been there, hey I’ve done that” theme – you probably recall how the last piece of advice I had for you in my last post was to stop being so d*mn hard on yourself. I know that me beating myself up about my situation(which, let’s be honest, isn’t even that bad), won’t solve anything. But, sometimes it’s the only way I can feel pro-active. Waiting it out til we get the couch, til we see what the new lease looks like…is really the only solution. Or, you know, starting this whole moving process again.

If ya’ll have any thoughts, please do feel free to share…