It’s been a good run, but the time has come for me to move to a new apartment. I’ve lived in the same apartment since December 2012. Around the time I was running out of corporate housing I was desperate to find a place to live. I had a ridiculous amount of limitations, I needed it to be furnished, in Capital Hill because based on Reddit I shouldn’t have lived anywhere else in Seattle, also I needed it to be cheap, because not only did I have a grand mortgage, I also had a grand student loan payment. Oh and just to make it extra difficult I wanted to live with a girl so I was only looking at craiglist ads posted by the more perfect gender.
So with about a month to look I started touring place after place. The first was a dank basement that I could sublease for 3 months with a hippy lady. I think she really wanted me to stay but I just couldn’t handle how terrible the parking was. Had no idea how to parallel park at the time, so just trying to find spots looking for apartments turned me in to a ball of stress. I looked at a room in a shared house in what I think was central district. It would have been like living in a master bedroom without having anyone to talk too. I looked at a house in north central that smelled funny and had 5 other dudes living there. Wasn’t ready to go back to my frat boy days… I saw an attic room that I was actually ok with but I got rejected by the owner. Too be honest it smelled funny. Plus so many other places… Everywhere I went everything was soooo cold. I didn’t know how lacking in central heat Seattle was in November.
Eventually I stumbled across a craigslist ad for a 400 sqft room in a furnished apartment for $800 Holy crap what an amazing deal! I managed to convince the girl to let me look at it on thanksgiving. So I head over later that night and see the place. It was gorgeous! Huge, modern but with old school charms. My room was ridiculously tiny. One day I’ll have to explain to Mandy how to measure things. Otherwise it was perfect. I shared a glass of wine with Mandy and tried to bribe her to let me move in aka I offered extra rent money. She wasn’t willing to just let me sign up without interviewing other people first. So I left sad thinking I was going to get rejected again (lots of the places I liked weren’t interested in me living there or booked before I even showed up)
Skip three days forward and Mandy emailed me asking if I was still interested in moving in. I was soooo excited! It turns out she didn’t want to say yes because she really wanted to live with a girl. She interview several girls that weekend but not a single one of them would drink with her. I was the only one who took a glass of wine when offered. So I guess Mandy felt if she was going to live with someone they’d have to at least be fun 🙂 You know when I think about it (and I really should tell this to Mandy) I appreciate the chance she took on me. Its tough to find a roommate and I’m sure she looked at tons of people before deciding. I’m not sure if I really buy her wine story, but it’s a fun way to think that’s what separated me from everyone else.
So I’ve lived here for over two years. I’ve had so many positive memories here and a few bad ones too. Fortunately, the up very much outweighs the down. Living here also gave me the chance to meet one of my favorite people in the world and I’m incredibly sad to no longer be living with her. But Mandy wants some space and I can’t blame her. We all know I can be a bit crazy sometimes. After she told me about her sol plans I was sad but honestly excited too. I’ve been surrounded by Mandy’s furniture, art, decorations, and just simply her life the entire time I’ve been here, it never truly felt like home. In my new place it’s going to be definitively me. My art, my furniture, my friends covering the walls. It’s a new stage of my life. Not as huge as moving to Seattle but still important and awesome!
PS for a point of context I have lived in seven places since the second grade
7937 72nd St in Cottage Grove -> 7319 Hidden Valley Trail -> Rose-Hulman dorms -> PiKA Fraternity House -> St. Andrews in Cedar Rapids -> Town House I bought with Beth in Marion -> Mandy’s lovely Condo -> and soon Barclay on Broadway