Adventures in Apartment Dwelling..

I think I might actually have an evening at home tonight in which I don't have to go anywhere at all. These days, that's a rare thing. Buying the house is fun but it's exhausting. Last night, for example, I had to go watch my new home being inspected. It passed with only a few minor fixes but the hardest part to accept is that they're minor fixes I will have to make. Gone will be the days of calling my landlord and saying "[x] is broken!" and having them come and fix it for me. Nope, it'll be all me.

Not that it will be the first time. My first apartment in Los Angeles had some issues and I had one of those landlords who somehow never seems to be around and doesn't know how to answer the phone. I became an expert at repairing my toilet since the stupid ball thingy kept coming off or the chain kept breaking. There was one day when my toilet really broke though and the connection to the water source broke. It wasn't really my fault. I was mopping vigourously and I accidentally hit the piping. It broke. In my defense, I was told that it was really old piping and had become very brittle so it wasn't like my Super Mopping was really to blame. Unfortunately, it meant that the water source to my toilet had to be turned off. Not fun. I had to pour buckets of water from the shower down it to flush it. My landlord didn't fix it for two days. I think he did that on purpose.

My last apartment in Los Angeles was far worse though. I lived there with my roommate and when we moved in, we thought we had a bargain. Well, two years later, I think we were both rather relieved to be moving out. We were the only apartment on the ground floor. The foundations leaked. One day, I found my carpet was wet by my outer wall so I moved back a bookcase only to discover a layer of mildew had grown up the wall and it went all the way around the corner into my storage closet. I rarely went in that closet but I had a lot of boxes in there. I discovered that many of my boxes were soaked and already mildewing. It turned out that the sprinklers on the grass outside were flooding the ground which meant the water had to go somewhere. It went into my room. Not fun. My room smelled bad for days. The landlord threw a sandbag down outside. I had to throw a lot of stuff away. In the end, they didn't even kill the mildew, just painted over it and turned off the sprinkler. Of course, they couldn't turn off the rainy season so I ended up just moving stuff out of the closet and keeping towels on the floor when it rained.

We also had an ant infestation in that apartment. I don't mind ants when they're on their own or even in small groups. I do, however, have a rather strong dislike bordering on fear when I see an army swarming. It bothers me. I got to the point where I couldn't see an ant without getting panicky because it meant there was another swarm somewhere. When I do see a gathering of ants, I tend to squeal. My roommate became a champion ant killer. Me, I'd just keep that can of Raid nearby and get a little fanatical about finding the source of the problem.

The other thing about that apartment is that the ceiling fell in about my roommate's shower. The bathroom above ours was leaking. It leaked into her bathroom. The ceiling fell in. Fortunately, it wasn't while she was in the shower. The landlord came over and tidied up the hole. He never patched it up though and when we moved out, the hole was still there.

You're probably getting that our landlord wasn't the best in that apartment. There were actually two of them. We think they were a couple. The lady was older and obviously 'the boss'. The man was younger. He had a lot of enthusiasm but wasn't terribly useful. He also seemed to drink a lot. He would come by our apartment to fix stuff and tell us all sorts of interesting stories about his cousins and people who were in jail and things like that. He was an interesting character. He kept us amused, anyway. It didn't help with the fact that our apartment was a disaster area but it gave us something to joke about.

My current apartment building/managers couldn't be more opposite. If I want something fixed, it's done by the time I get home from work the next day. It's a clean apartment, well kept. I keep waiting to discover the secret flaw but, so far, there isn't one. I haven't even broken anything of any significance. Well, ok, so I did break an entire bottle of wine and have to clear it up but you can't tell that ever happened. I am also having a bit of a problem with the vertical blinds. Two of the slats fell off and they don't open properly. I'm rather hoping to hide this problem when I move out so that I don't get billed for it. I'm actually going to miss this apartment; it's been a good home to me.

I'm looking on the brightside of the home repairs I will have to do. I can do them on my own time frame, I can choose who fixes them and how they get fixed. There's nothing major wrong with the house which is a wonderful thing. The only thing standing in my way right now from starting the repairs is time. Also, there's a little old lady living in the house. Also, I haven't paid for it yet. Also, I need to pack.

Reality really gets in the way of being lyrical sometimes, doesn't it?

Happy Tuesday...

Variety is no longer a Ham Sandwich...

It's my last day at work for the week today. There's nothing better than a Thursday masquerading as a Friday for the work week. Even the weekends where Monday is a holiday isn't quite the same because you have to go to work for four days afterwards. It's the weeks that give you Friday off because it's three days of pure non-work-related peace. In my case, I decided to splurge and give myself the full traditional Easter holiday. I'm looking forward to not having to leave my parent's mid-afternoon on Sunday as is usually my habit when I go home for a weekend visit.

This has been a good week; I'm not sure why. Nothing of significance has happened more that it's just felt...nice. We've had all the weather extremes to high 70's on Sunday where it was warm enough that it actually felt humid to freezing temperatures that actually provided snow flurries. We've had rain, we've had thunderstorms. Now we have sun. It's amazing to be able to live in a place where you look out the window and don't have to think..."Oh, look, it's sunny again."

I can hear you all thinking, "What's wrong with that?" Well, as I've blogged before about this, I'll just briefly reiterate my previous point. I enjoy sun yet I also like a little variety. For example, for several years when I worked at USC, I would make my lunch every night before bed. It would consist of either a ham, mustard and lettuce sandwich or a turkey, Branston Pickle and lettuce sandwich. I'd also have some carrots, an apple and usually an orange or other kind of fruit. I enjoyed this habit at first. Then, without realizing it, I suddenly found myself groaning at the concept of making another ham sandwich because it meant I'd have to eat it. For some people, they wouldn't have been able to eat them so often in the first place. For me, I liked the routine until, finally, I realized I didn't.

That's how I feel about the California sunshine. I enjoy it. Yet, like those ham sandwiches, I really have to be in the mood for it otherwise, I inwardly groan at the thought. I recently discovered that though my brain still thought it was a good idea, the actually eating of raw baby carrots for lunch was a no-go anymore. I simply had eaten too many.

Thus, I now live in Ohio and I now have variety for lunch. I think I've made an sandwich maybe twice. Instead, since we have a microwave, I bring in healthy foods to eat without having to spread mustard on that bread every night.

So, over the years, I've learned that though I am a creature of habit, I like a little variety. I'm trying to bring a little to my life at the moment by entertaining the idea of buying a house. Everyone I mention this to gets excited because it's a great time to buy, not a great time to sell which means there are great deals out there. It's not to say I don't love my apartment because I do. Yet our company is moving in the next few months and, once again, I'll be commuting in the mornings and evenings if I stay put. I'll be able to do it for a while; I've had enough practice in Los Angeles. Yet I don't want to do it forever and I also think that it'd be nice to have a place of my own. The beauty of Ohio is that, compared to California, it's very cheap.

I have to say, I'm both excited and terrified about the possibility of buying my own place. It's a huge commitment and, well, I do have a few commitment issues. Yet I also know that if I find the right place, I won't care. At least...that's what I think I'll think.

I'm still in the early stages of entertaining the idea. Until I actually move forward, it's going to remain an exciting possibilty rather than a scary reality. Yet I think moving forward might be nice. Apartment living hasn't quite reached the level of intolerance that I've reached with my ham sandwiches but every time I hear the frat boys across the hall with their not-so-bright girlfriends, every time I hear the stomp of my CEO's footsteps on my ceiling, every time my apartment office hassles me to renew my lease even though I have until August, I think how nice it would be to live in a house where I didn't share walls, where I didn't have to feel like I was under my landlady's tyranny because I'd dared think about hanging a picture on the wall. When I moved into this complex, I was handed a list of prices that every potential piece of damage to my apartment would cost me. So, every time I accidentally spill wine on my floor or I notice a scuff mark on the wall, I feel compelled to pull out that sheet and see how much it might cost me if I don't clean it up perfectly.

At least if I owned my own place, I could charge myself for my calamities. Yes, there'd be a lot more maintenance, yes I'd have to fix things myself but...the idea is new and exciting. I'm hoping that I follow it through. It'd be nice to move from my apartment building while I still had some fondness for apartment living. I don't want it become a ham sandwich in my life. I want it to be like the California sunshine: A fond memory, a nice treat to visit but something that I don't want every day, all day anymore.

We'll see how that goes.

Happy Thursday!

Apartment Living...

It's a rainy, dark Spring morning. The temperature is balmy but it's just dark and damp out there. It's another one of those days where staying in bed and listening to the rain would be a treat.

Yet, here I am, early into the office, ready to start the day anew. I'd say I'm fresh-faced and all that but, truth is, I'm probably not too many steps away from being a zombie. I used to not be a morning person at all; preferring to sleep late and stay up late. Nowadays, though it takes me at least an hour or two to fully wake up, I'd rather be up early and get a lot done then go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Of course, living in a college town, that can be difficult. Though my apartment building is supposed to be for grown-ups, no college kids, the rules seem to have been relaxed lately. Or perhaps I'm just getting older and they're graduate students and adults and they look like kids to me. Oh, I hope not though.

Now that the days are getting longer, there's often a game of Frisbee or ball-throwing going on in the open field behind my apartment building. It's like something from one of those CW-Gossip-Girl-One-Tree-Hill type shows except, you know, not. So far, these boys keep their shirts on. Mostly, though, they like to stand around and drink beer in the field. I'm not quite sure why the field seems like a good place to stand around and drink beer but who am I to question the ways of students?

For the most part, these frisbee-playing students don't both me. The only time they do is when their girlfriends decide to come out on their balcony and carry on a conversation to the boys who are drinking beer in the field. You see, these girls have very loud voices. The topics of conversation that they like to shout are not particularly intellectual. I did learn yesterday that one of the girls had her tarot cards read and was now a little freaked out. Poor thing; if she hadn't been shouting her conversation to the girl standing next to her on the same balcony, I might have a little sympathy.

Then there's my downstairs neighbour. Remember when I complained about the man shouting at his girlfriend in the middle of the night? Well, it turns out that the shouting wasn't coming from above, it was coming from beneath. Now he's taken to standing out on his patio and shouting at his girlfriend. It's nice to share his relationship problems with others. While, overall, I would prefer him to perhaps break up with his girlfriend instead of shouting at her on the phone, I'm a teensy bit relieved that he's no longer only bothering me.

Still, I will say that there's something about living in an apartment building that keeps life interesting. There's always something going on. In case you were wondering, my stray is still around. Usually, once a week, he asks for a ride. I still wonder why he hasn't got his car fixed but since I sort of go his way each morning, there's no reason not to give him a ride. He did buy me dinner once as a thank-you.

Now it's Spring, I expect to see more of my neighbours now that we're not just dashing from one place to another to get out of the cold. I'd say that's a nice thing but sometimes I don't like having people around, especially on days like this where I'm a little crabby because I need more sleep. However, I'm trying to be positive and maybe it's a good thing; it's a sign of the season I suppose. Spring is officially here, if the daffodils don't confirm it, the frisbee games do. I'm wondering if they last all summer or, as in the case of Spring Break a couple of weeks ago, the apartment complex empties out and it's just us permanent-livers, the grown-ups who don't depend on school semesters to determine our living arrangements. I'll just have to wait and see.

Happy Wednesday.

The Disturbing of My Peace

Thank goodness it's Friday. That's a cliche, of course but this week seems like it's taken forever to pass and while it hasn't been bad, it hasn't been particularly joyful either.

Still, the weekend lies ahead which means a little time to regroup before I'm back in the office. I'm looking forward to sleeping a little. It's been super cold this week and getting up in the mornings has been tough.

Of course, that may also be because I have new neighbours above me. They moved in just a little while ago. Our apartment building isn't the most soundproof but, prior to these new neighbours, the noise level that leaked to my apartment wasn't too bad. With the exception of the beeping alarm clock, of course.

These new neighbours...how to say it....are really loud. No, they're bloodly loud. They're young 'uns, meaning that they look to be in their early twenties. They don't seem to have grasped that while there are some students in our complex, most of us are grown-ups who are trying to get away from living amongst the university students. We don't want to be around frat parties. Ok, so the boys that live across the hall get a bit loud during basketball or football games but I can live with that.

My new neighbours don't seem to get that. They're the type to blast music until midnight. It's that really annoying type of music in which one song drags on forever, the pulsating rhythm a monotonous drumbeat on my ceiling. Yet since they did cut off the music by midnight, I was ok with that, mostly.

What I'm not ok with is the phone conversations I can hear at 2 a.m. One of the boys is clearly having girlfriend issues and likes to shout at her on the phone. He's mean. He calls her names, really crude ones, yells at her to tell him the truth and the normal heated things that angry boyfriends say to angry girlfriends. However, this has now been happening for the last three nights. I've banged on the ceiling and that seems to work but in order to do that, I actually have to get out of bed which is NOT good for my sleep cycle.

I do feel very sorry for whoever's on the other end of that phone call because my upstairs neighbour is super mean. Given that he's such a young 'un, I can't help but wonder if it's worth it. I mean, any relationship that has 2 a.m. screaming matches on the phone on a nightly basis seems like a little too much work to me, you know?

I agree, lovers do quarrel. Yet I'm telling you, if any man spoke to me the way my neighbour speaks to his (ex?)girlfriend, I'd hang up the phone on him. I don't like to hang up on people, even accidentally. Yet sometimes, there are easy ways to end angry conversations. And trust me, I know it's a girl because of the sex-specific names he angrily calls her. He actually called her my very least favourite name the other night. I'm not typing it out but it starts with c and ends with t and is just not a nice name to call someone. For me, that would be the end of the conversation.

Yet, not for our loving couple, half of which lives above me. They seem able to go at it for hours. Maybe it is true love and they're working through some kinks. However, I dearly wish they could work through those kinks at a more decent hour and, perhaps, a little less heatedly and a little more maturely, but to each his own, I suppose.

Of course, I get the feeling I'm not alone in my 2 a.m. wake up call. I noticed our building manager posted a sign telling everyone to keep the noise level down as people actually do have lives and have to get up in the morning to do things like, say, go to work. I'm guessing that perhaps the noise level is even worse for the neighbour who lives beside them. I'm really hoping that the kiddies who live above me either realize that they're disturbing the peace or end up moving out. I wouldn't mind either option, actually.

Wow, that makes me sound old. What can I say? I need my sleep.

Happy Friday.