Fortunately, thanks to some creative (and possibly illegal) fiddling with the wifi on my iphone, my laptop is now connected to the world wide web once again.
In the last post I discussed my job hunt, today I’ll tell you about apartment hunting and moving in.
The search for a place to live thankfully went much faster than the job hunt, mainly because I was sleeping on my friends couch for most of it, and in a hurry to move on.
Initially, before I was thrown out, Matt and I intended to find a place together. Unfortunately, Matt did not get as lucky as I did in the job hunt. He got very close to getting a job, and we were hopeful for a moment. Unfortunately, Matt is very unique. He’s an individual. The kind of individual that wears a tail on his Tripp pants and a pentagram around his neck. And he fully expects everyone to accept him for this and love him for who he is, the way Caleb and I do. Unfortunately, he fails to realize that the majority of human beings are arrogant assholes with stereotypes where their brains are supposed to be and blanket generalizations in the place of manners. The woman who called him back after receiving his online application told him he all but had the job and asked him to come in for an interview. He went to significant effort to get there, excited and eager to please. The woman took one look at him and stiffly replied that they were ‘only hiring girls.’
He was applying at a dog kennel, as a bather.
He’s still searching, but without results yet. Meanwhile, I moved on to trying to find a place myself. My main difficulty was simply that I had no idea what I was doing. I’ve never rented so much as a carpet cleaner on my own before. I was utterly lost in the world of real estate, and there was precious little in the way of practical help from my father (he’s still not really speaking to me) and even Cathy seemed unable to comprehend my confusion. Maybe my lack of knowledge is confusing to someone who’s had their own house custom built, twice, but you’d think they’d have something better to offer than “Just call the apartment complex and ask for one!”
As a result, the search took longer than it should have. First I looked on the internet, as I had for a job. I found a couple of apartment complex’s near my work, and convinced my father to drive me around to look at them.
The result was a repeat of the job hunt. I stood in the background feeling awkward and stupid while he rattled off real estate jargon at ninety miles a minute with the agent. The best we could find, the one my father wanted me to get, was a tiny one bedroom in a place called Nottingham. It was part of an enclosed community with a pool, the entire thing was about the size of my current living room, and it cost more than six hundred dollars a month.
I am convinced that my father’s encouragement that I purchase that apartment was a ploy to force me back to Florida.
Regardless, I said no and kept looking. My second attempt, thankfully, went better. Matt advised me to try the local paper for listings, and I found two nice, cheap one bedrooms. One was 425 a month, the other about 350. Caleb took me this time, rather than my father, and the experience was muuuuuch better. Note to self: If I ever need to move again, Caleb is the one to do it with. He made the whole thing much more fun and easy.
There was no one in the office at the complex of the cheaper apartment, but it wouldn’t have mattered if there was. The complex was situated behind a Lowes and the local gay bar, and it was as seedy and unpleasant looking as anything I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t have lived there if they had paid me.
The second apartment was run by a local agency Matt recommended. We went to their office and filled out an application alongside a woman named Jenny, who was also applying for an apartment in the same building. Jenny is only a few months older than me, and has also been thrown out. Her boyfriend dumped her and kicked her out the minute he found out she was three months pregnant. It’s been a very hard time for her, but she’s still incredibly upbeat and friendly. We ended up going to see the building together, along with the agent.
The building was a little two story number with four newly refurbished units. One was already occupied by a woman named Christie, also the same age as us. I’ve only met her briefly, but she seems great. One apartment was still being worked on, the other two we got to walk around. There was one upstairs and one downstairs, and we were all immediately sold. They were both much larger than the 600 one I saw before, and though in need of work, perfectly wonderful. The neighborhood, while not the best, is nice, and Its on the bus line close to my work.
I knew I wouldn’t find anything better, and everyone else agreed. Everyone that is but my father, who had decided he wasn’t going to answer my calls anymore. I was counting on him to help me pay for the deposit and the first month’s rent. I may have had a job now, but I won’t get my first paycheck until this time next week. Meanwhile, my darling mother had her own drama to add to the situation.
She managed to talk to my father and convince him to pay the first month’s rent, and she would pay the deposit, but not for free.
My mother and I have this ongoing feud you see. A few Christmases back, my father got my sister and I an Xbox 360 for Christmas, for which I shall love him forever, no matter how long he ignores my calls, because I looooove gaming, and all the best games are on the console, not the pc. And unfortunetly for me, all I had previous to that was a much abused ps2 that we had only one game for (kingdom hearts, of course) and my long deceased SNES. So, you can understand my extreme desire to take it with me when I moved out, especially since my sister never played unless I was playing with her, and she was headed for military school in a few months anyway. Unfortunetly, the xbox, somehow magically managed to make its way out of my bag in the night and become unpacked before I left in the morning. Mom maintains that I never packed it, but I find that unlikely considering how vehemently I argued my right to have it. Regardless of weather it was stolen or never packed, my mother certainly never went to any effort to mail it to me, despite promising to repeatedly (promises she later rescinded and denied ever making) and sending me a boat load of other useless things in its place. Eventually, she promised me she’d send it if I got a job. So, when I got my job at Blockbuster, I informed her and told her I eagerly awaited the arrival of my property. She told me she’d send it as soon as I had an address to send it to, because she wouldn’t send anything to my father. So, I went out and found an apartment, but when it came time to pay the deposit, she changed the rules yet again and declared that I’d have to sell her the xbox if I wanted the deposit, knowing full well I had no other option. Three times she lied! And so I was forced to sell it, right after getting a job where I could have rented ten free games a week! ARRRGH!
But, really, the xbox wasn’t what was so upsetting.
I was infuriated by the loss of my xbox, yes, but more importantly I was hurt that my mother would so blatantly manipulate and lie to me that way, for the sake of stupid gaming console. Because of that, I delayed giving in and selling her the xbox almost too long. If I’d waited another day, I would have lost the apartment. As it was, combined with my father’s thick headedness and my inability to drive, my father and Cathy never got to see the apartment before I put the deposit down. Had they been able to see it, or at least walk me through signing the lease, they might have told me about some of the issues I now face, and how to fix them.
And make no mistake, this apartment has a lot of issues.
<--- This is what it looks like when you’re standing in the doorway.
I’m only getting electricity in two of the wall sockets, none of the overhead lights come on, there’s no door between the bedroom and the livingroom, you can see daylight all around the front door, and under the air conditioning unit, leaving the cool air to escape, making the apartment unbearable during the day and allowing bugs in at night, there was no cap on the gas line when I first moved in so they still haven’t turned on the gas, there are no smoke alarms, no chain on the door…the list goes on. All things that could have been fixed had someone who knew anything about apartments been there at the first.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my apartment. But there’s a lot that needs fixing.
So, yesterday, Caleb helped me move my things in. It was all already packed. I’d boxed everything up and put it in the garage a few days after I left, when my fathered informed me they were having guests to stay and needed the room. I’d told Cathy I was working on moving in that day, that I’d be there around ten, and later we would go grocery shopping together. Unfortunetly, she messaged me later to tell me that Maddie had strep throat and they were going to the doctor. She said she’d text me when they were done. In the meantime, Caleb and I went to the apartment to meet the utility people. Afterwards, with nothing to do and no word from Cathy in hours, we decided to head to my dad’s house and just pick my stuff up ourselves.
Unfortunetly, when we got there Cathy was indeed back from the doctors. She informed me that I was not allowed to just ‘drop in’ without saying anything now that I didn’t live there. She chewed me out right in front of my friend, just for coming to visit. I had no idea I was so unwelcome in my family’s home.
At any rate, we moved my things in two trips with Caleb’s car. The only set back was on the first trip when I left my purse with the key in it at dad’s house and Caleb had to climb through a window. He’d been babbling about how awesome Final Fantasy XIII is the entire day, and I swear the only time he stopped is when he fell through that window onto his head, lol.
<--- Caleb with the tiny door in my closet. We think it goes to Narnia. :3
Cathy said they’d bring my mattress and dresser over in the Pilot later, after dad got home. It was the first time they’d seen the apartment, and there was no approval on their faces. Dad just scowled and said maybe three words to me the whole time. Caleb, god bless him, kept them mostly distracted talking about the little things that needed fixing. I just focused on making the bed and didn’t say much. Once the furniture was in, they asked me to dinner, but declined to wait for me a few minutes until the maintenance man finished installing the window unit upstairs and came down to talk about the electricity and the gas line. I suppose I understand not wanting to wait in the apartment, it was sweltering. But they could have waited in the car.
Anyway, Caleb and I had a fun time unpacking and decorating. Then we headed back to Matt’s house for minipizzas. Almost as soon as we got there, Matt told us about a kitten his friend Stevie had found on the side of the road and rescued. Stevie was in love with it, but couldn’t keep it, so Matt was going to meet her near Petsmart to pick it up.
The kitten turned out to be a Siamese. Scrawny, flea infested, hair falling out and whiskers mangled with malnutrition, and absolutely the sweetest, most adorable thing you’ve ever met in your life. He took an instant liking to me and Matt, hopping back and forth from my lap to his all the way home. We named her Ina Bean. Ina after the famous Japanese warrior woman, Bean because it’s cute and so is she.
She threw a fit while we were bathing her. She was so eaten up with fleas it was a wonder she’d survived this long. And she was so scared of the water that it took all three of us to keep her in the sink. Once she’d gotten her claws into my arm she calmed down, so long as I didn’t try to take my hand away. She’d get startled and bite me, then immediately lick me in apology, like she felt bad for lashing out. She really is a sweet little vanilla bean.
Anyway, that’s about all for now. I’ll write more tomorrow, about work and the apartment and Ina Bean.
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