Official Business (finding an apartment)
I must say that I was truly inspired to begin the apartment search through some subtle hinting that my life's direction seemed to be a little haphazard, and that if I didn't get my act together I'd end up back where I started. The truth was that the idea of finding an apartment on my own seemed absolutely daunting. I have completed this process with a little help from my friends in the past, but the truth was that I had never gone about it alone. Just because I have accomplished so many things in my short life-time, some people just assume that I am fearless, but the truth is that this step really was huge for me.
Just before spending a week in the city I went to Massachusetts to watch my cousin Megan's daughter perform in a dance recital. Her performance was adorable, but the company did an outstanding job.
Watching them made me a little resentful that I wasn't able to grow up in surroundings where theatrical dance was applauded and so professionally executed. Well, this weekend provided me with a lot of playtime with Evangeline (the 3 year old pictured above). She made me a lot of pretend salads and we put on a lot of "shows" for each other. The whole purpose of the trip was to watch Evangeline's dance performance and to put together an elaborate swing set. I must admit that I wasn't any help in that capacity, however, I managed to be an excellent baby-sitter.
As soon as I returned to Connecticut I decided to hit the ground running in the quest for finding a quality/reasonably priced room in New York City. Being a true novice and unwilling to pay the exorbitant fees of a real estate broker, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Craigslist, although seeming slightly shady, would provide me with a list of rooms to view.
I'm not going to lie, searching for an apartment was a truly draining process. I would have to compare it to auditioning, or interviewing for a job. It was very judgmental. Just to be considered a suitable renter of this apartment that was advertised a person would have to provide two paystubs as well as this past year's tax returns. "What the heck?" I was looking to make a lifestyle change, not grounds for a financial investigation.
The first room that I looked at was on the border of the Upper East Side. It was kind of gorgeous and extremely spacious, when considering New York standards. The guy who showed me the apartment was nice enough, I did pick up on amateurish vibes, however, I wasn't about to hold that against him, or the fact that his girlfriend was wearing a circa 1980's wolf shirt (that should have been disposed of when it was initially released). Well naturally I offered to pay the deposit as well as the rent for the first month to secure that I would live in this apartment.
By now I should know that it is completely unrealistic to strike gold on your first attempt. Enter asshole roommate, who definitely was suffering from a Napoleon complex. He took one look at me and requested to speak to his roommate in private. Well, that was it and an incredibly awkward start to my journey of seeking an apartment. They came back and explained that they wanted to weigh their options and vote on their options together.
That was enough to get me out of there. Immediately I called my friend Salem, a customer that I had met through my days working at the New York Sports Club. Of course like any true friend he sided with me and invited me to meet up with him. He lives in one of those really grown up apartments that I can't help but idolize. He is a photographer who has even had work featured in the New York Times. He has been on so many interesting assignments, that I truly marvel at his talent.
So I met up with Salem and he ended up giving me some advice on how to orchestrate my writing career. He also let me complete my Promote U webinar in his house. When I told him my normal routine of schlepitude back to Connecticut, he offered to let me stay on his couch, which I gratefully took him up on. He also knew how important working out is to my life, therefore he took me along as a guest to his gym "Blink." Being in my natural habitat did feel absolutely wonderful.
As I was working out I received a text that confirmed my next apartment viewing. During the previous day I decided to do a little homework and had inquired about a room in Chinatown/Little Italy. I must say that I didn't know much about this area, but I did know that Miranda in Sex and the City - the movie claimed that it was trendy.
Through text we had set up our viewing at 11. When the girl who I was corresponding with did not come down the stairs I must say that I was a little creeped out. Finally I left after composing a text that stated that I was done waiting in the hallway. After that I became convinced that it was a bogus ad, because a room in Chinatown could not be priced as low as $800.
For lunch I decided to go to Central Park, and what do you know, as I was sitting there good ol' Cindy called me about the possibility of rescheduling our viewing appointment. She claimed that her mom had passed me on the way out to get groceries and had neglected to pass the news onto Cindy. Well, that kind of seemed irrelevant to me. Why have the mom enter into the equation? Whatever, a person will do just about anything to get an apartment in New York City. I remember about ten years back from Fairbanks, AK I once ran into an ad where some pervert wanted a roommate to just flounce around the apartment in the nude, in exchange for free rent.
After I finished eating my lunch, I decided to go back to Chinatown to view this apartment. To see that I have never seen anything like this would be accurate, but scary would be an understatement. My brief stint in real estate taught me that photos are an extremely important selling point in renting an apartment. Staging is everything and certain angles need to be employed when striving to make a room to appear huge.
All I can say that any pictures of this place would have been a deterrent. The room was so small that when showing it to me Cindy (who ended up being an adolescent boy) stood in the hallway while I just stood in the room slumped over because it was so small that it was impossible for me to stand upright. When I questioned him about where a person would sleep. There was a loft with about a foot of space between it and the ceiling. Bad dreams here would not be an option here because they might cause possible injury. Also forget getting a mattress up here, this looked like a yoga mat situation.
I'm afraid the bathroom wasn't any less scary. It was the size of a shower and I would be sharing it with a family of eight! That was enough. I pride myself on my flexibility and ability to endure harsh living conditions, but this was inhumane. I couldn't help but think that number 3 would provide me with better options.
Number 3 did end up coming through, and if I hadn't received a Facebook message from my friend Kurt, I most likely would have taken this apartment, however, I didn't like the stringent requirements this woman was demanding of me. When I flat out told her that I moved to the city in hopes of creating a new life for myself and explained that I did not have a current tax return. She looked at me with a tilted head and cockeyed expression and explained to me that I could have a grantor. What ever happened to good old fashioned faith that someone would try their best to deliver? Did she really need someone else to vouch for me to believe that I was a good person?
Even though this apartment was truly beautiful and in a great area, a little voice inside of me told me that this wasn't my apartment. As I walked through Central Park on my way to this apartment, I couldn't help but notice this truly beautiful rock formation. It is very rare for me to take nature photos, but this one made the cut.
The next day I viewed apartment # 4 and knew that this was it. It was shown by my friend Kurt who played the guitar when I went to school at Stony Brook from 2005-2006. Our friendship remains to be very special in that we admire each other's passion and tenacity. Currently he is doing all sorts of music gigs that take him all over the world; one day I hope that similarly I will be able to pay the bills with my art form.
