Apartment-palooza!

Posted on 23 August 2010

Writing:
Three more chapters down in editing.  Three more to go and then I can move on to Lesson 3.  I also got hit over the head with this book’s actual theme.  Up until now I’ve thought the duology’s theme would also be this novel’s, but no, it’s actually quite different, which means I’ll have to rework yet more stuff.  But that’s what learning is for, right?  All of the characters in my story are dealing with grieving the loss of something in their own way.  So the book will be about that.  And Lord help me, I’ll need to read up on this to do it justice.  I’m only 28 and pretty green as far as life goes.  Grief isn’t something I have a lot of experience with yet.  I guess I’ll start with C. S. Lewis since he was written two books on the subject, one before his experiences with grief and the second after.  The study should prove illuminating between the theoretical and the actual.  I’m not about to ask God to teach me, because you know how that goes… He just might say yes.  :S

Store:
The first week managing the store at work has gone well for the most part.  There have been a few dominance issues to work out with the very temporary co-manager who is here from another store to train my actual co-manager, but all in all it’s been a positive experience.

Apartment-Palooza!
I’ve also started apartment hunting, and have two as my chief candidates that while somewhat budget-stretching, fit fairly well into it and are about as cheap as I can get without moving into a high-crime area or driving all the way across town.

One is a 500 square foot studio space on ground level.  The second is a 615 square foot one but is down south and may have hardwood floors instead of carpeting and is also on a third floor.  Also of note is that I haven’t been able to see this one yet as the previous tenants were in the process of moving out.  I should be able to see it this week, but I’m unsure how this factors in just yet.  However, it is the cheapest.  The 500 square footer clocks in next at thirty dollars more expensive per month.

If cost were the only variable, I would go for the cheapest, no doubt.  But there are other factors, such as the relative safety of the neighborhood, level of comfort to budget ratio, and well, just pure raw instinct.  And instinct is telling me to take the studio for some reason that I haven’t yet figured out.

But not without reservations.  I’ve lived in a 580 square foot apartment for a year while I was in Colorado Springs.  And let me tell you, that space got positively claustrophobic once or twice, so I am a little hesitant to cram myself into an even smaller space for at least a year.  But it is a known quantity.  My brother lived there with his wife for a year before moving on up (but to the west side this time).  And the apartment I would move into would be newly renovated.  It’s also closer to family. The downside is that it’s small and offers the worst space-to-cost ratio of all of my options.

And I also have to ask myself… being budget-conscious and on a very small income… is what I know about the 500 square foot studio worth paying thirty more dollars a month ($360 a year) than what I would pay for the 615 square footer apartment on the third floor in the (relatively) poorer section of town?  At least I know the neighborhood around the studio is safe.  I only have my cousin’s friend’s word that the neighborhood around the 615 square foot apartment is okay, and the relative condition of the cars parked outside that it’s “okay”.  Perhaps no worse than where I lived for three years in Colorado Springs.  But I don’t know that.  And I don’t know the condition of the apartment, either.

I am also concerned about moving into a section of town that looks “okay” by day but then when you go to move in the residents are suspiciously eying your stuff; which is what happened when I moved to Colorado Springs.  Yeah.  That lease got terminated pretty fast.  Big mistake.

Hopefully I will be able to see that apartment this week.  Because I’m going to need to make a decision soon or all of this will become moot.

p.s. I should also make a note to ask about tornado shelters.  Being stuck on the third floor in the middle of a severe thunderstorm isn’t something I look forward to.  At least the studio apartment is on the ground floor and has a closet in the center of the space that looks defensible from flying debris.  Don’t know about the other apartment yet.