Home Sweet Home...

I wish I had a camera phone, I'd take pictures for all of you, but I don't, and there isn't much to see anyway.
But it's home now, apartment number 608.
I spent a month searching for the perfect roommate situation and almost found it. It was hard, going to work every day and then going on bus lines I'm not familiar with to places I've never been, meeting with people and catching the bus back home by 10:00 at night. I was hoping to move to Cleveland's East side, mainly because it was far away from everything I'd ever known as a born-and-raised West-sider. It's a different way of living, too; because of the universities and the Cleveland Clinic, the East side tends to cater to the more educated, intellectual types, where the West side is more blue-collar. I had 28 appointments total, 20 of them out East, 8 of them in Lakewood where I live now.
I had met with D, who is a classical music teacher and has a lovely house he rents out rooms in. The house was on a main thoroughfare, close to a bus stop and a convenience store. He has a dishwasher and a dog.
But I didn't wait. He called to accept me into his home about two hours after I signed the lease on this place. It would have saved me a bit more money, but I am still living on my own and I didn't have to quit smoking cold turkey, as I would have had to do if I moved into D's place, he doesn't want smokers. His call made me wonder if I'd made the right decision, as I really did rush into signing the lease, but I keep telling myself it makes no sense to ponder it, I can't go back on it now.
I signed the lease last Friday, went home and started packing. I'm not a hoarder, but I was surprised by the amount of shit I'd accumulated in twelve years' time. So I threw away anything I didn't need and realized when I was done it still wasn't much compared to what most folks have. I packed all day Saturday, moved Sunday (with the help of friends) and unpacked Monday. By Tuesday, I was mostly done.

So I live here in my own apartment, in a building about a mile away from the cruddy old corner-of-a-house I was living in. I'm on the 6th floor, with a view of the Metroparks, all trees and sky, something I don't care about much now, but will appreciate much more after the first thunderstorm rolls through, and in the fall when everything is rich in autumn colours, and in the winter when the trees are bare and you can see through them. The kitchen is way too small for someone who actually cooks, so I used my breakfast table to block off one end of it and give myself extra space to work. The cabinets barely fit all of my cooking supplies, but I made them fit. There will be no pot-smoking allowed here, I don't know these neighbours and we're far too close together for it to not stink up the whole hallway, so my friends will have to just muck it up and get high before they come here. That will also kill any football parties I may have planned on having, since they're all pot-smokers. Once I quit smoking cigarettes and disallow that too, I'll be lucky if any of my friends want to come over here. I make friends easily, but doing laundry seems to be the most social interaction I'll have around here. I ran into three young guys, one of them was completely gorgeous, on my first trip to the on-site laundry. Needless to say I'll be doing laundry often. :) Otherwise, I rarely see people. The walk to the bus is longer, so is the trip. I'll have to leave by 7:10 to get to work on time, I used to leave at 7:30. And I'm further from the grocery store, so walking with groceries is a no-go. I'll have to call a cab or get a ride with a friend. The TV doesn't work without cable or a converter box, and I just got the Internet on yesterday, so now I have something to do. I will probably go buy a converter box this week to prevent having to spend money on cable, Cox wants $58/month for cable here, they've got to be kidding!! For all that's worth, I'll stick to watching everything on the Internet.


And now the upside: There's window air-conditioning built in (a must), and the blinds tend to keep everything fairly cool in here. The windows are new and double-paned, not the single-pane crap and apartment screens that E had duct-taped in for me. The faucets all work and the hot water is set correctly so taking a shower is actually a pleasurable experience, rather than getting scalded all the time because E wouldn't fix the water pressure. The sewer pipes would back up and leak all over the basement floor and the smell of raw sewage would come filtering in through the furnace vents, so those of us that lived there would come in to a home smelling literally like shit every few months, and it would take E a week to get someone out there to clean it all up and rather than do something about it and actually FIX THE PIPES, he just keeps getting them cleaned out. We'd all be so sickened we couldn't sleep at night. Well, now I don't have to deal with that anymore. There are maintenance guys here on site 24 hours. The company that runs the building offers discounts to pensioners, so there's a lot of old folks living here, and trust me, those people will not put up with a landlord that doesn't take care of the place. I remember when my refrigerator died at the old place and I had to keep a cooler on ice for three months and all the money it cost me because E wouldn't move a new fridge in. Only when I threatened to call the city did he finally do something about it. That kind of shit won't happen here. And no more begging for rides to the laundromat and dragging two weeks worth of laundry up and down stairs and in and out of cars, I have laundry facilities on the second floor and can do it whenever I want. The trip to work and back is longer, but I get to take the train for the last part of the trip instead of a second bus, and I love taking the train, so there's a bonus. I don't have a bed, a dresser or a couch yet, but I work at a social services agency and we have connections. My co-workers wrote me a referral for a furniture bank that provides low-income folks like me with furniture super-cheap. For $150 total, I'll get a mattress, box spring, dresser and couch delivered to the door. We have an appointment scheduled at the end of this month, so by August I'll be fully functional in this new place.

So for all the upheaval, I guess I'm managing okay. My thyroid is still under control, no panic attacks, no head swimming, the brain zaps are coming less and less. I've had a few nights of poor or no sleep, but I guess that's to be expected living in a new home so abruptly. If it's the only trouble I have, I won't complain...