A Rare Glimpse of a Furniture Graveyard

I never really write in this table anymore. It’s a part of my default entry template so it’s always here, but I can never think of anything interesting or amusing enough to include.

Actually, that’s not true. I think of plenty of interesting and entertaining things to write about when I’m at work, or walking home in the afternoons, or at the store — I can just never remember them when I’m sitting here and writing about things. It’s a shame, really, because inside my own head I’m the funniest person in all the land.I didn’t want to leave that last entry up as the most recent one for very long. Truth is, I really don’t let those kinds of things bother me much. I could let them bother me if I wanted to, and if I did they would overwhelm me in record-time. So I’ve convinced myself that I’m bigger than them, and most of the time I believe it. I spent ten years as a nutcase because I let those things run my life, but now the only one who runs my life is me. I’m probably healthier now than I give myself credit for.

I answered an ad for an apartment that I found on Craigslist the other day. I’m not really looking to move, but I have a total fetish for HousingMaps.com and was playing on there from work when I found the perfect place. It’s in a neighborhood that’s not as, well, ritzy as the one in which I live now, but is still very nice and very safe. The space is the third floor of a house that’s currently occupied by a single woman and one cat, it’s two rooms, a private bathroom, and access to a roof deck for — get this — $500 a month. Right now, I’m paying $650 for a studio loft. Plus, according to the advertisement, the $500 includes all utilities, including high-speed internet access and cable TV, because she already has them coming into the house anyway. Between rent and utilities, if I got this space I would be saving $300 a month. Three! Hundred! Dollars! A! Month! A part of me thinks that something has GOT to be wrong with this picture, and another part of me knows that everyone and her mother has probably responded to this ad, so my chances are very slim. But it’s worth a shot, and it’s also given me hope that there are some good deals out there. I’m definitely going to be keeping my eye out from now on.

Speaking of apartments, the hallway outside my apartment has become a furniture graveyard. For the longest time, there was an enormous, ancient desk at the end of the hall, just around the bend from the main staircase. It blocked half of the door and after three months I got so fed up that I went to the landlord and lied that I had a wheelchair-bound family member coming to visit, who wouldn’t be able to fit past it. The desk was moved the next weekend. Soon afterwards, a refrigerator took its place. That, at least, disappeared more quickly than the desk did. Now, there’s a giant upended fugly leather couch in the corner, and a futon frame perched against the wall. They’ve been there for weeks, and I don’t anticipate them going anyplace anytime soon.

I mean, honestly. What’s next, a rowboat?