The Quieter Life

I just realized that I have moved every year for the past 8 years of my life. Every year during college, every year after college, including twice back and forth across the country. I really detest the process of moving. I think mostly because I am traumatized by the NYC apt search process. I really never want to do that again. Because of the high prices and competitive renter's market, once you find something you've got to JUMP on it or some other fish will take the bait. If it's a good apt, they often have 8 or 10 applications at once for the same place and then just pick whoever has the highest income and best credit. I used to always hit 'refresh' whenever looking at a craigslist so that I could snag the newest posting. I even learned to sort out which postings were what I called "totally bunk" (a technical term). Like when the posting says there's a picture on the listing and it turns out to be a creepy-looking broker in front of an exposed brick wall, as if his presence in front of the brick meant that your apt could have exposed brick also.

Well, things are easier outside of NY, that's for sure. Our landlord was giving us subtle hints that we would not be able to renew our lease here, especially since we were seeking a shorter-term lease. We love this apt for the most part, and when we move, Paul is going to have to release my grip from the stainless steel appliances and the granite countertops. We're leaving mostly because we are fed up with the manangement's lack of responsive to things like the broken dishwasher, electrical problems, growing mold in the bathroom and windows, noise complaints from anal neighbors (about us playing Rock Band- the nerve!), and the shady landlord whose details I won't get into here. Finally we said screw it and decided to look for apts on a Sunday afternoon.

This was a decidedly easy process. We just drove around to apt complexes we thought we would like and asked if they had any availability. Most places they did, and in most places there were model units to see if not the real unit for rent. And, they were the ones chasing US to rent the place. Imagine that! I am so used to having my checkbook in hand and going, "We'll take it right now, here's our deposit!!" if we see something we like. But they were the ones telling us, "If you take it today, your security deposit will only be $99!" Wow! $99! I was sold pretty much every where we went.

Well, not exactly. There were some pretty dingy places in UTC that were charging up the wazoo simply for the location. There was one building that we called the Miami Vice apt which had a sign in these very 80's capital letters, and fake plants and plastic chandeliers everywhere. It gave me the creeps. They also didn't allow dogs but the guy kept winking at us to ensure that it would be ok to bring a dog anyway. I wasn't very comfortable with that, or the winking for that matter. Finally, we found one complex owned by a company that owns hundreds of complexes across the country. You could sign a year lease and then if for whatever reason you had to relocate, move into any of their complexes at no additional charge. This is a perfect arrangement for us since both of us have a lot of uncertainty ahead in terms of job and school location. We really have no idea what we'll be doing post June, actually. It's pretty exciting. So after seeing a few of their complexes, we decided the one with the best value was in Torrey Hills, which has a humongous pool and a nicer gym, and is close to many of my students and closer to where Paul's office will be moving soon. It also has a HUGE walk-in closet (I've had bedrooms that were about this size), a full-size washer and dryer, and more square footage than we could find in our current neighborhood. It is a pretty area and our unit has a patio with a view of a canyon. It's also right off of 3 different freeways, and there's a walking trail nearby where you can see the water. It is very, very quiet over there. We say that we have "the quiet life" here. Now we enter "the quieter life."

After I packed about 10 boxes the other day, Paul said to me, "See? Moving's not so bad, right?" I promptly gave him my evil glare and he did dishes for the rest of the evening.