CBA16 was the winner!!! I have signed a lease!!!! It is not a cardboard box!!! I can move in May 1!!!
HURRAH!!!!
And I'm looking for a sixth housemate, so if you're interested let me know.
The Boxes are OVER!!!!
Except the new house looks a lot like a box.
16 January 2009
First Day of the Rest of Your Life
Etc.
So CBA 5, 6, and 7 sucked. We averaged about 3 a day, and I missed all of yesterday cause I had classes. Today we saw CBA11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. 11 was my fave. Great house, big kitchen, lots of common space. But it was too far away (so was 12) and so, you know. That's how that goes. CBA13 was Housemate1's fave, but it was a house for 7 people, and Housemate2 already doesn't know most of us, so she didn't want to add more stranger. Housemate3 hated CHA14 (and so did I) despite everyone else's assurances that we'd love it. By this point, however, I've spent all week doing this and not my school work, and so has everyone else, and we hate it. We're signing a lease for CBA15 tonight.
It isn't the nicest place I've ever seen, but it's pretty close to campus, and also to downtown. It's the back unit of a house that's been divided into three. There are six bedrooms, a common room, a (pretty small) kitchen, two full bathrooms and a laundry room. The owners are going to put in a second refrigerator for us and we're going to hunt for a sixth person. Rent (utilities included, which I like) is $500 a month, which is fine. one or two of my housemates are planning on being away second term, which freaks me out (what if they replace themselves with bad people? What if they don't replace themselves at all? Etc.) and I really don't like the kitchen in this place that much, but it isn't the end of the world. Hopefully once its full of my furniture and my dishes and my food and there are things I like on the walls it'll feel enough like hope that I really am comfortable there. And I think I like the Housemates, though there is one room nobody is going to want that we might have a fight over. Hope not. I'll ask if someone is willing to live in the basement before we sign the lease.
So, no cardboard box for me.
I hope.
So CBA 5, 6, and 7 sucked. We averaged about 3 a day, and I missed all of yesterday cause I had classes. Today we saw CBA11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. 11 was my fave. Great house, big kitchen, lots of common space. But it was too far away (so was 12) and so, you know. That's how that goes. CBA13 was Housemate1's fave, but it was a house for 7 people, and Housemate2 already doesn't know most of us, so she didn't want to add more stranger. Housemate3 hated CHA14 (and so did I) despite everyone else's assurances that we'd love it. By this point, however, I've spent all week doing this and not my school work, and so has everyone else, and we hate it. We're signing a lease for CBA15 tonight.
It isn't the nicest place I've ever seen, but it's pretty close to campus, and also to downtown. It's the back unit of a house that's been divided into three. There are six bedrooms, a common room, a (pretty small) kitchen, two full bathrooms and a laundry room. The owners are going to put in a second refrigerator for us and we're going to hunt for a sixth person. Rent (utilities included, which I like) is $500 a month, which is fine. one or two of my housemates are planning on being away second term, which freaks me out (what if they replace themselves with bad people? What if they don't replace themselves at all? Etc.) and I really don't like the kitchen in this place that much, but it isn't the end of the world. Hopefully once its full of my furniture and my dishes and my food and there are things I like on the walls it'll feel enough like hope that I really am comfortable there. And I think I like the Housemates, though there is one room nobody is going to want that we might have a fight over. Hope not. I'll ask if someone is willing to live in the basement before we sign the lease.
So, no cardboard box for me.
I hope.
13 January 2009
Little boxes...
CBA2 was a joke. It was less nice than my current house, which is actually looking better and better every minute. Unfortunately that ship has sailed.
CBA3 was pretty nice, the best part being of course that there was a gentleman inside watching West Wing. CBA4 was kind of a joke too. The landlord wasn't even there. We asked the guys who lived there why they were moving out and they were just like "mold. No water pressure. Sucky landlord." So that's a no-go. Really the importance of water pressure cannot be overstated.
We'd've stayed to hang out with them, though, if they'd asked.
We're seeing several more tomorrow. The one I expect to like is going to be too far away for everyone else's taste, so I think (I hope) we're going to settle for a cute little one around the block from where I live now.
I hope I hope I hope.
I'm just praying it doesn't disappear before we get our acts together.
I can't do this past Friday. I really hope we can figure something out so I can finally get my day off.
CBA3 was pretty nice, the best part being of course that there was a gentleman inside watching West Wing. CBA4 was kind of a joke too. The landlord wasn't even there. We asked the guys who lived there why they were moving out and they were just like "mold. No water pressure. Sucky landlord." So that's a no-go. Really the importance of water pressure cannot be overstated.
We'd've stayed to hang out with them, though, if they'd asked.
We're seeing several more tomorrow. The one I expect to like is going to be too far away for everyone else's taste, so I think (I hope) we're going to settle for a cute little one around the block from where I live now.
I hope I hope I hope.
I'm just praying it doesn't disappear before we get our acts together.
I can't do this past Friday. I really hope we can figure something out so I can finally get my day off.
Back to the Cardboard Box.
Is all a sham. We were finally (after a whole 5 days) ready to sign the lease on Cardboard Box Alternative #1 (CBA1) and told the landlady so. Which was great until she let someone else sign first! So now we're actually looking at houses for next year. It's very uncomfortable feeling, not knowing where you're going to live a year from now. It's also taken up my entire day off, which I'm upset about.
It's okay. CBA1 wasn't perfect, and also this has taught us the lesson of "get your shit together" which we didn't have, the first time around. And also that if you put all your eggs in one basket you're going to trip and fall and the eggs are going to get leased to someone with their shit more together than yours is. And then you're going to have egg goo all over you.
So I'm going out looking again this afternoon and, I expect, the rest of the week (except Thursday, when I have class instead, how strange.)
The nub and gist is that I knew one girl who went to uni in the North before I ventured up here, and she transferred to USA cause she didn't like having to find housing. I feel her pain.
It's okay. CBA1 wasn't perfect, and also this has taught us the lesson of "get your shit together" which we didn't have, the first time around. And also that if you put all your eggs in one basket you're going to trip and fall and the eggs are going to get leased to someone with their shit more together than yours is. And then you're going to have egg goo all over you.
So I'm going out looking again this afternoon and, I expect, the rest of the week (except Thursday, when I have class instead, how strange.)
The nub and gist is that I knew one girl who went to uni in the North before I ventured up here, and she transferred to USA cause she didn't like having to find housing. I feel her pain.
09 January 2009
I love My Cardboard Box.
So, once again it is the time of the year when university students desperately try to find somewhere to live for next year.
It seems silly that this takes place in January. Last year when I was abroad it had to happen even earlier--November, when we hardly knew one another. As a result, I decided to live in res, and C, T, M, R and another girl decided to live together (though C, T and M really didn't know R and the other girl very well. I found out over the summer that my res was going to suck, and that the fifth girl who was supposed to live here was going to go to uni in BC instead of here, so a space opened up in a house with people I would never have considered living with otherwise (T and M are very, very loud, and I don't do well with noise) and here we are.
It hasn't been an easy year, housing-wise. As expected, they are too loud, and also seem to have an aversion to household chores. As I found out when I moved in, I feel strongly about cleanliness and my housemates...don't seem to. There is also not a dishwasher in our house, which helps what might have been a small problem become a very large one on a regular basis. That said, T, M, C, R and I have decided not to renew our lease (our house is fine, but not especially nice, and it's excellent location (re: distance to classes. It is very near campus, though, and so isn't so quiet) meants that our rent is really rather high for what we actually get.
So I'm scouting new housing and, much more difficult, new housemates.
S wants to live with me. I love S (also I know she reads this blog), she's teaching me guitar, she's quiet enough for me to live with (though not especially tidy, but nobody's perfect...) and so S and I are in it together. Except she's going to UBC second term next year. She suggested we include our friend, JK. He's a guy, and is even neater than I am, so this is fine with me, though he's also on a pretty loose budget and wants somewhere nicer than either S or I are really sure we're comfortable with.
K might join us, R might join us (prob. as a sublet for S when she goes away, R is planning on going abroad first term), I may as C to join us, we'll see how it goes. The thing is, W asked S, K and I (who had already discussed it) what we were doing about housing while we were at lunch the other day. And then kind of invited herself to join us.
I do not want to live with W.
She is very loud and very cheap and I'd rather live with JK and R, neither of whom will live with W...
So I have to tell her no.
Bummer. I hate confrontation.
It seems silly that this takes place in January. Last year when I was abroad it had to happen even earlier--November, when we hardly knew one another. As a result, I decided to live in res, and C, T, M, R and another girl decided to live together (though C, T and M really didn't know R and the other girl very well. I found out over the summer that my res was going to suck, and that the fifth girl who was supposed to live here was going to go to uni in BC instead of here, so a space opened up in a house with people I would never have considered living with otherwise (T and M are very, very loud, and I don't do well with noise) and here we are.
It hasn't been an easy year, housing-wise. As expected, they are too loud, and also seem to have an aversion to household chores. As I found out when I moved in, I feel strongly about cleanliness and my housemates...don't seem to. There is also not a dishwasher in our house, which helps what might have been a small problem become a very large one on a regular basis. That said, T, M, C, R and I have decided not to renew our lease (our house is fine, but not especially nice, and it's excellent location (re: distance to classes. It is very near campus, though, and so isn't so quiet) meants that our rent is really rather high for what we actually get.
So I'm scouting new housing and, much more difficult, new housemates.
S wants to live with me. I love S (also I know she reads this blog), she's teaching me guitar, she's quiet enough for me to live with (though not especially tidy, but nobody's perfect...) and so S and I are in it together. Except she's going to UBC second term next year. She suggested we include our friend, JK. He's a guy, and is even neater than I am, so this is fine with me, though he's also on a pretty loose budget and wants somewhere nicer than either S or I are really sure we're comfortable with.
K might join us, R might join us (prob. as a sublet for S when she goes away, R is planning on going abroad first term), I may as C to join us, we'll see how it goes. The thing is, W asked S, K and I (who had already discussed it) what we were doing about housing while we were at lunch the other day. And then kind of invited herself to join us.
I do not want to live with W.
She is very loud and very cheap and I'd rather live with JK and R, neither of whom will live with W...
So I have to tell her no.
Bummer. I hate confrontation.
06 January 2009
Thank you, Mr. Gutenberg
My schedule this term goes like this:
History of the Middle Ages
History of Imperial Russia
History of Jewry, 1492-1948 (approx.)
Politics: Democracy and Democratization of Eastern Europe
Then I need a fifth. I had, in a moment of insanity, signed up for a history class called "New Imperialism" which I went to and hated. Now I'm signed up for one on the Cold War, which I expect I'll like better. I've gone out and found a classics class called "The Levant from the late Bronze Age until Romanization" as a back-up, just in case.
My Middle Ages professor says that anything that happened after the invention of the printing press isn't really history. With few exceptions (the U.S.S.R., notably) I agree with her. The New Imperialism class was terrible. It was supposed to be a history class, but the professor (who seemed quite good) was floundering around for a way to convince his students that European Imperialism, from approx. 1850 until the late 20th century was history.
He failed.
I am no longer in the class.
I hope the Cold War one is better, but if not I'm sure the class set between the Bronze Age and Romanization will qualify as legitimate history.
History of the Middle Ages
History of Imperial Russia
History of Jewry, 1492-1948 (approx.)
Politics: Democracy and Democratization of Eastern Europe
Then I need a fifth. I had, in a moment of insanity, signed up for a history class called "New Imperialism" which I went to and hated. Now I'm signed up for one on the Cold War, which I expect I'll like better. I've gone out and found a classics class called "The Levant from the late Bronze Age until Romanization" as a back-up, just in case.
My Middle Ages professor says that anything that happened after the invention of the printing press isn't really history. With few exceptions (the U.S.S.R., notably) I agree with her. The New Imperialism class was terrible. It was supposed to be a history class, but the professor (who seemed quite good) was floundering around for a way to convince his students that European Imperialism, from approx. 1850 until the late 20th century was history.
He failed.
I am no longer in the class.
I hope the Cold War one is better, but if not I'm sure the class set between the Bronze Age and Romanization will qualify as legitimate history.
02 January 2009
Idolatry
I was with my 8 year old cousin yesterday when her mother asked her which teenager she thought dressed better: Miley Cyrus or me.
My cousin said me.
This wasn’t a huge surprise, she’s not really the mini-skirt and tights kind of gal.
Earlier in this break I spent some quality time with three cousins who really are much more mini-skirt-and-tights. They’re all girls, ages 10, 8 and 6. I babysat them. We watched Hannah Montana. These are all very bright girls, and to be honest I was surprised that they wanted to spend their evening with me watching Hannah Montana instead of playing games or reading books. At one point I asked the eldest what she thought of Hannah. She said that they used to really like Miley Cyrus, until she took “those pictures.” (My aunt and uncle are very conservative, and I was really not surprised that my cousins didn’t like these shots of their teen idol. I was a little surprised that it had such a profound impact, however. They hadn’t stopped watching Hannah Montana, but they had stopped having any kind of respect for its star.)
Anyway, what I guess I’m getting at is that kids ought to be given better role models than this.
They should also read books instead of watching this garbage.
That said, I watch kids TV. Zoey 101, for example? Fantastic television, with a really great role model…
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