The New Apartment

Posted by Robert on the 17th of July, 2006 at 2:13 AM GMT0. Permalink.
Tags: Apartment, Personal

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When I posted this, I was listening to: Marilyn Manson - Personal Jesus

Moving sucks. I've been doing that for the past week. It's not an interesting story, but it is a story.

Why Move?

When Tammy and I moved into the house, we were at a different place. Things change and it was a good time for change.

I had just gotten my job at ESN. I was making (barely) enough to afford a house on my own. We wanted our own place. I wanted to work on my car. I think Tammy was just along for the ride.

Recently, I realized that I was putting more than half of my paycheck into housing. That's too much. I wanted to be able to work on my car. When I have no money, I can't work on my car. I can't save money. I can't really do anything.

Tammy's friend Rochelle was moving out here. They thought they could live together.

So, I decided to move. Tammy had to move with me.

Where To?

Picking a place to move to is almost as hard as moving. Luckily, in L.A. there is this site called Westside Rentals that makes finding a place as painless as possible. I called about a few places before I found out that a place across Sepulveda from the house had openings. So, I made sure to look them up.

They turned out to be the best bang for the buck. So, I signed the lease.

When?

This all started at the beginning of June. I had found the place by the 15th. I was in a hurry because I didn't want to pay rent another month at the house. It turns out there is a legal requirement in California. You have to give at least one pay period notice before moving. So, I had to pay rent on June 22nd. That put me behind a lot. So, I put a deposit on the apartment so they could hold it until the first of the month.

I was headed to Portland on the first of the month. That meant I had to postpone moving for a week. The moving game started on July 7th.

How Did It Go?

Moving sucks. So, to say it went well means that there were no problems, not that it was enjoyable. The move went well.

Friday the 7th, Dan and I moved all the big stuff in his SUV. We started around 1:00 PM and finished around 6:00 PM. Other than the heat, it was no big deal. Borrowing Mike's dolly at the end of the day sped things up. The only notable thing was that we moved the refrigerator without taking the food out. Since I didn't want to leave the fridge off for 24 hours, we couldn't lay it on its side. So, we threw it on the dolly and walked it up and down Sepulveda.

On Saturday the 8th, I made a load of my stuff and put together a load of Tammy's. As I was moving my load, Chris showed up to help me. Since she has an SUV, it made things go quicker. After moving, we went to Tammy's new place of work, Ate 18.

Sunday, Tammy and I took a few loads. By then, we had almost everything moved. I spent the rest of the week taking the miscellany across the street.

Wednesday night, I washed my car and changed my oil. Thursday, I did the laundry one last time. Friday, I did the walk through. I don't how much cash I'll get back from the deposit. Hopefully a lot.

What's the New Place Like?

If you ever went on an overnight field trip in high school, you probably stayed in a cheap hotel. The new place is a lot like that. It's a four floor building with parking, the below ground part of the pool, and the entrance on the bottom level. So, it's three floors of apartments.

The outside is a pale pink color. The inside is painted hotel blue with dark blue accents. Each room has a large window facing the inner courtyard, which contains the pool. Under each large window is a large in-wall air conditioning unit. This is the stuff of hotels. The fact that my utilities are included makes me think the conversion job was a little rushed. Or maybe they are just nice...

My unit is a one bedroom. I have no idea how big it is. It's big enough for me. Tammy is here temporarily. Right now the apartment is full. It should be more comfortable after Tammy gets her place.

Luckily, the interior of the unit is much nicer than the rest of the building. I think the managers don't mop often enough in the stairwell and lower hallways, and Tammy refuses to swim in the pool. I'm not as picky.

The floor plan is simple. The living room, which is longer than it is wide, leads to a small kitchen, separated by a bar. To the left of the kitchen is a hallway. The hallway lays a 90° turn that goes behind the kitchen. To the left after the turn is a small bathroom unit that has the tub and toilet separated from the sink. On the opposite side of the bathroom is tons of storage space. Past the bathroom is the bed room. It's big enough to fit a queen size and full size bed with a little walking room. The closet is the size of the width of the room. The sliding doors to the closet are floor-to-ceiling mirrors. The bedroom window over looks the small side street.

What Do You Think So Far?

I like the layout far better than the house. I think that is mainly because it's a compartment. Everything is on the way to the front door.

I'm having some difficulty locating light switches (something I'll address eventually when I start the Pimp My Apartment project). Some of them are placed on the other wall from where I would put them. I still don't know what socket the light switch in my room controls.

Since the new place is directly off a major road, the noise from cars is much louder. At the house, I left the air conditioner on at night to mask the noise. Here, I don't have that option. It turns out that it isn't bad enough to keep me awake.

That leads me to my next point. I've been sleeping with the air on every night. I got used to the cold. Now, there is no air conditioner in my room. Now, it is hotter. I sleep with no covers most of the night, which is okay. The weight of a few blankets is comforting, but I can live without it. Half way through the night, I pull the sheet over. Apparently, sleeping on J's floor prepared me for this whole ordeal.