SO IT GOES 1/30/06
I couldn’t really think of a proper title for this post, so for anyone who’s read Slaughterhouse 5, you might recognize the quote. Anyway I’m not really in the writing mood, but I figure I might as well just write something so that I don’t get in the bad habit of not keeping up with this little project I started.
So I’ve gotten all moved into my new studio apartment, and I’m pretty relieved about that. It looks fairly cool. I still need a couple crucial pieces of furniture. The most important is something for guests to sit in, like a loveseat or small couch, lounge chair or something like that. It will also be nice for myself, because the only thing I have to be comfortable in is my bed, which is a brumble bed. I’ve never heard of one before, but what it is a bed on wheels that rolls out of what looks like a drawer of a large armoire. It’s really convenient and smart for a small studio because it allows for more room. This apartment is really quite interesting. The building was built in 1911, and was a hotel for many years. In fact, it still looks a lot like a hotel. It still has an old style elevator with a see-through door, and one of those old fashioned sliding metal inner doors that folds in. There are pictures of what Portland looked like back in early days on the hallway walls.
My favorite thing about the studio is that even though it looks very small, there is so much storage room that you don’t notice. For instance, since the bed is hidden, both the bathroom and walk-in closet are raised a few feet from the rest of the studio. So there are three step stairs that you walk up to enter them. Well under the platform of each stair is a storage drawer that pulls out almost as far back as the bathroom and closets go (about 8 ft or so.) There are also many large cabinets in the kitchen. Believe me, I’ve got a lot of shit, and I still have lots of extra room. In fact, I don’t even have a dresser or anything like that yet, so I’m using the stair drawers for many of my clothes.
Another thing I like about my new place is the location and view. It is in a nice part of downtown Portland very close (a couple blocks) from the bus mall and transit center from where you can take a light-rail train to anywhere in the city. I am on the fourth floor, and have two large windows in the main room that overlook the city. Whenever we have parades, which is pretty often, they pass right in front of the building so I have a great view of everything.
I’d say that I’m pretty happy. It is so strange to not have roommates…strange and wonderful! I love how my place is clean all the time, because I’m clean all the time. Having my own bathroom and kitchen is great. The only thing that I have to work on is my budget. Oh, did I say my budget? What I meant is that I have to learn how have a budget LOL! I’m going from having 2 jobs and only paying $320 a month for rent to only having one job and paying $540 a month. Already I’ve had to ask for an advance on my paycheck at work, get a payday loan from one of those rip-off artist establishments, and hit my Pops up for a loan. I’m kind of scared about being able to catch up from the financial debacle I’m in right now. My friend Trecia tells me that I will just naturally learn how to do it, but I know myself and I don’t believe I’ve ever been able to "naturally" do anything.
Well I’m getting bored with this post, so I figure that anyone else (Danielle) reading this has probably gotten bored 5 or so paragraphs ago already and probably aren’t even still reading it. I may not even post this piece of crap…we’ll see. Late!