Shared Apartments and Televisions

Living on a non-profit salary and paying an exorbitant amount towards my student loans each month (thanks, GW!) makes having a roommate a necessity when you live in an expensive metro area.  I've had relatively good luck with my living situations thus far (knock on wood)--even the ones brought about by Craigslist.  They're never perfect, but a far cry from some of the horror stories I've heard. 

Even then, sometimes the little things add up and affect your happiness in a living situation.  One of my biggest problems now is that my bedroom seems to be perfectly placed in such a way that it picks up every sound the sound in the apartment.  My earplugs sure come in handy.  The other one is the perennial favorite--television access.  Being the last one to arrive home on work nights (I have two roommates), it was hit or miss.  It wasn't a dire situation and definitely not one where I'd get mad or think it appropriate barge in and demand control of the remote.  It was more of a situation where I'd want to come home and relax--especially now that it's winter--to an episode of Top Chef or a movie and not be able to.

On Cyber Monday, I gave up cursing the defective television I had bought from my former roommate and bought a new one.  It's a small little flat screen, but it gets the job done.  Yesterday,  I even trudged all the way to the nearest Comcast office in the snow to pick up a cable box which, after some troubleshooting, is up and running. 

Television access is a minor thing, but it speaks to the larger issue which is having control over your living space and how you experience it.  It's more about not having a choice in the matter.  And now I do, so that makes me happy.

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The Neverending Cycle

I've realized that I go through the same "mood cycle" almost every weekend. 

On Friday evenings, I'm just happy it's the weekend and I'm content to stay in and relax.  I'm usually so tired that going out is, while not completely out of the question, not my activity of choice.  This doesn't bother me because what I want to be doing is watching an A&E Criminal Minds marathon. Or a chick flick. 

Saturday is the bad day because I'm reminded of two things--that I'm a horrible planner and that most of my friends are no longer in DC.   It's the day when I should be doing things, but I'm not.  Or at least not as often as I should (needed to state that I'm not a recluse).  No whining; it is what it is. 

Sunday starts off like Saturday, but by early afternoon I summon up some hidden motivation source and say that, from this point on, I'm going to put myself out there both personally and professionally.  Yes, I will finally get around to those things that I've meant to do.  That's all well and good because I genuinely feel motivated and every week I believe that this week is the week I'll follow-though, but....

...But then the work week kills my soul and the cycle starts again.

I doubt that I'll be able to break the vicious cycle this week, but there are good signs.  For one, my body hurts in that damn-that-was-a-good-workout way and I'm eating healthier--signs that my body is actually responding to my exercising this time around.  I also felt intellectually stimulated for the first time in a long time which can go a long way in making that motivation stick.

One of these days I'll pull myself together, I just know it.  

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Wrap Me in Coziness

I love this apartment.  It's a good example of arranging and decorating a small space.  My favorite part is how the bed is sectioned off by the shelving because, in my opinion, one of the most displeasing aspects of a studio apartment is how the bed is just hanging out there for everyone to see.  Apartment Therapy sometimes has similar posts about how people make use of their small living spaces, but I think this example (post is from Decor8) has a bit more personality. 

I have the post starred in Google Reader and I look at it at least once a day.  I think part of what draws me is that it'd fit into my lifestyle.  I'd like to think that could maintain the clean, modern look that I say I like, but really--there is no way.  I'm not a pack rat, but I do have stuff everywhere.  This apartment has a lot of stuff, but it also seems as if everything has it's place.  And really, it just seems cozy.

I recently realized that I'm drawn to smaller spaces.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to live in a closet, but I also don't want more space than I need.  I have a difficult time knowing what to do with it.  I think part of my affinity for smaller spaces is due to the fact that I grew up in a small house with a large family so I associate the feeling of a small living space to the good memories and the feeling of being home.  I also think it has to do with having a harder time keeping a larger area clean.

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Autucomplete Me, You Complete Me

If you haven't seen Autocomplete Me, please visit the site because it makes me laugh every post.  Click here to see the most recent post. 

I totally see why they highlighted "would you hit a woman with a baby no i'd hit her with a brick." Seriously, what?  It's ridiculous,  But they key to reading these is to not stop at the most ridiculous one because, from time to time, there are other gems in the list. 

I mean, would you hire the apostle Paul?  It's a quandary I'm sure a lot of hiring managers find themselves in nowadays. 

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Rationalizing my Thanksgiving Decisions

I hate Thanksgiving.  Not because I hate the holiday, but because I hate all the travel craziness that goes along with it.  I hate the craziness so much that I've only spent two of the past nine Thanksgivings at home.  The last time I went home was 2004.  Granted, one of those years I was out of the country and another I had just moved to DC the week before, but it's still a pretty low number.

Basically, you have almost everyone traveling on the same day.  To me, it's not an airport issues; it's a getting to the airport issue.   It's not easy for people like me who rely on public transportation when you have to compete with masses to even get on a metro/bus/train/shuttle to the airport.  Also, it's insanely expensive and it's for such a small amount of time.  On top of that, I'm going home for Christmas anyway.  It just doesn't seem worth it to me. 

I'm fine with my decision to stay in DC.  Admittedly, I do get jealous when I see people wheeling around their suitcases and talking about going home to see their family, but I get over it.  Thanksgiving, while not unimportant, is not a big holiday in my family.  And I do have somewhere to go; I'm not spending the day hiding in my apartment and eating ramen. 

In the end, I think not being able to see my family--and missing them--on Thanksgiving makes me realize just how thankful I am that they are all healthy and happy.

But I'm still mad at Thanksgiving for creating travel torture.

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Wundereeb: Toilet Conqueror

Excuse the indelicate topic, but I'm standing proud right now because I successfully unclogged the toilet in my apartment. 

I was livid.  I hate clogged toilets.  I mean, who doesn't?  I had a lovely, relaxing night in mind and instead I spent it with a plunger and on the phone consulting with my father and my brother.  My brother, the self-proclaimed Plunger King, helped me out with plunging techniques while my father gave me more technical information about how the toilet works. 

Whenever I have a toilet issues, I have the same conversations with them.  You see, I already know the plunging techniques and how a toilet works.  I just freak out every time it happens and need to walked through the process.  I need to whine on the phone and get moral support.

But when that toilet unclogs--damn, it's a good feeling.  I'm not what you'd call a handy person so I very much enjoy the feeling of being able to fix things myself and not have to call an apartment maintenance person during off hours.  And my pride is what this post is really all about. 

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The Big Two-Six

We all have different ideas of the ideal birthday.  My favorites have been my 20th and my 26th.  I prefer a somewhat low-key, small group of good friends birthdays. 

So now for the details (warning:  I'm not exciting):


This year the plan was to start with a mini-party, pre-gaming session at N's apartment and move to Bourbon in Adams Morgan.  I'm sure Bourbon would have been just as fun, but we ended up staying in the apartment due to a birthday girl executive order.  Given the party's theme, it was the best decision because cocktails at Bourbon are $10 (thereby making you think twice before ordering another). 

So after dropping my BlackBerry in a bowl of hummus, almost falling off my chair, and a little bit of drunk texting, I made my way home and, really, that's where the fun begins.

After going to bed at four and stumbling out of bed at 7am to get something to hydrate myself, I finally am able to doze off for about an hour.  And then--this is great--the building's fire alarm goes off and I have to evacuate.  It takes me a minute to even realize what's happening (thank god there wasn't actually a fire) and, with the room still spinning, I find some proper clothes, my keys, my wallet and bolt out of there. 

I wander over to Brueggers and buy a sausage breakfast bagel.  By the time I got back, we were free to enter our building again.  I climbed back under my covers, ate my bagel, and slept until 2pm.  When I woke up, I decided that pho would be the best hangover cure.  Not having a bowl big enough to hold the pho, walked to Crate & Barrel to buy a big, bowl.  Oh, the things I'll do for my pho.  And, that was my weekend.

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