Saturday, May 14, 2011

New York, I Still Love You

Apartment hunting in New York is one of the most stressful, frightening and unpredictable processes. Apartments go fast. Any decent apartment will hit the market and be gone within days, if not the same day. So do you commit or do you hope for better apartments to come? There's never time to sleep on it because when you wake up the next morning, it's gone. So next time around when you're in the same situation, there is even more stress and pressure. Eventually, you either settle or find your perfect apartment. By the end, you don't even care because you're just so happy it's all over. I know people who actually have signed a lease knowing their bedroom doesn't even have a window. Jail cells have windows. After you have lived in New York for some time, you accept that there is no getting around finding a cheap apartment. What New Yorkers call a 'deal' is disgusting. But you either accept it or get the hell out. I chose to accept, even though my parents, still to this day, tell me to get the hell out. And LUCKY me, it's that time again to find an apartment aka time to knock five years off my life. It's time to say goodbye to friends and doing anything remotely fun. Looking at apartments is your new life for the next month. If it's not, you're for sure going to live in a shoe box. And if you're loaded, simply press the X in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

Somehow I've managed to move 6 times and I've only lived in New York for 5. That is just wrong. But now I've realized your living situation has a huge impact on your happiness. Do you know if you keep pressing the refresh button on Craigslist, new apartments constantly hit the market? It's a sick addiction and every time I catch myself in these ridiculous moments, I promise myself it's the last year I'm doing this. 6th time around and what am I doing? I'm looking for another apartment. They say New York will chew you up and spit you out. Well, I think I've finally accepted our love/hate relationship. New York, I love you right now but I'll probably hate you tomorrow when some bum coughs on me in the subway. If that's not true love, I don't know what is.

Here are the apartment-hunting sites I'm loving right now...




And when I'm not getting scammed, I love Craigslist

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