If you are reading this, I feel sorry for you. Look out the window. For the first time in months, it's nice out. Really, really nice. So nice, in fact, that you shouldn't be inside sitting through a dull lecture or pounding away on a paper. You should be outside, enjoying the weather. Throwing a baseball. Grilling something. Salmon maybe. Sounds good to me.
Look again. There are new buds on the trees and flowers everywhere. You don't need to wear six layers of clothing anymore. The hippies have returned to Library Mall. They fill the air with the tangy aroma of patchouli and the gentle rhythm of bongo drums. Yes, spring is here at last.
It's always hard to focus on anything during the spring. The fresh air and warm weather always seem to pull me away from whatever needs to be done. This is probably why I don't have a place to live yet.
Most people start looking for housing in January or February and sign a lease by March. Me? I just started looking last week and its hard for me to get motivated to look at places. Looking at cramped one bedroom apartments and efficiencies seems like a waste of time that I could be spending sitting on the grass or drinking beer at the terrace. And besides, looking for housing in Madison is such a pain anyway.
I used to really enjoy the annual ritual of landlords and sleek management agents showing overpriced, substandard housing to naive college students, many of whom have never looked for an apartment before. The excitement of looking at new places was gradually worn away by the fact that many of the
ew places"" are not very new and are not very nice.
It is an important decision to make'after all, you'll be living there for a whole year. Making the decision even more difficult is the fact that it's hard to get honest answers out of many landlords, who are usually more eager to exaggerate an apartment's advantages then talk about its shortcomings.
""Oh no, I meant the building is 700 square feet, your apartment is 40. Yes, I agree, it does look a little like a hallway. You probably won't be able to fit a bed in here, but if you get enough beanbags you won't know the difference. And the bathroom doesn't have a toilet so you have to go in the alley. (Don't worry it's pretty secluded.) But look, it comes with miniblinds. Everybody loves miniblinds, right? Look, you can twist this rod and they open and close. Weee! Its only $600 plus utilities. Oh wait, this is the unit with the miniblinds, make it $650.""
This year, I kept putting off the process. At first, I was not sure if I would go to grad school here. Then I was not sure where I wanted to live. And then it was time for spring break. And now there are almost no places left.
So, I am putting out an open call: Does anybody have a spare bedroom? I am quiet and (fairly) neat and I don't mind if you drink chocolate milk out of the carton and walk around the living room in your underwear. In fact, depending on what you look like that could be a good thing. And I would prefer a place with miniblinds.
