apartment karma

I've been living in this apartment for 5 years. The same place. None of this moving every year bullshit that some NYers do. I should have moved out after that first year. This apartment has bad juju.

Six months after moving in, I got robbed. Serious. Through the fire escape. My box of jewelry, with pieces dear to my heart, gone. My camera, gone. My computer, gone. Another six months later, bed bugs. The exterminator dude said they came from the heating vent so, upstairs or downstairs were to blame. I say upstairs cause that dude is the weirdest. He yells out loud sometimes. Randomly. Like just a loud yell that I can hear. Then there are the video games. He plays them all night long and then falls asleep with the opening sequence of the game playing over and over. He paces. Back and forth, for an hour straight sometimes. His apartment is the same size as mine so I don't know how he has that much room to walk around. Then he flooded his bathroom. Twice. Which flooded my bathroom. Then Ely James moved in. That part-not so bad but, there are always drums and cymbals everywhere.

Now we are dealing with some renovations on the 2nd floor. You wouldn't think that would affect the 5th floor but, when there is some kind of chemical combustion in the closet that starts a fire, it does. Ely James saved the whole building after he called 911 and told the responders that this construction was going on. Totally weird walking up to my building after work, finding 4 fire trucks outside and a row of police officers waiting to talk to the super. Illegal workers, perhaps?

Let's move! If only it were that simple. Deposit. Realtor's fee. First month's rent. We're looking at least $5000 to get out of this hell hole we are living in. It's really not that horrible. It's just annoying and I dream of living else where all the time.

This is what it's like around here:

1BR Ditmas Park (actually 1 stop further out then where we are now) $1450

1 BR Kensington (my favorite!!): $1285

1 BR Park Slope (wouldn't even call this Park Slop proper-it's on 14th Street for fuck's sake) $2185

1 BR Clinton Hill (close to Pratt, near nothing else but there is a "privet" backyard) $1749

2 BR Crown Heights (this hood can be kinda sketchy but man, that's a beautiful place) $1999

1 BR Crown Heights $1275

1 BR Williamsburg (just blocks from my work...) $2750

1 BR Greenpoint (another totally inconvenient but awesome neighborhood if I had moved in 5 years ago) $2500

Or stay where we are, in one room, for $1250 plus headaches from unknown chemicals?