The People That You Meet

Apartment hunting on short notice has been an experience like none other. In university I lived in residence and then moved in with a friend when one of her roommates moved out. Totally bypassing the ridiculousness of e-mailing strangers on Kijiji and hoping for the best. The fact that I only have a week to find a place just adds to the craziness. I mean, worst case scenario I could stay with friends for a week or two while I find a place but I would rather move once and stay there and not have to move again in two weeks time. That being said I'm not about to settle for sketchy accommodations just because I'm on a time crunch. Some ads I've answered have quickly turned from good to bad with one reply. These are just a few of the delightful folks I've interacted with over the last 72 hours. 

Pinterest

Hipster Girl

She was my first lead, the room seemed nice enough and with just one other person I thought I was home free. Then I creeped her on Facebook. The first red flag was we had some mutual friends. And by friends I mean casually acquaintances who I had either gone to high school with or worked with and are still kicking around my friend list but are super hippies/stoners. I'm a friend to hipsters, I can get on board with oversized/unnecessary glasses, fair trade coffee and plaid. The drug use not so much. Moving Along. 

Family Circus

I don't remember the exact wording of this ad but it went along the lines of "looking for a third roommate in two level townhouse close to downtown...both young professionals, non-smoking, no parties..." So I emailed to check it out and discovered that it wasn't so much they were looking for a roommate as much as they were looking to rent out a room in their house. This husband and wife team had at least two kids and were just looking to rent out a room (for a lot of money considering what was included) in their house with shared kitchen/bathroom/living space. No Thanks. 

Animal House

I'm still not convinced this one was real. And I didn't send an e-mail because there was no way I was ever going to move in with these people. But their ad contained such gems as "2.5 dogs live here, really just two but there's a third that is over a lot", "420 friendly", "Saturday night parties & jam sessions", "communal living", "co-operative environment" and "must not be uptight". If I was a producer looking to cast a reality show this bunch would have been my pick, but I'm not. I just want a place to live for 3.5 months. Keep Looking. 

Christian Girl

When I saw the ad 'female Christian roommate wanted" I was sold. I e-mailed the girl and she seemed really excited and lovely and I was really excited. Good location, no crazy parties or drug use, sign me up! And then I asked for photos of the place and if I would be able to Skype with the roommate (the girl I was talking to is the one subletting her room). Girl replied back that she wasn't willing to sublet her room to anyone without approval from the roommate. Understandable. I replied that I wasn't planning on making the five hour drive to the city before moving and was hoping that we could exchange some e-mails, set up a Skype meeting and decide if we'd be a good match. She stopped responding. I feel like I failed some sort of Christian Girl test. 

The Hippies
I love me some tie-dye. And I'm all about peace & love and all that good stuff. But there's a line. And these folks were past the line. They were looking for another roommate who would agree to attending regular meetings to discuss the atmosphere in the house, has an interest in poetry and foreign languages,  potlucks and highly active in environmental and social justice issues. #aintnobodygottimeforthat If I was embarking on some sort of spiritual journey this would be an experience, but I'm not. I have a job. The last thing I want to do after a day of work is come home to a meeting to discuss the atmosphere of the house with 8+ people who live there.

Big Bang Theory
At the moment this is my most promising situation. But again I'm waiting on pictures. These guys are looking for someone to take over a lease until April (perfect timing). There's a parking spot, it's within my budget, close to work, it's a lot of check marks! And bonus points for the room being furnished. I've got high hopes for this one. I'm referring to them as Big Bang Theory because it's 4 PhD students. Which is great because it means I won't be living with a bunch of undergrads who just discovered alcohol. Fingers Crossed!

City Weekend

I had the best weekend! It was so great pictures couldn't even begin to do it justice so I didn't take any. (What I'm really saying is I'm a terrible blogger who carried a camera everywhere this weekend and failed to take any pictures.) 

I've been in the City since Tuesday so there were lots of options when it came to weekend shenanigans! It started off on Friday afternoon when I hung out with my friend Q. we spent the afternoon catching up, went for a walk around his university campus and got coffee. Friday night H. came over and we spent the whole time engaging in some good old fashion girl talk while snacking on Halloween candy. I'm so thankful for phones and computers that make it possible for us to communicate on a daily basis but it's just not the same as being in the same room. I took advantage of every opportunity I had this weekend to see friends and spent time together even if we didn't have elaborate plans.

Saturday H. and I had plans again but first she spent the morning and afternoon working on her thesis while I hung out with the cats. The main reason for my stay in the city was to cat sit these three adorable creatures while friends of mine were in New York.

Saturday evening H. & I went out to supper and then did some shopping. She scored three super cute dresses to wear with leggings at Target and I got an awesome pair of boots and a plaid button up shirt at Old Navy. We had some time to kill before our next activity so we went to Chapters and spent an hour browsing the Humour and Self-Help sections. It's amazing what people can write a book about and get published! Next up was the highlight of our plans: Cosmic Bingo.

That's right. You've probably heard of Cosmic Bowling, but here in Atlantic Canada, there's also Cosmic Bingo. We were pretty surprised to see that the crowd was mostly made up of people around our own age with only a handful of seniors. Neither of us won anything but we fully intend on going again, and the next time we go we're going to bring along more camp friends. We play a lot of Bingo with our adult campers so playing glow-in-the-dark Bingo in the off season really helped cure some of the campsickness. 

Sunday I tidied up the apartment, watched entirely too many true life crime shows on CNN and recovering from all of Friday & Saturday's fun. 

My cat & apartment sitting duties end tonight and I'll be heading home tomorrow morning. But I'm heading home fully recharged and happy after a weekend full of friends & adventures. This afternoon I want to hit up the Gap & Roots outlet stores and treat myself to a delicious over-priced caffeinated beverage.