Eclecticism

Well, we’ve gone and done it — we turned in the application for the apartment we looked at yesterday. The apartment Prairie looked at this morning was “nice, but not as nice,” and while the apartment we checked this evening was nice, we weren’t comfortable with the area. It was only three blocks away from Aurora (for my Anchorage readers, think north Muldoon/4th Ave./Spenard rolled into one, but bigger and seedier), and the neighborhood just didn’t give us the best vibes.

So, we went back over to yesterday’s option, turned in our application, and then zipped down the few blocks to Prairie’s sister’s place. After a few minutes chatting with them we left the car there (so as not to have to pay for parking in downtown Seattle all week) and hopped on a bus back to my apartment. The bus situation is nice, too — the apartments are just a block away from a stop for number 41, which is a straight shot to downtown Seattle, all of about half an hour.

If all goes well, we should hear back by midday tomorrow…and with luck, we’ll get the go and have our new place!

And then comes the moving…

“My Heart Belongs to Daddy” by Duchin, Eddie and his Orchestra feat. Martin, Mary from the album Pop Music: The Early Years 1890-1950 (1938, 2:57).

Prairie and I looked at an apartment yesterday evening up in North Seattle (just off the 130th St. exit from I-5) that looks really good. A 1960’s-era apartment complex, decent sized 2-bedroom with fairly new appliances in the kitchen, ground level (but rather than being open to the street, it’s half-sunk and looks out into a rock garden with cherry trees), parking spaces, a storage locker, good laundry room (not in the unit, but good sized and with new machines), a pool (!), and only a few blocks away from her sister. Looks very promising, and the landlord was a sweet lady who’s very involved with the neighborhood community.

We’ve got two more to look at today — another also off the 130th St. exit that Prairie will be looking at today while I’m at work, and one roughly halfway between Green Lake and Carkeek Park that we’ll both see this evening — so with any luck, one of those three will be the place, and we’ll be able to put money down and start the process of moving within the next week or two.

I’m going to miss being with walking distance of downtown a bit, but the tradeoff is more than worth it (finding a 2-bedroom in the $800/mo range just isn’t very easy this close to central Seattle), and between Prairie’s car and the bus system, it’s still a quick jaunt into the core of Seattle for when I want to come in for clubbing, wandering around, or anything else I might want to do down here.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed, but at least judging by yesterday’s showing, things are looking very promising. Yay!

“So Much” by Impossibles, The from the album Ska: The 3rd Wave, Vol. 4: Punk it Up! (1998, 3:23).

Approximately 60 units in my apartment building, a mix of studios and one-bedrooms.

Three sets of washers and dryers. Of these six machines, at least one will be broken at any given time. This week, it’s one of the washers.

Wash loads take about 30 minutes. The dryers take about 60 minutes.

What all this adds up to is laundry taking an absolutely ridiculous amount of time to do. I started my two loads at around five this afternoon. It’s now eight in the evening, and I’m looking at, oh, at least another hour and a half if all goes well.

Meh.

“Ba and the Ka, The” by Anubian Lights from the album In to the Mix (1997, 6:02).