Changes (again)!

You know, no one else will, but I find it interesting that I spent almost 10 years living in the same apartment in Korea town and then, once I moved out, I find myself moving really often.  So far it's been:

K-Town
M-Town
S. City
P-Town

Now I find myself back in the vicinity of my old hood!  I'm in LA again. YAY!!!!  I'm back in the land of inconvenient marathons, tar pits, traffic gridlock and every type of food you could ever want!  I'm home!

I knew I either wanted to go back to where I was before (or thereabouts), or maybe end up in the Los Feliz district. So one Saturday I grabbed my clipboard, apartment sheets, IPad and headed over.  Found a street fairly central to the neighborhood I liked, parked my car and just walked up down the streets looking for interesting apartments for rent.  The minute I got out of my car and started walking around, I felt back at home and comfortable.  It's a nicer area than where I was before (and I have the higher rent to prove it). At least all utilities are included, right? Plus, I have a dishwasher and garbage disposal.  My landlord went to great lengths to stress to me that my apartment is the only unit in the entire building with those two things.  It used to be his apartment, so I guess he made sure he had all the best amenities.  Too bad I'm not really a dishwasher / garbage disposal type of person.  He also REALLY pushed the fact that I have a courtyard with a fountain outside my apartment windows and "you know, with a glass of wine, it's very, very romantic".  Agh!  I don't want my apartment manager waxing lyrical about the romantic possibilities of a fountain.  Of course, that doesn't stop me from chiding him that the fountain has been out of order since I moved in, so I haven't been able to experience the full romance of it yet.  With my cat. :-)

My new apartment building is really cool.  It was built in the 1920's and has loads of character.  The world's smallest and oldest elevator can be found right down the hall from my unit!  It matches the mailboxes, which I think were installed when the building was erected.  Sometimes I can get my key to work, sometimes not.  It's a crap-shoot!  I don't think the lobby has been decorated since 1986, it's really kind of shabby and threadbare, so I try to come in through the back.  Besides, going through the back means I can use my key and not punch in the security code.  Not that the code is a big deal, I'm just lazy and bad at remembering numbers.

Gotham has settled in well.  Unlike my temporary pad from November to September, he doesn't walk around the place crying day and night!  He's back to being his old self.  I think he likes the layout of the new place with all of the closets and stuff.  Plus, I HAVE A DRESSING ROOM AGAIN!!!!!  Granted, it's not a separate room down the hall and you have to pass through it to get to the grotty bathroom (the bathroom really is gross. I need to do some work in there!), but it IS a dressing room.  Built in dresser, shelves and armoire,  It's also got a lighted vanity with table (a small one).

This last weekend I bought a cheap drill and put up curtains in the living room (and the usual fairy lights), rearranged the furniture and hung some of my art up on the walls (both items I purchased and those I painted myself). I still have boxes all over the place, but it's starting to look like home.  I just need to find the wall studs in the bedroom so that I can hang curtains in there.  The walls are plaster and lathe, so if I put a screw in the wrong place it just punches through (yes, I've done this once already).  Luckily every window has blinds, so privacy hasn't been an issue (yet).

The "Walk Score" of my new place is 91, which is awesome!  I can walk to bars, food places, two different Ralphs grocery stores and Trader Joe's PLUS I've found a new place to get my hair done.  I decided that I really liked being able to walk to my last place, so I chose I place a couple of doors east of La Brea.  I've also noticed that there's a "Five Guys" burger place nearby.  I heard a while ago that they were really good, so I may have to try them.  "Whimsic Alley" is a new place I want to check out that's close by.  They're having a Doctor Who event in November!  I don't have to worry about driving, cool!  Kinda expensive, so I'll have to see if anyone else wants to go.  I'm not gonna spend $100 to stand by myself all night wjen I can do that at home for free, LOL.  Too bad I moved in to my new place after the price jumped up to almost DOUBLE, I never had a chance!

Parking is kind of an issue, but it will sort itself out.  I went through hell (and survived) and got a parking permit and a visitor pass.  Since I take the bus to work, I have to make sure my car gets moved for street cleaning, which is a pain.  Not a huge deal though.  Most of the time I don't park on my street since, for some reason, parking seems easier on other blocks.

So, that's it for this entry.  Things are moving along pretty well.  All I need to do is study and try to drop all the weight I gained when I lived at my last place (I miss all that home made food cooked in fat and all the evening cocktails!!!!).  Fingers-crossed the weight goes and the studying pays off!