Monday, February 12, 2018

To Move or Not To Move

My lease runs out April 15. I've got to decide by February 15 (in 3 days) whether or not to stay for another year.

Pros for moving: I'm claustrophic as hell here. I want to be in a house or on the 2nd floor of a building, being able to breathe fresh air at night with my windows open. There's no air draft here. My row of apartments is between two other rows of apartments. No trees outside of my windows: On one side, I see air conditioners. On the other side, where I have a small backyard, I see other apartments towering over me. There are often people walking by my apartment at all hours.

Cons for moving: The rent is staying exactly the same: $1275. And I have 1200 square feet of space. Austin rent is so tight right now, this is a really good deal. And the dick-neighbors that I initially had a problem with when I first moved in (loud parties, etc.) are out of here March 15. (I asked.) It's only 10 minutes from work. The management is very good and responsive. It's a huge hassle to move. I've got $400 in cash tucked away in a book that I've been saving for movers --- from winning a $100 Trump election bet back in 2016 and from doing freelance work.... If I don't move, I can use the money to buy a bedroom TV and new microwave.

Part of me wants to stay --- the most comfortable thing. Especially knowing that the dick-neighbors will be gone. Plus I feel that this 1200-square-feet of space can be worked with. I haven't given it a fair chance (boxes still stacked up and never put away since I moved in a year ago).

But part of me (always) wants to gamble and try something new and better. In a better "walking" neighborhood, an "old Austin" neighborhood, like where I used to live in the '80s and '90s. Aiming for trees around me...

Except that I'm really old now -- 52 -- and I've seen how "gambling" has gone in the past. My current apartment situation is decent. Any new apartment I get could possibly be 100 times worse. (Trees, in a cool location, but really crappy, loud neighbors that the management won't control.)

Yeah, yeah. I'm sure I'll let you know in 3 days.

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p.s. Because I absolutely can't decide for myself, I've asked for signs from the Universe re the April 15 deadline. And I've gotten some!

(1) A notice from my apartment management that the free basic cable from Spectrum would be ending on April 15. (I absolutely hate Spectrum and their shitty service.)
(2) I've been reading a Lincoln bio by David Herbert Donald; Lincoln was shot on April 14 and died on April 15.
(3) Last week I was watching a PBS program about the Titanic; the Titanic sank on April 15.
(4) Yesterday, I was watching "In Cold Blood" on TCM; the killers, Perry and Hickok, were executed on April 14...

I can't, though, figure it out: If many bad things happened on a certain date, are you supposed to stay in the same place or MOVE? (Surely, if Lincoln and the Titanic passengers had stayed home, they would not have died...)

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