Movin On Up

I did a lot of thinking yesterday with Indy.  I couldn’t help but notice that Indy spent more time in my apartment than he did in his own.  I joked around and told him that he might as well move in because it wouldn’t make much of a difference.  Then, I looked around.  There was a little box by my couch that had a bunch of Indy’s stuff in it.  The closet in my living room was filled with a bunch of his clothes, including some of his uniforms.  I opened the fridge and a bunch of A&W sodas (Indy’s favorite soda, not mine) were in it.  Then I realized what I had been doing before I started looking around.  I had been folding Indy’s clothes that he had just washed in my laundry room (and this isn‘t easy to do with an arm in a sling).

We were practically living together.  It had happened so gradually that I didn’t even notice.  Did this freak me out?  Surprisingly, no.  I felt weird.  Normally, I would’ve freaked out at the thought of someone practically moving themselves into my apartment.  This didn’t freak me out at all.  When my ex used to leave his stuff at my house (even if it was just a CD) I would flip because I felt like my space was being invaded.  That, and because I didn’t want his things in my house if we ever broke up.

Were we really living together?  I figured I might as well be blunt about it and ask Indy.  “Are we living together?”  He looked up from behind his book, stared at me, then slowly started tilting his head.  He was thinking.  “I think we are. I mean, there’s only soda in my fridge now because I always eat here.  The only thing I go up there for lately is to get clothes, and those end up getting left here so my closet is getting pretty empty.”  He stopped for a minute then continued.  “I could move my stuff back upstairs if you want me to if it bothers you.  I didn’t mean to.  It just kind of happened.”  It did just kind of happen.

What I was really confused about was the fact that I wasn’t freaked out or bothered by it.  I liked waking up and having coffee waiting for me.  I liked that I no longer had to use a step ladder whenever I needed something from the top shelf.  I was amazed every time Indy automatically started setting the table when he saw that food was almost ready, and I was even more amazed that he’d help me clean up when we finished eating.  I didn’t mind having him around all the time.  I like it.

When I found out my parents were moving to New York and that I would be moving downtown, I was a little scared.  Downtown LA can be scary.  Of course, living in a really nice building takes away some of the oh my god, someone is going to break into my apartment and kill me in the middle of the night feeling.  Come to think of it, this place is starting to grow on me.  I’m five minutes away from school, and fifteen minutes away from work.  The place is absolutely beautiful (even though you can’t throw pennies in the fountain and take a flower from the gardens).  If I want to work out, I can go downstairs to the gym.  If I feel like relaxing, I can sit by the pool, sit in the jacuzzi, sit in the sauna, lie down in the tanning bed, or get a massage (they have massage tables but I’m not sure if you have to bring someone in to give you a massage).  If I feel like going somewhere, I just call the front desk and they make reservations for me (if you‘re ever get a chance, I recommend going to see Wicked because I loved it).  If I need cash, there’s a handy dandy ATM machine downstairs.  It’s a very nice place to live in, but it’s just really expensive.

I started thinking.  I’m paying a little over $2,000 for this small 750 sq ft one bedroom one bathroom apartment.  It’s crammed with my things, and my never ending pile of school supplies just keeps getting bigger.  It’s just too small.  I need a bigger place, but that means it would cost more money.  I don’t want to get a place in a really shady area because then I’d have the oh my god, someone is going to break into my apartment and kill me in the middle of the night feeling all the time.

I figured I might as well be blunt with Indy again.  “This place is too small.  It’s crammed with stuff.”  Indy put down his book, stared at me, then slowly started tilting his head (he always reminded me of a cute puppy when he did that).  He was thinking again.  “I told you I could move my stuff back up, but it’ll probably end up down here in a week or so.”  He stopped again, then started tilting his head again.  “Or I could bring down the small amount of stuff I have left upstairs and you could put all your school supplies upstairs and use it as a work area.”  I couldn’t do that.  If my school stuff was upstairs, then I would get lazy and not want to go all the way upstairs to do my work.  Not to mention it would be a waste to pay $2,000 for a place to only do my work.

All of a sudden, Indy quickly tilted his head.  This mean he had a brilliant idea.  “We’re both paying $2,000 for a one bedroom, one bathroom place.  Combined that’s almost $4,500.  For just one or two hundred dollars more than what we each are paying right now, we could get a two bedroom, two bathroom place upstairs.  It would be cheaper for both of us.  You could use the second room for your work.  I don’t mind sleeping on the couch if you don’t want to share your bed… Just a thought.”  A brilliant thought in my opinion.

Indy had been spending about five minutes a day in his apartment, and this past week he hadn’t even gone up there.  That’s over $2,000 on an empty apartment.  My parents were no where to be found, I was going to be paying for my own apartment anyways.  And if you really think about it, we both would have to pay about $800 less that what we’re paying right now if we got a bigger apartment together.  It made sense, but was it a bit hasty to officially move in together.  Maybe, but what would the difference be.  He was always in my apartment, and I got a good look at his apartment a few minutes ago and it was empty.  We were wasting money when we could be saving money.

We talked it out, sat down and out it on paper to see if it made sense.  It did.  I was making about $300 a week at the restaurant because I was only working part time since I had school.  With tips, was up to about $500 a week (a smile goes a long way).  That’s about $2,000 a month.  My rent was currently a little over $2000 a month.  All the money I make in a month, plus some from my savings, would go to rent.  That means, all my other necessities like food, clothes, things for school, gas, phone, car, insurance, entertainment (all work and no play makes Tina go insane), and any other unforeseen expense would have to get paid with my savings.  I don’t know about you, but I want to quickly pay of my $50,000 student loan (which is going to turn into an $80,000 student loan if I decide to go back an extra year for my bachelors).

After a lot of analyzing, I think we should go for it.

We talked to a guy from management and he decided that we could get out of our lease (especially since my name wasn’t on mine) and get the apartment together (I wonder what the Psycho Lady’s reaction will be when she sees me moving my stuff out of my apartment and then put it in the big apartment upstairs).

So, since I still don’t have a camera (unfortunately I need to pay for such things as food so I don't starve to death) and since we left Indy’s camera at a club two weeks ago (I'm glad it wasn't an expensive camera), I’ll just use the pictures from the building's website.

This is the view I have from my apartment now:



And this is the view I’ll be getting in my new apartment with Indy:



A bit of an improvement don’t you think.  It’s going to take a few days to get through all the legal things, but we should be in our new apartment by next week.  I know it's a bit crazy, but I have a feeling it's all going to work.