Escape From Little New New York (aka, Philadelphia)
My search for a new place to live has begun. Today, I started sending out requests to visit a few. I’m excited for the possibility of change. I can’t bear even the idea of another summer in this city.1
I plan to cluster tours by neighborhood, checking out several apartments at a time, whenever possible. I’m starting with Collingswood, New Jersey. I lived in Collingswood for many years and quite liked it. I also know a lot of people there, so it always feels like home. Next, I’ll try some of the nicer towns in the surrounding area, such as Haddonfield and Haddon Heights, etc. After that, I have my eyes set on Chestnut Hill. Something near the park.
I’m looking at two- and three-bedroom apartments and houses to rent. I very much want a room to dedicate for use as an office for work. I’ve been working out of my bedroom for the last three or four years, and it’s been a squish. I could easily get by in the corner of a moderately-sized dining room, but one-bedroom apartments seldom have a dining room.
The price difference between a two-bedroom apartment versus a three-bedroom townhouse or duplex is negligible to nonexistent in most of the areas I’m looking, and the amenities are typically better in a three-bedroom. For example, they are more likely to have central air-conditioning and full-sized laundry machines in a basement that you don’t have to share with anyone.
If I can afford a three-bedroom place, I’ll keep the spare room in case someone has an emergency and needs somewhere to live. In the meantime, it could serve as a guest room, exercise space, or maybe even a photography studio.
I think I will prefer places that allow pets. It might be fun to have a dog or cat around. A lot of my family are highly allergic to cats, or simply despise them,2 but the thing about all that is I’m not allergic to cats at all, and I like them just fine. As a matter of fact, despite coming to town to visit quite frequently, my family technically almost never visits my place, so their allergies and senseless distaste for cats are not really my problem. Not at all.
I have to be out of here by May 14th. This gives me about six weeks to find something that feels right for me. Unlike previous moves, during which I was essentially broke and looking for the first decent place I could find, I currently have enough money set aside to cover the deposit, along with the cost of carrying two apartments for all of April if necessary. That allows me to start looking right away and grab a good spot if I find one. Should nothing work out by the third week of April, I’ll concede defeat and move into one of the nicer apartment complexes. That’s a last resort, though.
Footnotes
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Chestnut Hill doesn’t count. At least not the places I’d be looking at. ↩
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I think hatred toward animals of any sort is a sign of a personality disorder.✨I’m not a psychologist, but I’m pretty sure that’s in the DSM-5.✨3 You don’t have to be an animal-lover, but anyone who gets genuinely angry at the mere thought of a pigeon needs medication or maybe a prescrpition hug. ↩
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GitHub Copilot wrote that joke. Star Trek never warned us AI would be funny. ↩