Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh – good to be home from along day at work. I did yoga this morning, walked the dog at lunch and unloaded a semi full of massage tables this afternoon – lots of good physicality to special K my gut away– no one wants to read work blogs or exercise blogs (do they?). Have I earned a gin and tonic? I think so – BRB – so Jen’s blog takes a venting tone and I have some venting of my own to do. I figured out bills last night, what I am potentially being stuck with in terms of Erin’s failed attempt at responsible adulthood – no sense crying over split milk and she may well yet come up with bill and rent money, or rent money at the very least as per her note, but still let us explore the circumstances of my brief life with Erin. My last roommate Mary was on the lease until the end of this month. It was a six-month commitment for her, having moved from California. She was very clear that she intended to buy a house and move on – so when she found a place sooner than expected she agreed that she would still pay rent until the end of Feb, but not utilities, as she wouldn’t be here to be heated and watered by the various necessity monopolies. Fine. Enter Erin. Erin was living in her parent’s house (where I must assume she is living now) and via a mutual friend we determine that she could help solve this problem. The deal: Erin moves in at Thanksgiving weekend – no rent for what’s left of November. She moves into the fairly small middle room, but again Mary and I agree to split her rent for December and just charge her a share of the utilities, as we are both relieved that I will not be left hanging. So at the outset Mary and I have already floated her a month’s rent and then some out of the goodness of our hearts.
Erin intends to renew the lease with me, and stay on until August; a six-month lease plus the end of Mary’s lease. Erin Pays Rent in January and February, she pays utilities in December and January. And is then gone last Sunday afternoon. Could the departure be financial in nature? Marxists around the country agree, her privileged background may have not prepared her for paying the rent and working the job – both of which I am sure she will soon be out of, not to be supper bitchy – it’s very clear she didn’t want the life she tried to live – someone else’s desire for her to be responsible – perhaps her parents. The frog does not blame the scorpion for the mid river sting and her nature was clear after the New Years Eve Party in which Mary observed, “I liked her until that party, but then as I saw the way she treated her date for the evening, the way she expected you to wait on her friends. I thought here is a girl who is out for the main chance, out for number one and that is it. She’s certainly not above working her sexuality, not much of a feminist from that perspective.” So, the bloated and stung frog checks his checkbook after the scorpion disappears into the river (assumed drowned as Scorpions aren’t much in wave pool without frogs or water wings). Do I have enough to float me to the bank?
Step one is tighten your belt – close heat vents in vacant rooms, shut off cable, cancel DSL, minimize phone options, unplug Christmas lights that have been on since before R moved out, etc. (All done) – step two – new roommate – good news of the day – we think that’s a done deal. I called my friend James at lunch, his girlfriend just left him for another guy, he’s in a bad way and his place sans girlfriend is too expensive (really?). He and said ex used to house/dog sit for me. He knows the place, loves the dog, loves my books, I love his, we’re both into the same authors, same drinks, same Healing Arts Center. Problem solved. James is in a lease until May but he’s trying to get out of it and will let me know what his landlord says as soon as he can get a hold of him. Ganesha: remover of obstacles, your powers of progress in new beginnings are unmatched. Guru Om.