Chronicles of a Girl

After a few weeks of nonstop searching and visiting one shithole after another. Sometimes I wonder how people can get away with renting such shitholes for so much money, but they get away with it because people shell out. This one place I saw was so unbelievably shitty. Seriously, it was < 300 square feet, with the tiniest bathroom and essentially no closet. $895 a month + $35 a month if you want assigned but uncovered parking...which you essentially need or you're stuck buying a permit from the city and fending for yourself with street parking. So $930 a month. Which comes out to > $3 per square feet. And it's on the ground floor (with a floor above). Oh, and it's right next to a Mortuary. Seriously, I do not want to be the first victim when the Zombies attack. That is just not okay.

I almost committed to a place in Mountain View somewhat of a drive from campus for $900. It's a one bedroom but the bedroom would have fit my bed...maybe my drawers...definitely not my desk. Additionally, the place was really really old. The kitchen appliances were all avocado colored (1970s) and the refrigerator looked like the biggest electricity guzzler (>$40 a month just to keep it on). When I was leaving, a guy in a suit and tie walked in. There's my competition right there, people with REAL jobs.

The place I found is pretty nice. It's cheap ($795 a month) and fairly spacious for a studio (~450 square feet). There's 2 closets and a cute little "changing room" between the bedroom and the bathroom. It also has a full sized, albiet small kitchen with room for a small dining room table and a backdoor. It's only 3-4 miles from school/lab, but the only real way to get there is to take University Avenue, the most notoriously backed up one lane road, which is the only path commuters can take to between Stanford and freeways and which also goes right through Downtown Palo Alto where every single person is looking for parking (and not finding). Hence I may actually take up biking.

How then did I get such a suay place? Well, first, location. The neighborhood is cute, but it's definitely bordertown. The studio itself is located in Menlo Park, but it's 2 blocks away from East Palo Alto, which in 1992 had the highest per capita murder rate in the country. Actually, it's kind of funny, but if you do a google search for East Palo Alto, the first hit is for the city's website and the second hit is for the East Palo Alto police. Gotta love that page rank by google, shows you what's truly important. Luckily, I'm west of the 101(by about 3 blocks), and East Palo Alto doesn't start getting really bad until you get East of the 101.

Second, I submitted the application the day after the showing and signed the lease the day after that. Seriously, any place that gets listed on Craig's list just goes ridiculously fast. If you don't jump on a place the day it's posted, there's a very good possibility it's gone the next day. It was actually a bit depressing for a bit, because I didn't like a lot of the places I looked at but I felt like if I didn't take them, I wouldn't have a place to live at all.

So yes, it looks like I won't be homeless for at least a year. Still quite bitter at Stanford for kicking me out, perhaps more bitter they put me there in the first place knowing full well they were going to kick me out. They make you these great offers to move back onto campus, but honestly, once you've lived off campus, you've made a commitment by BUYING FREAKIN' FURNITURE AND THEY FUCKING OFFER YOU NO SOLUTIONS FOR STORING THE SHITTY LITTLE PIECES THEY FURNISH THEIR ON CAMPUS HOUSING WITH. Yes Stanford, thank you for FUCKING SCREWING ME OVER. And oh yes, make me feel bad about staying until August, the end of, oh what was that, OUR ONE YEAR LEASE. And really, I loved it last summer when you made me take temporary housing on campus, and hence moving twice in 3 months (really 4 times in 4 months) without even offering me this place even though my room laid EMPTY. Yeah, way to go Stanford with your organization and your consideration for students. You know, if you had been like Berkeley and just told us straight out you didn't give a shit, it wouldn't have been so bad. I know how to fend for myself. Just don't fucking play me and pretend like things are okay and you have my best interests in mind because you fucking don't. Fuckers.

Sorry, this wasn't really meant to be a venting post, but I tend to get kind of angry every time I think of the situation.

But really, excited about my new place, and I seriously need to need to throw a house coldening (opposite of warming?) party because honestly, I will never really have a place big enough to throw parties again.

About Me

Previous Posts

Archives

Blogs

Comics

Links (mostly for my benefit, my "bookmarks")

Chronicles of a Girl
About Me Name: alterntivgirl Location: California, United States I am a nerd. Well, a nice nerd. Some say I'm a cute nerd. Sometimes I'm a happy nerd. Sometimes I'm a sad nerd. I can be a perky nerd. Or an emotional nerd. Sometimes the raddest nerd ever. But nonetheless, a nerd. View my complete profile Previous Posts Random solutions for random problems You just keep on trying till you run out of cake..... This is what happens when I can't sleep Prince Caspian Everyone should try Spam Musubi! I'm an official PhD candidate! Under the sea... If the Brakeman Turns My Way, Bright Eyes Photo time! Microfinance Archives June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 June 2007 December 2007 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 July 2008 October 2008 January 2009 Current Posts Blogs Dan's Death Monologues Max's Plastic Spider News Nady's Pocket Full of Listerine Steph Steph's Iceboxer Rick K's Theatre Rick Victor's Viktropolis The Story of Jake Rick Z's Two Dates and a Dash Tobi's Happily Ever After Abdallah's Back in France Breakup Babe's Breaking Up, Blogging On Comics Dinosaur Comics girly The Puppy Club The Unfeasible Adventures of Beaver and Steve The Perry Bible Fellowship Bunny Penny and Aggie Whispered Apologies The Adventures of Dr. McNinja Chugworth Academy Joe and Monkey Links (mostly for my benefit, my "bookmarks") CalMail Stanford Webmail LA Dodgers Dodger Blues SlickDeals Facebook Wikipedia 1928 Rampage BookWorlds Internet Archive	Tuesday, June 26, 2007 I found a new apartment After a few weeks of nonstop searching and visiting one shithole after another. Sometimes I wonder how people can get away with renting such shitholes for so much money, but they get away with it because people shell out. This one place I saw was so unbelievably shitty. Seriously, it was < 300 square feet, with the tiniest bathroom and essentially no closet. $895 a month + $35 a month if you want assigned but uncovered parking...which you essentially need or you're stuck buying a permit from the city and fending for yourself with street parking. So $930 a month. Which comes out to > $3 per square feet. And it's on the ground floor (with a floor above). Oh, and it's right next to a Mortuary. Seriously, I do not want to be the first victim when the Zombies attack. That is just not okay. I almost committed to a place in Mountain View somewhat of a drive from campus for $900. It's a one bedroom but the bedroom would have fit my bed...maybe my drawers...definitely not my desk. Additionally, the place was really really old. The kitchen appliances were all avocado colored (1970s) and the refrigerator looked like the biggest electricity guzzler (>$40 a month just to keep it on). When I was leaving, a guy in a suit and tie walked in. There's my competition right there, people with REAL jobs. The place I found is pretty nice. It's cheap ($795 a month) and fairly spacious for a studio (~450 square feet). There's 2 closets and a cute little "changing room" between the bedroom and the bathroom. It also has a full sized, albiet small kitchen with room for a small dining room table and a backdoor. It's only 3-4 miles from school/lab, but the only real way to get there is to take University Avenue, the most notoriously backed up one lane road, which is the only path commuters can take to between Stanford and freeways and which also goes right through Downtown Palo Alto where every single person is looking for parking (and not finding). Hence I may actually take up biking. How then did I get such a suay place? Well, first, location. The neighborhood is cute, but it's definitely bordertown. The studio itself is located in Menlo Park, but it's 2 blocks away from East Palo Alto, which in 1992 had the highest per capita murder rate in the country. Actually, it's kind of funny, but if you do a google search for East Palo Alto, the first hit is for the city's website and the second hit is for the East Palo Alto police. Gotta love that page rank by google, shows you what's truly important. Luckily, I'm west of the 101(by about 3 blocks), and East Palo Alto doesn't start getting really bad until you get East of the 101. Second, I submitted the application the day after the showing and signed the lease the day after that. Seriously, any place that gets listed on Craig's list just goes ridiculously fast. If you don't jump on a place the day it's posted, there's a very good possibility it's gone the next day. It was actually a bit depressing for a bit, because I didn't like a lot of the places I looked at but I felt like if I didn't take them, I wouldn't have a place to live at all. So yes, it looks like I won't be homeless for at least a year. Still quite bitter at Stanford for kicking me out, perhaps more bitter they put me there in the first place knowing full well they were going to kick me out. They make you these great offers to move back onto campus, but honestly, once you've lived off campus, you've made a commitment by BUYING FREAKIN' FURNITURE AND THEY FUCKING OFFER YOU NO SOLUTIONS FOR STORING THE SHITTY LITTLE PIECES THEY FURNISH THEIR ON CAMPUS HOUSING WITH. Yes Stanford, thank you for FUCKING SCREWING ME OVER. And oh yes, make me feel bad about staying until August, the end of, oh what was that, OUR ONE YEAR LEASE. And really, I loved it last summer when you made me take temporary housing on campus, and hence moving twice in 3 months (really 4 times in 4 months) without even offering me this place even though my room laid EMPTY. Yeah, way to go Stanford with your organization and your consideration for students. You know, if you had been like Berkeley and just told us straight out you didn't give a shit, it wouldn't have been so bad. I know how to fend for myself. Just don't fucking play me and pretend like things are okay and you have my best interests in mind because you fucking don't. Fuckers. Sorry, this wasn't really meant to be a venting post, but I tend to get kind of angry every time I think of the situation. But really, excited about my new place, and I seriously need to need to throw a house coldening (opposite of warming?) party because honestly, I will never really have a place big enough to throw parties again. posted by alterntivgirl @ 1:55 AM 1 comments