Whirlwind

The idea of writing here lately has been kind of painful. Just so much going on that I can't keep track of it in my head.

First things first: The landlord won her case against John & Gary and he's been given ten days to "cure," which means he has ten days to move back into the apartment and take up residence or she can move ahead with her eviction proceedings. As a result, Maya has been given the boot, but John wants Liza and me to remain as real, live, official roommates.

I'm just worried about being caught in the middle and being dragged into court again. It's a hassle I don't need.

Doug has kindly offered to let me crash on his new aerobed for a month while I save up money for the move -- and I might take him up on it. The Lagemae have offered their futon, which might make more practical sense, since their apartment is a lot more accessible to work.

The more I think about it, the more appealing it seems that I should remove myself from this situation.

I guess the idea of staying, if the guys can work out their problems with the landlord, is appealing, mostly because it's such a great deal, and will become even more of one if they return and the rent ends up being split three ways, as it would in an official roommate situation. The fact that the guys are smokers, though, that they weren't even back in the apartment for a few hours before they took my pictures down off the walls and started rearranging furniture without so much as a "by your leave," and the fact that the landlord wants this apartment to go off rent stabilization so badly that she's probably never going to stop looking for ways to get rid of them (and hence never stop causing anguish and unsettlement in my life there) are all little signs that seem, to me, to spell "run for the hills."

Unfortunately -- though not terribly unusually for me -- I've got nothing in the way of savings to put down for deposits & such. So I'll have to go the route of sleeping on a friend's couch through a couple of pay cycles.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? Right?!?!

Tonight I saw Lost in Translation, which was a wonderful movie. Bill Murray's performance is wonderfully low-key, and his sort of quiet bewilderment & sad not-quite-enough attempts to let his wife know that he loves her give the thing a sweet, melancholy sort of cast. Scarlet Johansson as the other lead is his perfect mirror through it all, and the way the find each other and find that they'll be okay is really sweet.

I felt so weird and awkward seeing the movie alone at 9:40 on a Saturday night. I'm sure I was the only person in the place under the age of 40 who was seeing the show alone. I felt a little embarrassed by the whole thing, but I suppose it's really a part of learning how to be comfortable with yourself. It's just difficult when faced with an environment in which there are so many couples.

Well, I suppose I should get some sleep; I'm wasting precious un-attacked sleep time. Truckstop is usually stalking my uncovered limbs at this hour, and he's passed out on the bed.