I got my first real paycheck in a very, very long time this week. Having a checking account balance that has more than two digits to the left of the decimal point feels fabulous.
What does not feel fabulous is the fact that my room mate and I got our lease re-signing info today, and they’re raising our rent pretty significantly, to just under $3,000 a month. For a sixth-floor walk-up apartment in a very old tenement building. Without a living room (just a large kitchen — and when I say “large” I mean that it comfortably fits a four-person table). And where one of the bedrooms (mine) fits my bed and literally nothing else — the door, a foot of space, the bed. And where our water works intermittently. And where our oven has been broken for about a month now, and our super — who, though very nice, is either perpetually stoned or a complete moron or both — has been “ordering one” for weeks. Kind of how he’s been “fixing the pipes” since we moved in.
$3,000 a month for an apartment that is no more than 400 square feet, without a living room, and where we have to walk up six flights of very steep stairs.
Needless to say, we are moving. And I hate New York sometimes. Now, a video that cheers me up:
Pushy broads and crazy-talented kids are always pleasing.
1. Ryan Adams – Afraid Not Scared
2. Yo La Tengo – Winter A Go-G0
3. Jay-Z – Public Service Announcement
4. The Cure – Pictures of You
5. Tom Waits – The Part You Throw Away
6. Amr Diab – Habibi Ya Nour El Ein
7. Cat Stevens – Moonshadow
8. Timbaland and Magoo – Luv 2 Luv U
9. Neko Case – At Last
10. Trina Broussard – Inside My Love
Below the fold: Song I secretly love, but am too embarrassed to put on the front page. I know I’ve discussed my adoration of Beyonce and Shakira, but this is a whole new level of bad. Apologies in advance to Ms. Lauren.
Yes, that is Carrie Underwood. I know, I know. I hate the video. I really cringe when she uses certain terms (“tramp,” “white trash”). I also really, really hate whoever her stylist is, because that person does her no justice (bra straps showing? Capri jeans?).
But I love the song. And I do think she is too cute.