FriendBurst Blog

I stared at the notice in disbelief. Eviction. All residents at our unit must vacate these premises by January 31st. Huh? What is this? It had to be some sort of mistake. I just got here! It’s been only three months. There haven’t been any complaints. We’ve paid our rent on time. What the heck is going on?

I live in half of a duplex that is one of half a dozen other duplexes all in a row owned by the same company (do not patron Gill’s Electricians – they’re the owners). Found out today after discussing things with neighbors that ALL of us received the same notice. Every unit in every duplex. We’re all on month-to-month rental agreements, and apparently, they want to come in, renovate & remodel all of them and then rent them out again for twice the rent.

I don’t understand. The places are in good shape and fairly modern and in this rental environment, getting enough to pay for what they want to do is going to be tough. Anyways, since I announced this sad turn of events earlier today via status update, I’ve received lots of advice from folks about the legality of this move and any accommodations the owners have to make in these situations. Well, see, landlord/tenant relations are all based on local laws. The only break I get in this county/city is that they cannot withhold certain damage deposits if they’re going to remodel anyways.

So, today, as often happens with difficult news, I went through my stages. As noted, first it was disbelief. Then it was pain as I imagined once again packing up all my crap and moving it. Then anger, then sadness, but now at least I’ve gotten to acceptance. Yeah, it sucks, but I’ve dealt with worse over the last 9 months and so and am ready for yet another chapter.

Besides, the place I’m living now is simply way too far from my school and I’m looking forward to NOT having a 90 minute commute anymore.

I’m already looking. I’ve made a mutual-help deal with one of my roommates (the third one already left, but that’s another story which I’m not going into) when it comes to the actual moving part, but we are not going to be moving together. I’m on my own again.

But where to? By now you’ve probably noticed the map over there on the right. Since leaving home 1988, I have made a steady progression northward, but I‘m running out of room. If that trend were to continue, I’d be looking in Alaska soon! I’ve turned my life around in many ways lately; I think it’s time to turn it around geographically as well.

To the south!!

In fact, right in the middle of this blog, I got a phone call from a guy whose renting out his basement. Heh heh. I have a good history with renting basements. The place is pet-friendly and only about a mile from campus. I have an appointment to see it on Monday.

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Another little bit of news I put in my status updates yesterday that now means very little: the soon-to-be ex-roommate just got a puppy. I appreciate the advice I got from everyone when I expressed concerns about how to acclimate cats to the arrival of a new puppy. Looking at this little cutie dog, I’d have to say the bigger concern would be how to keep the cats from eating the dog. Say hello, Mattie!

Yes, she’s an all-black miniature dachshund. Kinda looks like a canine version of my cat Bliss, minus the pink bows. It’s kinda sad I won’t see this little puppy grow up, but hopefully her owner will put lots of pics on Facebook.

How bout dem Seahawks!! Woohooo!!! After getting this news about moving and some other legal stuff I’m going through right now that I won’t detail now, having the home team win a playoff game was just the spirit lifting I needed today.

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We’ll end with a video of my Friday night at the open mic. This venue, although not impossibly far from where I am looking, won’t be just down the street like it is today. It’s the live version of my parody, HEY BAD DRIVER.