The Ceiling Project

Inevitably, in every apartment, little things start going wrong as soon as you move in. In Chicago, we had mice. They popped out of the burners on the stove and peered out at us in curiosity. When we started smelling a little extra gas smell after the stove was turned off, we called the management company to complain about mice messing with the gas pipes on the stove. Some dude showed up, looked around at our stove, and then told us there was no problem. He left us a copy of the incident report from the management company. RESIDENT BELIEVES MICE ARE CHEWING ON WIRES INSIDE STOVE, it said. Thanks for all your help. And for making us feel like we are completely crazy.

My apartment now, in comparison to all of the others in which I’ve lived, has had very few problems. Until the heat came on, that is.

The Lightbulb Store

Ever wake up in the middle of the night and think, “Why isn’t there a store where I can only buy lightbulbs, in a variety of colors and shapes?” Me neither, but here it is. Happy New Year’s everyone!

(Just Bulbs, 60th & 2nd-ish.)

Autumn in New York (ish)

Ever since I moved here last summer, people have been raving about how awesome fall is in New York. And they’re sort of right–unlike the Great Lakes autumns of my youth, where it’s 55 degrees out by the beginning of October and snowing by Halloween, it is still nice here until like mid-November. Maybe this is just global warming, but I’ll take a few extra 75-degree days.

Last fall I did not enjoy my fall. Partially because I didn’t really know what to do, or know enough people to actually do anything fun with, and partially because I lived in a sucky apartment in a sort of sucky neighborhood. (With bedbugs! And gun fights at 2am!) But this fall, in a much improved situation, I intend(ed) to make the most of it, and here’s how: