my moral standing is lying down

So! This kind of snuck up on us because we weren't really sure whether we'd try to stay here or not, and we didn't really know what Mark, our roommate of 3 months, would be doing... but thedreamerworld and I have found a 2-bedroom in Astoria.

Mark wants to live with 2 of his friends and so he'd definitely be moving out if we decided to stay here. But then Judy and I wouldn't be able to afford this apartment and it had taken us 3 months to find another roommate with Maryann still paying most of her share of the rent even though she'd already moved out. Considering how difficult it might be to find a third roommate for a long-term lease, Judy and I opted to look for 2-bedroom apartments closer to Manhattan.

My priorities were decent sized bedrooms, good closet space, not a tiny living room, and preferably near the R/V subway line (if near the N/W line then also within a 20-minute walk of the R/V line because the N/W line is elevated and in the winter I'd rather have access to the underground line too). Judy wanted it to be within a 5-minute walk from a supermarket, and hopefully near a bustling neighborhood/shopping area.

Well, after only our 3rd day looking (only our 3rd apartment too), we found the perfect apartment. It's equidistant between two of the stations on the R/V line and within a 15-minute walk to the N/W line. It's 3 blocks from a supermarket and busy shopping area. It's got decent sized bedrooms (even though they're smaller than what we've got now, respectively); both with bigger-than-usual closets (though also both smaller than what we've got now) -- and TWO bathrooms (which is kinda weird and superfluous but whatever, I'm not really going to complain).

I'm really shocked we managed to find something that's pretty much exactly what we were looking for, and SO QUICKLY.

You know what's ridiculously funny, though? WE ARE LITERALLY THREE BLOCKS DOWN, ON THE SAME STREET as Maryann!!!

The downside: broker fee. Which, whatever; that's the price of doing business. The long-term downside is significantly higher rent for smaller bedroom space. We're paying for location. I'm absolutely aware of that fact and don't resent it because it's part of what I want. We could try to find a place farther away from the train, like Maryann and AJ, and have a slightly lower rent. But being closer to the train (and closer to the city) is a priority for me, and that's what it's worth.

This does mean, though, that I'm going to have to really cut back on frivolous spending. No eating out, bringing lunch to work, rarely going out for drinks, etc. There's no way I'm going to cut out Rangers games at MSG, but I'm definitely going to stick to a friend's 400 seats because I absolutely cannot afford anything else. I may also have to push back the Berlin trip to the fall and cancel the Vancouver trip altogether for this year. Which is disappointing, but I'm absolutely committed to going to Berlin, especially considering the contributions I received for my birthday toward that trip!!!

I'm not going to discuss game 4 because I was super depressed after the Hawks lost and the night was only saved because Maryann, Cathy, Jethro, Liz and I hung out talking for another hour. =D

ETA: OH YEAH! If you're interested in helping me move on the last weekend of June, there's a free meal in it for ya, just like last time. =D

Hockey season is coming to an end soon. I went to last night's game vs TOR, and I'm going to tomorrow night's game vs PHI. The game at PHI on Sunday is the last one of the regular season. Even should the Rangers make the playoffs, I doubt they'd go further than the 1st round -- so, the end of April. WHAT WILL I DO UNTIL SEPTEMBER? Unlike some lucky people, I doubt I will be going to the NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles (June 25-26). I'm still going to keep it in mind, but it's not a likely thing.

I am looking forward to Dragon*Con later this year, and have vague ideas for a trip to Vancouver around Thanksgiving. The Vancouver trip may also depend on the Rangers 2010-11 schedule, because if it's at all possible, I'd rather see a Rangers game there than just a random team vs Vancouver. This year, NYR played VAN in early November, so... who knows.

I'm in a serious mood to go for a road trip. Two weeks ago a few of us went to Philly for literally a couple of hours. It was a really nice trip-- did some shopping at the Ikea there and then had lunch at my favorite place in Philly, Monk's Cafe. Of course, it was the drive there and back that was the real point of the trip for me (okay, so maybe the insanely super-spicy chicken wings at Monk's was also part of it) -- and it was really satisfying. Good music, good talk about music, good traffic, good weather.

The weekend after that I ended up driving to New Brunswick and back, which isn't as far as Philly, but a long enough drive to whet my appetite once again. And really, whenever Liz is on a long drive with me, I'm pretty much assured to have either good music, or good talk about music, or both (see above). Our drive back was filled with classic southern rock. An' it was Good: CCR, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, Kansas, The Band. Does anyone else have a strong connection between listening to music and driving/riding in a car? It's my favorite place to listen to music, new and old.

It's times like this I wish I just owned a car because I could just go for a drive on a whim. I miss having late-night access to my parents' car; I used to just go for a midnight drive around, whenever I felt like it. Now, of course, I'd have to rent in advance (for a good price), which is just not conducive to whimsical driving trips.

If I could, I'd go to Pittsburgh this weekend for Tekkoshocon. I'm so sad I'm not there this year.