Impossible to work

Yesterday, I went to look at 3 apartments with an agent from Chicago Apartment Finders. She was a strange woman. The clutch on her car squeaked. She discussed her affinity for cars that are peppy while driving a Kia wagon. It was gold. It’s hard to take someone who drives a gold car seriously. But she was a decent agent. Had the personality down, was relatively open about landlords, and took me to the apartment closest to my house last, so I just had to walk a few blocks to get home.
The first apartment was at Touhy and the red line tracks. I tried to maintain an open mind. The apartment was terrible. The floors needed to be refinished badly and the bathroom was a travesty. Black and White checkered tile floors. Gray splatter paint-style glazing on the wall tiles. A more pathetic toilet than in my current apartment and the coup de grace: a tiny sink shaped like a shell underneath a very sad mirror.

Next was a tiny apartment at thorndale and winthrop. Complete with a parking space. It was smaller than my current place, and I need a place to put the dog kennel and a gate so the puppy can wander around outside his kennel when I’m not around.
Finally, was an apartment above Continuum Studio on Clark Street. The landlord was late, so we chatted with the folks in the spa for a while. They were nice. I started to think that maybe this place would be the one, as long as it wasn’t falling apart. An eccentric little old lady would have been my neighbor. Then two younger women showed up with another agent. I didn’t think twice about it. The apartment was a bit too expensive anyway.

Then I saw it. It could have become a great apartment. But the landlord was sketchy about my having an English Bulldog. Also, I would have had to pay the heat bill in the place. Way too expensive for me. And really, it was a large apartment. I don’t need that much space. I hope the cute little lesbian couple that saw it after me took it. It was a great apartment for not a lot of money.

So at the end of the day, they really didn’t have anything for me. One space too large, one space too small, and one space too terrible to live in. But they tried. If I don’t have a place lined up in the next few days, I’m going to try for a move-in date closer to the 1st, though I don’t want to. Tomorrow is Chicago Apartment People. We’ll see how that works out.