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Song in my head: The theme music from I, Detective (go Court TV!) Mood: exasperated, drained, frustrated Current book: still A Grave Talent Man oh man, am I tired. What a couple of days it's been! First of all, some happy stuff. I sat down to eat some soup and I picked up the latest issue of Time Out New York 'cause it came in the mail and I was too wiped out to read anything with more substance. So I'm barely flipping through it while watching Forensic Files , and then I just about fell on the floor - they published my letter !! I honestly never in a million years thought they would publish it. I thought they'd just dismiss me as a crackpot (although, of course, they could have published it with a "hey, look at this crackpot!" air), but still, they published it! Hot damn!! Whew, I'm tired after all those exclamation marks. I'm also deliciously sleepy in a good, moved-lots kinda way. Andi and Doron and I have established Wednesday nights as our swimming nights - there's a pool at Riverbank State Park, really close to where they live, and a brief subway ride from where I live. They only charge two bucks a time (no membership fees), which works out to 8 bucks a month. Can't really complain about that! And I took a nice brisk stroll to get there from work (113th to 145th), and I'd been really tense all day, and the walking and the swimming (and oh! the gloriously hot shower after! The water temperature and pressure here never feels that good) melted away so much of the tension. That said... Goddamn money. Just as I'm starting to really get on my feet financially, finally. I have really cut back on my discretionary spending. I now take my breakfast and lunch to work (instead of spending $5-$10 a day), and make my own dinner instead of take out, and do my own laundry instead of sending it out. I get movies from the library instead of having a Netflix membership. Hell, I even stopped getting coffee at the newstand and, since I have no standards or taste, I bought off-brand instant coffee and flavored Coffeemate (and I'm just as happy!) I am by no means perfect, but I am delaying gratification and budgeting and being far more responsible and patient and practical than I ever have been. But I live in Manhattan. Money is still tight. And this week has not helped. First of all, I got two out of three credit reports from my fraud reporting, and oh good lord, it's dreary. A balance on a phone bill that I resolved six months ago still showing up as open. A credit card I closed out two years ago showing up as still open and horrifyingly overdue. Each of my former addresses is reported incorrectly in one way or another. And you've gotta love this - the list of names that I have supposedly obtained credit with: Amy LastnameI spent most of last night creating a table of all the necessary corrections and the steps I need to take to make them. I got some of them done, but there's still more to do. It is so tedious and discouraging and absolutely necessary. Please, readers, I implore you - protect yourself against identity theft!! I asked my dad to get me a shredder for Christmas - snazzy, eh? (He then informed me that they're available for $15 or so, so I probably won't wait.) But boy, does this story ever get better. I just wanna go to bed and sleep and avoid this all, but if nothing else, I'm getting somewhat better at facing the tough stuff in my life. So when I moved in with my roommate Cynthia last year, she told me that the room was $750 a month plus utilities; not totally unreasonable or unheard of for the largest room in a 3 bedroom Manhattan apartment, even if it's not the best neighborhood you could ask for. I said fine, signed the agreement, gave her the deposit, and moved in. It never occured to me to ask her what the rent for the whole apartment was, never occured to me to ask what her share was. I was homeless, had nowhere to go, and was desperate (especially with two cats!). Not to mention naive. Well, anyway, this Saturday, I was leaving my room to go the bathroom when I saw something that had been slipped under the front door. I thought it was a menu, but it was the rent bill, which I've never seen in the whole year I've been here - I give Cynthia a check, and she writes the check to the landlord. So check out these numbers: I pay $750 a month.This is, forgive my language, fucking obscene. I feel like I'm supporting them (which I practically am.) Not to mention that it violates the New York City rent laws: An occupant's proportionate share shall be determined by dividing the legal regulated rent by the total number of tenants named on the lease and the total number of occupants residing in the subject housing accommodation...The charging of a rental amount to an occupant that exceeds that occupant's proportionate share shall be deemed to constitute a violation of this Code. I can technically sue her for back rent, multiplied by three, and technically get her evicted in the process. However, I really don't want to do that. I've been living here for a year, and it's been quite satisfactory in every other respect. Cynthia and I are on friendly enough terms, I like having a stable enough place to live (especially after moving around so much after moving in with the Louse), and I would like to stay here. Not to mention that it is in her best interest to keep me and Keith here - we both are quiet, responsible, stable, and pay the rent and utilities faithfully. She never knows who she's gonna get, especially if we both moved out. But this rent gouging has got to stop. Keith and I discussed it tonight, and we thought it would be fair to propose that 1)we don't sue, 2)she doesn't try to get us to leave (she would either have to go through eviction proceedings or intimidate us - which her sleazy boyfriend could do), 3) we waive the back rent she owes (technically, she owes me $3400 or $4800, depending on how you do the calculations), and 4) she reduces the rent, and no hard feelings after that. The division of the rent is supposed to be evenly among the people living there, with no respect to the size of the rooms, but my room is much bigger than anyone else's, so I wouldn't even want to do that. I think it would be fair if I paid $550, Cynthia and her bfriend $475, and Keith $400 (okay, that still leaves $25 extra, but it's too late for me to figure out the details just yet.) It seems like it would be a lot easier for them to still pay under $500 for rent than her trying to get us both out of here and get new roommates and deal with two empty rooms without knowing when they'd get occupied. But. Of course there's a but. I have no idea how to broach this. I'm really indignant, and I'm also really avoidant and horrible at confrontation. (Not to mention that English isn't her first language and there are sometimes communication issues.) I don't know how to bring this up. I don't want to threaten her, but I do want to make it clear what my legal rights are. I went through a 6 month legal battle with the Louse; I've know got the stamina for this kind of thing if I have to. I just don't want to. Do I write her a letter and leave it in the kitchen? We don't have very similar hours, and I would prefer to not have to deal with her boyfriend, and I also tend to get terribly inarticulate when I have to stand up for myself verbally. Do I not leave her the rent check and wait for her to approach me? (That doesn't sound like the way to do it, tempting as it is.) I do think it's important for Keith and I to present a unified front - perhaps we should write a letter together, stressing our desire to come to a mutally agreeable conclusion for all of us. Okay, I am not gonna figure it out tonight. If anyone has any suggestions at all please send them my way. You came through with the white shoe dilemma - perhaps my intelligent and perceptive readers can brainstorm this one with equal skill (yep, I'm buttering you up!) Sometimes, you know, I really don't like this grown-up stuff. |
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