Goodbye 4L: My Craigslist Adventure

Every month ends and then a new month starts and soon enough it’s the month that ended starting all over again. Beginnings and ends mean moves and changes and hellos and goodbyes– some of them are accompanied by relief, some sadness, some panic, some sheer joy and others apathetic.

The end of this month means I’ll be moving out of 4L – my Craigslist apartment. Over the past four months, this random gem of an apartment in Astoria has been graced by the presence of myself, the man who owns the apartment, and two other ladies who have lived in the room beside mine at different times (an art student followed by a bartender/ escort- also a whole bunch of random guests.

I like this apartment. It has colored walls, the lights have dimmers, the furniture is comfy, the toilet always flushes, and the girl across the street rocks at violin. The apartment itself is a Craigslist score- especially considering the price I pay to live in Astoria with views of Manhattan.

Unfortunately, I have been driven mad by the roommate I had no say in choosing, and the guy who records R&B songs across the hall, and the secondhand high I can’t escape, and the heart to hearts in the kitchen at 3 a.m., and the 17 minute walk home from the subway, and the shower concerts, and the meowing cat, and the unwashed dishes, and the door with a lock but no door knob, and the constantly unflushed toilet that leaves me wondering if the toilet actually flushes (it does – people are just rude), and the hairbrush that always ends up touching my tooth brush, and the case of my missing almond milk.

Moving to New York from Texas was an adventure. Choosing to live with a complete stranger was a risk. Living in this apartment has been quite an experience, and I have no doubt that my twitter followers will be heartbroken at the absence of the 4L soap opera. The live tweets of screaming phone calls with ex husbands in other countries, overheard Skype chats where hearts were “poured out,” my grown man roommate getting dumped on the phone and constantly saying “but who will bring you medicine when you’re sick?” I can’t say I’ll miss the constant sleep interruptions, but I’ll surely miss the stories.

My Craigslist roomies have made me thankful for the way my parents raised me; they’ve made me thankful for my college roommates- especially when I realized how annoying living with a cat is when it doesn’t belong to you- LOVE YOU 1902 UNIT 1; they’ve made me thankful for my friends and my boyfriend who have offered up beds and couches when I didn’t want to come back here.

I might miss having a kitchen full of protein powder. I might miss my light dimmers. I’ll definitely miss my mattress topper. I might even miss the apartment owner and his hot best friend across the hall. But I think the thing I’ll miss the most is the elderly, Asian man that folds my thongs at the laundromat around the corner. I really love that guy and his reasonable prices.

Peace out, 4L. On to the next one.

Tags : apartments, Craigslist, Growing Up, lifestyle, Miscellaneous, moving, moving on, nyc living, Random, Rant, Roommates