#57: living alone

After two years of living alone, I've quite gotten used to being in complete control of my living quarters. Now that I'm about to return to one of the most expensive housing markets in the USA, I've been thinking about whether I want to get a roommate in order to cut my expenses substantially or at least get a bigger/better place.

I've had roommates in the past, well I've had ONE roommate previously and it turned out pretty well. We both had different friends, different interests, etc that kept our lives disparate enough but we were also friends so we did things together with people that we both knew. He was like any other friend of mine except that we happened to live together. We just got along really well.

He was responsible, always paid his portion of the bills on time and we stuck to our cleaning schedule. I'm not sure I'll be so lucky the next time around. Plus, I kind of like that when I get home everything is exactly how I left it, that the dishes in the sink are mine alone and that I only need to clean up after myself.

If I'm not in the mood to interact with anyone else or if I want to spend all weekend watching bad TV,  there's no one else to consider. Granted there are ways around this, I could always just restrict myself to my room and get an additional cable box in my room but "restrict" is the exact opposite of freedom.

I want my own microwave, my own cutlery, my own furniture, my own television. I want to be selfish and not share. I want it to be MINE.

The more I think about this, the more I'm willing to not live in Manhattan OR to get a smaller place OR to cut back on my discretionary spending just to make this happen.

Of course, I'm still hopeful that I'll secure a nice place on the tiny crowded island but even if not, I'd still rather have a place of my own.