My new "Home"

I live in the basement of this house (the bottom windows are the windows to my bedroom)

The kitchen(obviously)

The living room (construction is still being done)

My bed(unmade of course because I have no girlfriend. I'm buying a bigger one tomorrow! yay!)

Plenty of closet and bookshelf space

Well, here I am. Rockin like a hurricane. It took extensive and strenuous work to find a place to lay my head, but it finally worked out. In the last seven days, I learned Washington DC’s real estate law, market prices, the difference between owning a property and co-opting it (don’t ask), and how negotiations work. The one property that I made an offer to buy next to the capitol building received 9 offers in 2 hours and ended up going for $20,000 MORE than the original asking price. If you think California’s market is competitive, come to DC.
So I decided to rent instead, which isn’t any less of a nightmare. Places that I saw would be rented out in a matter of hours (even the ugliest and dirtiest apartments I’ve ever seen) and if renters claimed they would call you back that literally meant they wouldn’t. Somehow though, I got extremely lucky with the place I found. It is spacious, clean, appliances are all new, close to campus, and affordable. I received an O.K. just two nights ago and I moved in yesterday. Considering this, I am doing very well. There is still minor construction on the living room that is being done (as you can see in the picture) and I still need to buy a bed and a futon. But other than that I am completely moved in and living a happy stable life. Today was the first day of any sign of a happy and stable life, but it is officially here. Thank God.

D.C. is a funny place. Actually, the residents of D.C. are what make it funny. Although, I’m not entirely sure if it’s the environment that make the people or the people that make the environment. I guess they are mutually reinforcing. But what I have already found is that people tend to be extremely kind and polite up front to your face, but hold their true feelings inside. In other words, they do not wear their hearts on their sleeve. The only sleeve they wear is button-cuffed and starched, devoid of any flaw. It’s business-like and professional. It’s hard to find a defect in their exterior because they are so conscious of making their impression. They won’t say no to your face, nor will they criticize you in public. The locals here take on the politician’s character: spineless, manipulative, and backstabbing.
I really don’t like to say these things about people. If anything, I will only say it to those individuals who it applies to. But I’ve been amazed that this characteristic seems to be the overriding trend among D.C.-ites. Maybe this is the norm and California is the place that is abnormal. Maybe this is an east coast thing. But I can say with assurance that the majority of Californians will let you know, or you can simply tell by their mannerism, that they like or don’t like you. You can determine with confidence whether you can trust or distrust them. But this formula somehow doesn’t apply here. Perhaps I’m making a hasty proclamation that is devoid of sufficient experience, but from what I remember the last time I lived here, this seems to be true.
Anyway, the truth is I am very happy now that I am settled and I will make the best of things. I already did my first reading for my classes that concerned framing processes for social movements and I’m about to read the sociology of intellectuals. For those of you who don’t know, I’m studying for my masters in church and state relations, or the relationship between religion and politics. It’s a topic that I am extremely interested in so I will keep busy reading and writing about this material (I have 13 books to read and 75 pages to write for this semester!). So I will keep busy with my studies and think fondly back of California and all those whom I called friends. So come visit! Or I will see you in December when my ass gets too frozen to stay any longer!