"What sign would you like me to be?"
So, I'm waiting to hear back from my only solid apartment lead...in Windsor Terrace near Prospect Park. WT is a neighborhood without a lot of night life, yet pretty affordable in contrast to some livlier Brooklyn spots like Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens (I have a few strories about all those places). Also on the F Train line, which is really convenient since our office is on the lower east side.
The apartment by NY standards is HUGE. It's in an owner-occupied limestone building, about a block from the park. The Realtor really seemed to like me and set me up to meet the landlord—a painter, she told me.
I'm thinking, GREAT. I love Bohemian types, these are my people.
This was a naive notion born of midwestern ignorance of the NY landlord paranoia that plagues EVERY situation I have come across so far, a paranoia I have found to be sensible under the circumstances (see upcoming Park Slope "Garden" apartment reference).
I go to meet the landlord in Windsor Terrace. She is very guarded and not overly friendly, but pleasant. I compliment one of her paintings in the front hall. Immediately she tells me it is from about "ten years ago" and I am ushered into her apartment to the smell of insence and a nightmare gallery of Dali-esque, saggy-titted, sallow-faced portraits that compose her more current work. She has four cats.
We make a little chit-chat...she is not only a painter but an art-therapist social worker in one of the 5 boroughs. We talk about house restoration, I mention that I am a landlord myself in Ann Arbor, I mention my age, then she sees her opening..."What is your sign?" she asks.
"Sagitarrius," I reply, (I can see the wheels turning).
"I'm a Virgo," she replies. By the tone of her voice I can tell I may have made a fatal error.
We chit-chat some more, then I zoom back to the LES on the F train so I can furiously google the compatibility of Virgo-Sagitarrius. It does not look good.
Despite this possible pitfall, she requests I bring my dog out to meet her. So my sis drives in from the farm (where Frankie is living until I get a permanent place), and we go back to present him for her approval. This was a week ago Monday...I don't hold out a lot of hope on this one.
The apartment by NY standards is HUGE. It's in an owner-occupied limestone building, about a block from the park. The Realtor really seemed to like me and set me up to meet the landlord—a painter, she told me.
I'm thinking, GREAT. I love Bohemian types, these are my people.
This was a naive notion born of midwestern ignorance of the NY landlord paranoia that plagues EVERY situation I have come across so far, a paranoia I have found to be sensible under the circumstances (see upcoming Park Slope "Garden" apartment reference).
I go to meet the landlord in Windsor Terrace. She is very guarded and not overly friendly, but pleasant. I compliment one of her paintings in the front hall. Immediately she tells me it is from about "ten years ago" and I am ushered into her apartment to the smell of insence and a nightmare gallery of Dali-esque, saggy-titted, sallow-faced portraits that compose her more current work. She has four cats.
We make a little chit-chat...she is not only a painter but an art-therapist social worker in one of the 5 boroughs. We talk about house restoration, I mention that I am a landlord myself in Ann Arbor, I mention my age, then she sees her opening..."What is your sign?" she asks.
"Sagitarrius," I reply, (I can see the wheels turning).
"I'm a Virgo," she replies. By the tone of her voice I can tell I may have made a fatal error.
We chit-chat some more, then I zoom back to the LES on the F train so I can furiously google the compatibility of Virgo-Sagitarrius. It does not look good.
Despite this possible pitfall, she requests I bring my dog out to meet her. So my sis drives in from the farm (where Frankie is living until I get a permanent place), and we go back to present him for her approval. This was a week ago Monday...I don't hold out a lot of hope on this one.
posted by wendyo at 4:49 PM
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