Moving again. Part 3. Friday day and afternoon.

Friday I woke up and went to class, and then just kind of went back home because I didn't have a whole lot else to do on campus.

Carlos wanted to talk. He wanted to know what had happened when the (too tall!) guy had stopped by to see the apartment. Trouble is, Carlos couldn't afford to pay to have a private room. So he needed to find a roommate. But a few people had been interested now, and Jeff was scaring everyone away. So he was frustrated about that. Plus, we needed to find someone for upstairs. We needed to fill the house, and fast, because we thought things would be way less weird if there were a lot of other normal people at the house. Makes sense.

We talked about why Jeff might not have wanted the attractive guy to stay. He was so clean-cut, and was just a super nice guy. I said something about how I think Jeff wants to feel...well...sort of dominant in the house. And Carlos said he thinks guys like that make Jeff feel like a loser. And that's why he won't let them rent. And that was exactly what it was.

I could understand his financial thing, too. Everyone kept offering Courtney's old room to me because it was way better. It was way bigger, and had three closets instead of my mini-closet. It had shelves. And a big mirror. And a real private entrance. When I came to see the room on Monday, we went through Courtney's room. ("I don't know why he hasn't given me a key to the front door yet...") And when I got my keys, I got keys to the front door lock, and the front door deadbolt. "Everyone has their own private entrance," Jeff explained. Courtney's room had an entrance on the side of the house. Carlos had a private basement entrance that went right into his room from the front of the house. There was a back door that Jeff mostly used. And my private door was the front door. Because it was right by my bedroom. ("We need to all get used to using our private entrances," Jeff told me a couple times. But he often used mine.)

But anyhow, about the financial thing, turns out my room cost the same as Courtney's, and I told Carlos that didn't really seem fair, and he agreed. And I couldn't switch because the hook up for the Internet was in my room, and it had to be.

So Carlos and I had our chat, and he went to chat with Jeff about his roommate situation. And they chatted, but I don't really know how that went.

And then someone knocked on my door, and I opened the door and nobody was there. I looked in the kitchen and Jeff was there. "We all need to talk," he said. Carlos had taken off, though. He raised his voice. "That guy who came by the other day? It never would have worked. We need someone that we can all just get along with. That missionary type? It would have never worked. It was better to head it off before it started. Know what I mean?" I shrugged. "I get along with everyone," I told him, "so I think he would have been fine." He was kind of surprised that I said I could get along with everyone. He dropped it. "And another point. $450?! I don't know anyone around here who is charging $450." "Huh," I said. "What does that have to do with anything?" And apparently he'd "heard" that I thought rent was too much. (At the time, I thought maybe it was because of the conversation with Carlos. It wasn't, though. I realized later, he read my ad on the Institute board, where I was looking for an apartment. I said on it that I didn't want to pay any more than $450ish. Which was true, because plenty of places in the area go from like $270 to $350, to maybe maybe $400, but I would agree to $450 if it was a good one.) At the time I was really confused, though. And he talked about some other housekeeping issues, I don't really remember what. "If we need to talk to each other, let's just use our cellphones," he said. "It's easier." "Okay," I shrugged.

And I slept, and went running, and showered and stuff. And later, I went to go look for food and to see what was in the general area of my house. As I was leaving, a girl called about my "looking for an apartment" ad, and I told her about the house, and invited her to stop by, and asked her to please take my card down because I'd forgotten about it. I kept walking. I found a cool outdoor concert at the Graywhale CD store that was like a block from my house. I heard them play several songs and then bought their CD. ("You can have them sign it," the guys inside said.) The band was called Delta Spirit, and since they were an indie band, I called Optimistic to see if he'd heard of them. He had.

I visited a bicycle shop that was right there. And then I got a sandwich and went home.

There was a Muslim girl standing in the front yard, with a Muslim guy and a little girl. They asked if I lived in the house, and I told them I do, and they said they had seen the FOR RENT sign and they wanted to see the room. They said they had been calling the number and nobody had answered. I apologized (ACK. JEFF!) and invited them in. In broken English they explained that the room was for the older girl, and I'm not sure if the little girl would be staying there or not. The guy wasn't going to be, though. They asked a bunch of questions about the house and what areas were shared and that kind of stuff. As I brought them through the front door, Jeff opened the private entrance to the room that was available. I walked her around, and he was in there, waiting. He half ignored them.

They seemed really interested. She goes to school, and she wanted to be close. They were like, "so to apply we have to talk to him, right?" and I was like "well...yeah..." and the arrangement they came up with was that they would call Jeff to come by and 'apply' sometime. But it was all wayyyy vaguer than it needed to be considering that it was someone who wanted the room. Whatever.

I went to my room, because it really wasn't my job to show them the room since Jeff was there. When they left, he knocked on my door. I opened it and nobody was there. I found Jeff in the kitchen.

"Do you think that's the kind of person who meets our criteria?" Jeff was annoyed. "Jeff," I said. "They saw the sign. They wanted to see it so I showed it to them." He was like, "I know, I was going to too. You have to, so you're not discriminating." He said, "But do you think you could live with her? Don't you want a student? With your...culture?" I said, "Really, I get along with pretty much everyone. So someone else would maybe be more fun, but I'm sure I would get along with her just fine." "Really," Jeff said. "Mhmm." "People like that are different, though. Students pick up after themselves. With people like them, things wouldn't get put away..." I shrugged.

"Has anyone else called about your ad on the Institute board?" he asked.

"No," I said. I didn't mention that I hadn't put one up. "OH! Actually, yes." I remembered the girl who called about my old ad. I told him I gave her the address and that she was probably going to come by. I went back to my room.