Settling In
I’m writing this long overdue entry from my new apartment in LA. I’m still adjusting to my new place and getting used to the heavy footsteps of my upstairs neighbor. Back home, I rarely heard my neighbors, only the children racing down the hallway to the elevator. But here, I hear everything and I’m afraid everyone can hear me. The walls are so thin that I even hate talking on the phone at night, for fear that my neighbors will judge my conversations.
This morning I had my headphones on, listening to the same song over and over again while trying to write. I faintly heard a strange gurgling sound, but I assumed it was the neighbor’s washing machine. It wasn’t until I noticed my cat frozen in place, staring intently in the kitchen, that I slipped off my headphones and went over to investigate. I looked out the living room window first to see if I could see my elderly neighbors lugging bloated mesh bags of laundry back to their units. But then the gurgling happened again and I turned to see that it was coming from my sink.
My sink, my barely used beautiful double sink, was now filled with dirty brown water and bubbling up from the drain. I ran the garbage disposal, which sucked down the water in one sink, only to re-fill up again and gurgle loudly as if to give me the middle finger. The maintenance guy came in the late afternoon, by which time the sinks had both drained, and left a thick residue and leftover noodles (not mine, so gross) along its walls. He explained to me that my neighbors above me probably clogged the mainline. I’m not used to that: upstairs neighbors that send their leftovers through the pipes and into my sinks. Plural.
There are two things, however, that I really love about my apartment. First, the fact that this is a pet-friendly building. Chompers is able to run around without me shushing her, I can buy all the over-sized cat furniture I want without having to sneak it in, and I don’t have to hide her in a reusable Sam’s Club bag whenever I have to take her to the vet. Second, and this is the most important, is the fact that this place feels so unfamiliar. The problem with my old apartment and with Hawaii in general was that it was too familiar, making it hard for me to focus. But here, it’s easier to write for a few hours without interruption.
It feels like I’ve been magically lifted out of my old life and placed somewhere new and exciting. As I watch my cat pace back and forth curiously on the kitchen counter, I realize we’re both experiencing our lives through new eyes.
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