I realized I miss that when, last night, a resident of the communal house where the backyard screening series is happening showed me around said house. It was a grand tour: each of the several bedrooms, the living room, the living room-like basement room, a neat and large bathroom, the two-fridge-equipped kitchen, and all three levels, the top one reached by a really steep stairway.
(Oh, and the young woman giving me the tour was pretty cute, too. You knew I'd notice...)
I try to be very open to a place's "vibe." I got a good one from this house. It's a good place, with who seem like good people.
From January 2001 to August 2002 I lived in a good house, not far from last night's house in fact (both are off of Hawthorne Blvd.). The difference was that I soon realized that I could not trust one person who lived there, which started to sour me on that place. Then in July 2002 I realized I couldn't trust another person there, either. That was the breaking point: I started looking for an apartment. I found the one I live in now the next month, and moved into this place in the second half of August. Some time into my living here, it dawned on me: I've lived here longer than I did in the Hawthorne house...but it feels like I lived in the house longer. There was more drama there. (By the way, the first guy who I'd realized was untrustworthy "screwed the pooch" soon after I left, doing a stupid and thoughtless thing and getting kicked out because of it. I learned this the last time I visited that house, in December 2002.)
I've lived in my studio apartment the longest I've lived on my own anywhere: I'm two months from my sixth anniversary here, as opposed to the year-and-eight-months I managed in the Hawthorne house and the three years I had my Hermiston apartment. This is a good place, in a neat building, with some cool neighbors.
But I like the space, and the shared space, of a good communal home. Heck, of a home in general: I was lucky to grow up in good homes that I liked. My parents found good places; they have a great track record for homes rented or bought.
So homes are on my mind. Good homes. I know what those are like.
