I Didn’t Know What I Was Getting Myself Into

So after months of throwing ourselves at the apartments for rent section of craigslist, we found a place that I thought would be fine. With nobody living upstairs, and only sharing one wall, there would probably be minimal noise. It was spacious, and in the up-and-coming Madison Valley neighborhood. Andrew offered to help us move, and it became an all-day event, what with all of the stuff we’ve accumulated since coming to Seattle in two carloads. By the time we got the last truckload there, it was dark out. Piroko set up a contraption involving our futon frame and some lamps, so that we could see where we were dropping our boxes. Of course, this apartment ended up causing what may be the worst three months I’ve ever had. The very, very short version of the story is that the previous tenants were not *tidy people*; the landlord didn’t clean up after them at all, and even denied that their dog left its territorial mark on our carpet. I am grateful that this situation coincided with the busiest period I’ve ever had at work; nearly all of my waking time was dedicated to plowing through writing and design tasks that kept me somewhat distracted from the abysmal nature of my daily surroundings.