East Lakeview

I'm back in East Lakeview and will be living here for at least the next year of my life, thanks to the fortunate signing of the lease that my buddy Ashwin and I just did. I say fortunate because, for the area that we're living in, you can't find a better value for a 2BR/2BA high-rise. The living room is very spacious, the kitchen's full of steel and black marble, the rooftop deck is perfect to enjoy a beer on, and the bedrooms are on opposite ends of the apartment. I'm really excited about the location of the bedrooms because now whenever Ashwin's fiance is in town and he busts out his Kama Sutra late at night, I won't be able to hear any of that bizarre growling that they like to do. Followed by Ashwin saying, "THANK YOU, COME AGAIN."

But the absolute best thing is that the new place is 6 blocks south of my old Lakeview apartment, which doesn't sound like much but will cut my morning commute from 25 minutes to 15 minutes. It seriously used to take 10 minutes for my morning bus to travel the first 6 blocks, because there was always this sweet but very physically disabled lady who'd come in from the Addison stop and take eons to wheel herself in.

And it never mattered which bus I'd hop into each morning, because she was working with psychic powers and always managed to roll up to Addison seconds within my entering the bus. I'd groan as soon as the bus would start beeping and kneeling over to the curb, and she'd bump into every corner of the door before finally getting herself through. Then I'd exhale loudly and she'd look back and smile at me sweetly and ask me to pass her today's RedEye laying on the seat next to me.

Living at this new apartment, where I'll be getting on blocks after the Addison stop, I won't have to be tormented with that anymore. But if that lady starts getting on at the Belmont stop, I think it's time to start being scared.