Apartment #2102

     2005 was a year of fun. It was also the year that Vegas and I put our friendship to the test and decided to move in together. I've heard horror stories about best friends sharing a place and in the end the friendship was ruined. Vegas and I didn't really think about that, for us it was signing a lease that stated we could have a twelve month sleep over. SCORE! Ultimately, it really only brought us closer and I think the biggest disagreement we had was about the blinds facing the wrong direction. (I'm left handed and apparently it was nails to a chalk board when the curved part of the vertical strips were facing inside instead of out. I'm telling you, its a right-handers world out there and us lefties can't catch a break.)
     Apartment #2102 was a real turning point in our lives. It was the first time we both were completely on our own. We turned 21 in that place. It was where I lived when I became friends with John, the man Vegas would end up marrying. So many memories were made in that apartment and thinking about it brings back warm and fuzzy feelings....but don't let all this reminiscing fool you. It was not a beautifully furnished flat, with a view and marble counter tops. Let me paint you a picture of what this home of ours was really like.
     Our place was a 2 bed 2 bath apartment on the second floor. Our balcony did over look the pool which was kind of nice but we didn't have a washer/dryer hookup so that stunk. Hiking our laundry up and down was a pain so needless to say I would wear everything I owned before actually making that hike. The same went with trash bags. At first we took out the garbage as soon as it got full. Then only in the day time. Eventually, we just started a pile up trash bags at the door and would take them out together when it got ridiculous. (Typing this is embarrassing but funny and oh so true.) Finding a time when we were both home to actually take out the trash was tricky. I had a nanny gig that I left for at 6:45am, after which I had my other job until 9pm, and by the time I got home it was time to attend my online college courses. Vegas, on the other hand, had cosmetology school from noon to 8pm on the opposite side of town. After class she would either study or hangout with friends and neither of us felt like engaging in domestic duties. I will say, we could get that place looking like little orphan Annie and her friends had been cleaning all day in NO TIME.
The decor of the apartment was...interesting? We didn't really have top of the line furniture, I mean come on we were 20, but we had a couch, a chase, coffee table, dining room table, the necessities were covered. We were desperately lacking wall art so when a friend of ours who worked at Abercrombie said he would give us one of those giant posters of some all-American, guy next door with wash board abs and a shaggy hair cut, we jumped at the offer. We ended up hanging that poster on the wall you first saw when walking into the apartment. The beautiful black and white photo was slanted because the poster was really that big and couldn't fit standing straight up. Marveling at our new found treasure we decided to named the guy in the poster Hank and routinely greeted him when entering the apartment and threw him a peace sign when we left. Hank was pretty popular amongst our friends and was a common prop in pictures.
     Our kitchen was pretty standard: sink, dishwasher, stove, blah blah blah. Half of the cabinets were Vegas's territory and half were mine. The fridge was anyone's domain but we tended to eat what we paid for and it was never a problem. Speaking of eating, I'm sure you can count on both hands times we actually ate at the table during that year. We loved watching certain sitcoms together while enjoying a meal. Vegas was also, and still is, a big fan of celebrity gossip and Hollywood in general. It was normal for her to shout things like, "Yeah right, Beyonce!"
We each had our own bathroom which was great. The only downfall was mine was accessible  both by the hallway and by my room so if we had people over I'd to be the one scrubbing porcelain. Vegas had the master bedroom although both rooms were very similar in size. Our rooms were right across the hall from each other but late at night, if we were both cozy in our beds, we would use our cell phones to call each other if we had something to say. You see, not only did we have a television in the living room but each of us had one in our bedroom. (Spoiled brats.) It was just easier to speed dial if I had something funny to say about Grey's Anatomy than actually get up, cross the hall, and walk into her room. (okay, lazy spoiled brats.) Those mini phone calls held a lot of juicy conversations:
exhibit A: "The guy I'm dating doesn't have a belly button!"- Vegas
exhibit B: "Turn on channel 13 News at 10. I'm dating that weather man and he's on right now!"- Vegas
exhibit C: "Mississippi River!" - Me answering the question to a game being played in the living room
(I swear, all of the above statements are true!!! Vegas dated some interesting people and I was always ruining games by playing from my room.)
For an entire year all that stood between me and my best friend was a hallway. It rocked. I think half the reason us living together went so well was because we have been friends since 1996, surviving middle school and high school together. Living together was a breeze compared to the past. Also, as you may have guessed neither of us are really a Type A Personality. The apartment wasn't exactly sparkling clean but it wasn't a health hazard either. Situations concerning the apartment were also categorized on importance. If it was life or death (i.e. the time the door knob broke off when I came home mid-day, Vegas was already gone, and I was stuck on the staircase with no way to get in) one or both of us would step up and get it taken care of. On the other hand, if we could live without fixing it we just put it off until we "had time".
The best example of that kind of "it can wait" situation was when a vent connected to the AC started dripping water. The vent was located right in the middle of the hallway. I can't remember who was first to notice the leakage but I do remember thinking it would eventually stop... so we put a towel down. When that towel was soaked we replaced it with a different towel. This is the exact moment when we should have just called the office and had them come fix it....but for some reason we just put it off. Once we started going through towels fast enough for us to have to hike them down to the laundry machines we nixed that idea and put a cooking pot under it. As the water started to rise in the pot we noticed it had an orange tint to it, ewwww. Did that make us call the office? Oh no, that just meant we didn't want it to get on us, or our clothes, so we would avoid the dripping water at all costs. Walking out of my bedroom was a hassle so I'd just leave through my bathroom and avoid the water all together. Vegas, however, would walk out her door take a step and then have to jump over the pot and lean to one side simultaneously in order to not get wet. This went on for months. I'm serious. I think something else in the apartment broke so we HAD to call and when they came to fix it we explained the leak as well. I'm not proud of the laziness but it makes for a good story.
     There are many stories which take place in apartment 2102 and I intend on blogging most of them. The best part about living in that place is that I will never live there again. It was perfect for that time in my life and I am so thankful I was able to experience it. Once our year long lease was up and it was time to move, Vegas and I were a little sad to say good-bye. We had everything packed and moved out. The place was barren minus Hank who just hung on the wall looking beefy as ever. Vegas and I decided it wouldn't be fair for either of us to claim him as our own so we chose to pass him on to our friend, Penny. She is a few years younger than us and had always loved Hank. We wrapped him up and had a whole "passing of the torch" ceremony, Hank being the torch. Penny still has Hank and her Vegas and I are still the best of friends.