Summer plans, apartment adventures

This past Thursday night I competed in a poetry slam that was a little more special than the usual sha-bang. In the words of Sam (and her facebook event invite) it was a "poetic showdown to decide who will represent Lincoln, NE this year at the National Poetry Slam in Minnesota!"

A team of four plus one alternate was formed from the slam winners (with the over all winner becoming the Slam Master) to become this year's No Coast Slam Team. And I'm on it (and so is my friend Steven)! I'm so stoked :-) The first week of August I get to travel with the team to compete against (and hang out with) poets from all over the country. It's going to be incredibly rad.

However, making the team put a bit of a dent in my summer plans. More like detour than dent I suppose. I had been planning on WWOOFing (volunteering on an organic farm) the first half the summer, then returning to Lincoln for the second half. I guess hardcore/scheduled practices will fill up the summer, and I can't really be gone and stay on the team.

While I could be disappointed, I'm not. I can WWOOF any other summer (especially as I'll be in school longer since I'm transferring to UNL and changing my major to Sociology with a minor in Women's and Gender Studies). When is the next time I'll qualify/make the team to attend nationals? I CAN'T WAIT! The part I'm most excited about is just meeting all of the other poets. I bet rad people there will be plenty.

Since my plans have changed and I'll be here for the entire summer, I needed to find housing ASAP. Although I'd already been looking up some places, I kinda got into "auuugh" mode and started looking a lot harder. I didn't want to end up without a place lined up when finals week rolled around. I realize that's like three weeks away--but that's only three weeks!

I found a couple of places that looked promising, then found a lovely advertisement with pictures of a colorful studio with a tiny loft. I went and check it out, and BA BAM! I signed my 12-month lease this morning and will get the keys May 1.

It's a beautiful place with TONS of charm and character. I wish the pictures (below) would do it better justice. It's part of a big, old house that was renovated into separate apartments. I'm on the second floor. There are three other tenants, two on the second floor and one on the first. The first floor tenant is a (great)grandma who looks super sweet. I'd love to make friends with her and bake cookies or something.

There is a wrap around porch out front, and the property manager said I could plant flowers around it. He also said I could plant a small vegetable garden if I could find the room, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to. The front lawn is teeny tiny.

The current owners just bought the house last month and are in the middle of some renovations and maintenance. When I saw my unit it hadn't been thoroughly cleaned yet and they were in the middle of fixing some cupboard doors and stuff. It will all be ship-shape by May 1st though.

I love the giant windows and beautifully fun-colored walls. I also love how much bigger it is than the pictures indicate (not that it's huge, but I wasn't expecting much from something advertised as a studio). The bathroom is huge long! My friend Scheffler came with me so I wouldn't be alone, but he also asked a bunch of questions that were probably good to ask. I kind of forget the important stuff sometimes. And he brought his camera so we took lots of pictures! He reminds me a lot of my friend Tyler in the way they see the world and treat people. I wish they'd gotten to know each other before Tyler left for Washington. I also wish Tyler was still here :-( But anyways--happy thoughts! Like these pictures :-D The last one of the kitchen area is dark and makes the area look dingy. It's actually pretty happy colorful, that was just a bad picture and lighting. The property manager said that because these units are all colorful and artsy, I'm allowed to make tenant modifications. YAY :-) Maybe painting adventures are in the future? Who knows.