Thermostat Wars

Is this something that you normally fight over with your roommate/partner? When I was living in Medellin there wasn't any temperature control device to fight over, so no problems there. When I lived in a house in DC with 5 roommates we were all college students and so everyone understood the need to freeze their fingers while they typed away into 4 in the morning on their laptops in a 60 degree house in the middle of February.

Nowadays though, it's the opposite. Living in Miami without air conditioning is impossible, but having it set at 68 degrees all day is not necessary, nor something we can afford. We have the same down comforter I used during those chilly nights in DC on our bed here in Miami, something I keep urging us to throw into the closet. "Why do you think we're getting so hot in the middle of the night?" I ask Gio. "It doesn't mean we have to make the apartment even colder!"

Last night I had had enough. For the past week I would wake up in the middle of the night freezing and go to the thermostat to turn it up. I told him our number was 72, 72 was reasonable! So last night I said ok that's enough, I'm tired of having this thermostat war, can we just agree that it makes sense to put it on 72? 4 degrees less = $25 a month more in our electric bill (I even showed him the math!). He agreed, he looked me in the eye and said seventy-two, yes, you're right. So I went to bed earlier than him as I usually do, and as I'm laying there listening to my audiobook and he's asleep, as usually happens, I felt it getting way too cold. So I crept out of bed and went to the thermostat to find it at 70. Seventy!! Just an hour earlier he had looked me in the EYE and told me he agreed with my perfect number of 72. Oh, my blood boiled. I got into bed and immediately pulled my pillow to the edge of the bed and turned my back to him, thinking how I was going to handle this. From now on, I decided, I just can't go to bed earlier than him. I will have to be an A/C nazi, not a role I wanted to take on, but my logic is correct, my number is perfect, and the numbers don't lie. I'll go to bed after him, wake up before him. I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, but as his favorite dumb TV show Storage Wars shows us, if someone really cares about something you can't let them have it.

And yes, this is how exciting my life is right now that I am prone to scheming to beat my boyfriend over $25. I need a cat.

Berlin brings it out in me

When you go to Berlin there's no avoiding that spark that wakes up the left side (or is it the right?) of the brain that screams for some out-of-the-box thinking and creativity. Everyone in the city is either "working on their music/art/film" or studying, and those that do have actual jobs are boring ol' graphic designers. My friend Emma who I stayed with and her roommates have "construction days" in their apartment in which actual wood and tools are involved! So instead of denying the hipster-gentrified neighborhood I was in, I embraced it and picked up some some markers, construction paper, and stickers to put together an original recipe I should have done a month before for this wedding I went to in England 4 days later. It was exciting, my friend and I spent 3 hours working into the wee hours in her kitchen, talking about racism and Scandinavian babes, while pouring every last ounce of creativity we had into our works. I hadn't felt that creative since high school field hockey when I would spend hours (ok really 10 minutes) working on the biggest and most glitter-fied"secret psych" gift for my fellow teammates (to "psych" them up for a game, not that kind of "psych"). 

So along with pounds of chocolate and English tea I brought home some of that creative spark I rediscovered in Berlin. "I love maps, and why not take that love of maps and decorate a little with them. Make our place feel a bit more 'lived in?" I suggested to Gio. It turned out we only had the maps from the 4 cities I visited on my trip, plus a map of San Francisco and a map of the Everglades we didn't really much care for. But it didn't matter, we were off to the hardware store! Before that we went through postcards, photos, beer coasters and other memorable items we had collected that were now on our bedroom floor (a bookcase is the next item on our furniture shopping list!). Seeing as we have many a blank wall to decorate we immediately thought of the numerous guests who come over during our non-existent dinner parties, and decided to give them a little something to look at while relieving themselves, making good use of our worldly postcards.

Of course after we got back from the hardware store we were tired and didn't feel like continuing with the Berlin project. So instead I left the layout of the maps and postcards on the floor, right in the middle of the living room, for the day. Waking up the next morning, I stepped around my short-lived inspiration, and only after going to the mall and buying myself a pretty dress did I come back reinvigorated to finish the weekend's project.

Postcards decorating the bathroom wall

Still adding to our map collection... of course the idea here was to use one whole wall as a big map of the world, placing each map in its place within the world, i.e. maps of Europe east of the Everglades map. It's a concept in progress

Berlin inspiration: Emma's improvised clothes wardrobe using hooks already in the wall and chains. 

Living la vida sola

My first weekend truly alone in this city. And surprisingly, with no car, no apartment, no boyfriend, no internet, no TV – I’m doing just fine! Given my circumstances, this past week between coming home from work and going to bed I’ve taken to reading with a newfound enthusiasm. I’ve gotten through a 470-page book in a week and a half with this zeal! To add to my intellectual stimulation I’ve discovered the closest library around (within walking distance!), experienced Miami’s tourist season outside of Miami Beach (heard at least 5 different languages on Saturday), and discovered where the muscularly-enhanced men and women of the greater Miami area hang out (Crossfit?).

Whereas my bookishness has been sparked even further during my time here in Miami, I fear that my social capacities have fallen below par. My social interactions at work are minimal, and the last time I had a real conversation with someone was 1 week ago with my new Hollywood friends. Today as I was walking around on numerous occasions I caught myself just blatantly staring at social interactions between couples, families, friends, and even strangers. I would actually stop walking, stand there and just stare as nonchalantly as I could. Last week over lunch with my coworker, lacking for any other kind of face-to-face conversation, I relayed the entire plot of the aforementioned 470-page book I was reading to your typical American man who listens to sports radio and doesn’t read!

After reading a travel book on Miami, which for the most part focuses on another city called Miami Beach and all of its wonderful art-deco buildings you should see, celebrities you might happen upon, and nightclubs you must go to (no wonder everyone raves about Miami!), I’ve actually found myself wondering if I should just go out, alone. Get myself dressed up, go to a bar, sit down, and see what happens. No, no, even I am not that embarrassment-proof! And I don’t mean just ANY kind of going out, why just today I ventured off of this island I’m lazily staying on (by lazy I mean because it is a 3 minute walk to my office on the other side of the island, and I couldn’t remember the last time I had made the 5 minute walk across the bridge to the ‘mainland’). Honestly I didn’t go far. My checkbook and new strappy sandals didn’t allow me to stray too far, so I took the free Metro Mover, transportation that I’d heard only tourists and immigrants take; which, as a devoted rider these past 2 weeks, I would like to point out is false! No my friends, on weekday mornings between 8 and 9, that small airport shuttle-like monorail is bustling, sometimes I would even have to say “excuse me” to someone standing in front of the door to make my way out!

If you’re confused how I would know the public transportation system during rush hour when I previously stated I was staying at a place just 3 minutes walking distance from my office, well it’s because I haven’t kept you up to date on all of the places I’ve stayed here in Miami. With a closet at my office storing my material possessions, I’ve managed to nomadically make my way from one accommodating abode to the other – even to a different continent altogether! From my current pad to a hotel to a friend of a friend’s place in Hollywood for the weekend and finally back here to the island apartment that has everything a $800,000 apartment could provide, except internet. Now back to the abysmal silence and another book…

Packing

I leave Medellin (for good, as in relocating, not coming back for a while) on Monday. I still can't believe it, it hasn't really hit me. Oh yeah, except when I started packing this evening because I was getting anxious that it all wasn't going to fit in 2 suitcases. So far so good, somewhat. It doesn't look like much (or well, it looks like I've still got a lot left to pack) but I somehow feel better. I'll have to check 3 pieces of luggage (damn my big desktop iMac) and bring on two substancial size carry-ons, which is going to make for a fun time going through customs. Oh and to top it all off I still haven't figured out where I'm staying where I get there yet, oy.

My bare bookshelves

Why does my closet still look pretty full?

One suitcase packed to the brim

Photos of my digs

Curiously, it wasn't until just a few days ago that I noticed the huge poster of Jesus looking down over me while I was on the toilet in the bathroom in the apartment.
Here are some photos of the patio outside of the apartment, the living room, and kitchen. It's a pretty sweet deal, this is the only unit in the building that has the patio. Not a terribly great view, but a nice garden.

When I stepped out onto the streets Thursday during Semana Santa (Holy Week before Easter) in Medellin it was ridiculously dead! I ran back inside and grabbed my camera. I have yet to take contrasting pictures of what the streets normally look like, but just image Grand Central during at 5:30 p.m. all the time!