In the spirit of my newly begun apartment hunt, I title this entry:

Why I'm Getting the Cat

Landlords, I'm discovering, don't like pets. Can I blame them? No. Pets make messes, they can be loud, they smell, they get into stuff, they destroy the furniture. In deciding to go ahead with the whole cat thing, I'm limiting myself to a very small selection of apartments, most of them in a higher price range than I was hoping for. I can afford it, but it cuts down on the savings I was sorta hoping to accumulate.

I grew up with pets. My parents had a dog and a cat when I was born, and there's never been a time in my life when we DIDN'T have at least one of each. As a little kid I was pretty terrible sometimes, with our one cat Oliver in particular (mainly because I was 3 when we got him, and he was the only one I could catch at that age -- the other cat was too fast, and the dog was too big). When my parents wall-papered the bathroom, I bathed the kitten in wall-paper paste. One time I gave him a bath in the toilet and then put him down the laundry shoot. He got dressed up in doll clothes and wrapped in baby blankets and lugged all over the place, and believe it or not he grew up to be about the friendliest cat I ever met. Part of this was probably due to brain damage.

I was always more of a cat person than a dog person growing up, although at this point I think I'm somewhere in the middle. Dogs are great and I can't wait to have one. Dogs, I might add, are large creatures. A dog does not fit in a purse. Yorkshire terriers, toy poodles, shih-tzus, etc, are not dogs. They are rats. I want a dog. But in fairness, I couldn't bring myself to keep a big dog in a little apartment. Dogs need yards to run around in. The dog can wait until I have a house. A cat on the other hand, is small and portable, can stay indoors, and is independent enough to entertain itself while I'm at work. Cats are full of personality, they don't make a lot of noise, and they can be great companions. When you live by yourself it's nice to have a little someone to come home to.

When I moved into my first apartment last summer it just didn't seem right without a cat, but I knew I couldn't get one until after I graduated, got a job, etc. I was responsible. I didn't jump into something I couldn't afford. Last summer I went to the Disney Store and bought Figaro (you know, from Pinocchio) to come sleep on my bed since I couldn't have the real thing yet. Well, now it's a year later. I am graduated, I have a full-time job, and I'm on the hunt for an apartment. I want one that will let me keep a cat, because I know what having a pet adds to my life, and I also know that now I'm responsible enough to have one.

So the first step, and it's actually probably the biggest one, is finding a place to live. The classifieds have page after page of apartment listings, but naturally two-thirds of them say "No Pets". I actually only found two that specifically said "Pets Welcome", but there were also a number that just didn't say either way. I have them sorted and listed in a text file for convenience. After getting past the "pets/no pets" thing there's the matter of price, and that's an adventure in itself. Apartment complexes cost more, but more is included. Private places can look inexpensive, but when you add on utilities the price goes up another $150 a month. So then the question is, how much can I REALLY afford, TOTAL? And what will be the best value for the money that I'm spending? AND does it really make sense to hold out for the kitty cat, or should I settle for pet-free at a potentially lower price?

I visited my first place yesterday. I was hoping it would be livable, only $320 a month (plus utils but that's still really good) and in a decent location. The price is right and the cat is welcome but it's tiny. The bathroom was the worst part -- the ceiling slopes over the tub so you can barely stand up in it. The bedroom was small, which I COULD deal with, but it didn't have a closet -- the closet is in the living room. There's NO storage space. BUT... it's cheap, and the landlady seems very nice. Still... would I really want to live there for at least a year? I don't know. At any rate, that's the low-end place.

Hopefully today I'll get a look at my high-end place, an apartment complex in Hamburg, at about $555 a month (including heat and water). I really think it will be a nice place (if it doesn't match the picture I have in my head then there's no way it would be worth it). Complexes have a lot of other added bonuses too: 24-hour maintenance, well-maintained grounds, parking (including snow removal), and usually appliances and such would be newer (and some of the cheap places don't even include appliances). Plus the apartments are generally better-laid-out than in a converted house, which can make it seem bigger. The one I have in mind looks like all the second-floor apartments have balconies, and it's very quiet. I really liked it from the outside. But overall it costs over $100 more than the broom closet we looked at yesterday (and that's including utilities at the tiny place).

Tomorrow I've got an appointment to look at a 2-bedroom upper which is $485 a month (includes water and has a stove). I have a feeling it's out of my price range. I think we're kinda hoping that something else (like say, heat) might be included in that price too. The lady I talked to didn't really seem to know all the details. But I'm not gonna hold my breath. I've got a whole list to run through this evening, making phone calls, so hopefully something $450 or under will allow cats and I'll be able to look at it this week.

The cat does make things a little more complicated but I don't think it will be too bad. Landlords are more likely to allow cats than dogs so in that sense I luck out a little. Pets are not free, so on top of possibly spending more on the apartment I've also got to feed it and take it to the vet but the cost there is really not too bad... and I know that it will be worth it.

So I shall be stubborn, dig in my heels, and fight for this cat thing, because it's something I want and damn it, I deserve to get something I want every so often. ;) I gave up on the monitor (just not worth it), I can't afford a piano. I want a kitten, I've been planning and talking about getting a kitten for over a year, and even if I don't adopt it immediately I'm NOT going to sign away my right to it for another two years. I'm moving somewhere where I'll have the option to get one whenever I want to, whether he comes on my birthday or not until Christmas. I have the means to take care of a kitten. I'm getting a place that will let me do it. :)