OK, fine. You win.

So I had a mini-epiphany at lunch today. I realized that I'm being waaay too picky about the neighborhood I move to in the city. My comrade and coworker Jeremiah informed me that, yes, in fact I am the lowest-paid staff member at the magazine. He, of course, found this out by underhanded means, and I had to force the information out of him since he didn't want to tell me that, yes, in fact I am the lowest-paid staff member.

Then he asked me if I found an apartment yet. This question prompted me to realize that I'm being way too picky and if I wasn't so picky I probably would have moved out by now. Up until now, I had no qualms about spending $600 on rent plus utilities to live in Lakeview or Lincoln Park or somewhere all the action is. But now I realize, hey, as long as I'm living by a train station, pretty much any place I move to is just a short ride to Funville. Plus most neighborhoods have at least a couple decent neighborhood bars and cool restaurants. And movie theaters are much more prominent on the North Side than where I live now. There isn't even a movie theater in my neighborhood now, how sad is that?

Marlyn has been so good these past two weeks looking for apartments and sending me the links to the cool ones she finds, and I've been doing nothing but blowing her off, saying "That's too far" or "That's not party-ish enough." Well enough! I'm going to be 25 in 10 days and even though my salary is miniscule, there is no reason for me to still be living with my parents.

I think me and Marlyn will have a lot of fun living together, and that's all that matters. Where I live at this point isn't that important. It can't be that important. I can't afford for it to be that important. The CTA is great and can get you anywhere you need to be. I'll still be able to hang out wherever, I just won't be right in the midst of it right now. I'll be on the outskirts until I make more money.

And from my experience, the view is always much better from further away.