Kirk’s Blog

Louis said that he was really “sweating” (weighing heavily on his mind and provoking stressful emotional responses) the whole New Orleans situation (Katrina) and that he had thoughts of adandoning his life and moving back down there.  I believe his words were, “I’m really sweating New Orleans.”  He and his boyfriend wanted to have a baby together, and Louis said that he wanted to move out to the country. He didn’t want to know what a sonogram was or any of that technology, and he wanted to live completely away from computers. I said excitedly that I wanted to live a similar life, except that I wouldn’t want to be completely alienated from computers.

Then the dream flashed to a scene in the wilderness - what it would be like if we adopted the lifestyle. The three of us were riding around in the desert on horseback wearing long poles on our heads so that we looked like unicorns. We trotted around in a circle dipping our heads and then raising them up again.

I was talking to my mom trying to determine how many DVD movies I should get when I go to Blockbuster. We wanted to make copies. So we decided on 10 movies. As I was making the copies, I was opening up each case and placing the CD in a stack. Eventually the the stacks grew so high that they towered over my head. I tried to divide the towers to make them smaller and more manageable, and the CDs came tumbling down as I removed some of them from the top. Luckily I was able to keep them in order, lying horizontally on the floor. However, the situation was overwhelming. I didn’t know what to do with the massive towers are CDs! I’d gone too deep, bitten off more than I could chew!

The craziest thing happened to me yesterday as I began my apartment hunting. There’s a stinking dead rat in my apartment again (that’s another story), so I’m looking to move soon. One of the places that I found on craigslist went by the name of New York City Rentals or something like that (646-393-9171) and they are located at 304 Park Ave South 11th Floor at East 23rd Street. I spoke to a really friendly woman over the phone by the name of Jennifer.

Basically, the deal was a room in Chelsea, no smaller than 14×16, ranging in price from $150 to $165 a week, with a $200 refundable registration fee. The kitchen is shared with a maximum of 2 other people, and you have a private bathroom (hotel style). Sounds like an amazing deal, right? That’s what I thought, almost too good to be true.  I did keep an open mind, but it turns out that my suspicions were not far from the truth.

On my way up the elevator to meet Jennifer, there were several other people riding along with me going for the same purpose.  I thought, wow, they must attract a lot of business.  However, something seemed amiss, and it turned out that one of them was an undercover cop.  She asked me if I was going for a room, and I said yes, and she said don’t give them any money; they are a scam!

So I followed them up and watched for a bit.  One guy looked really bitter, as if he had been scammed in the past.  I watched as he stood in the background watching one guy go into the office, and then he nodded to the police lady telling her that was the same woman he had dealt with.  I asked if I should stay, and the woman told me that I didn’t have to.  So, although it might have made an interesting scene, I left.

What are the chances of walking into an elevator in the middle of sting operation? Had I not rescheduled my appointment at the last minute, I might have gotten scammed.