and the hunt begins ...

Wow.

There are a LOT of shitty apartments and houses out there.

I decided to be proactive and to start looking for a new place to live the day after I found out I had to be out of my current low-rent apartment.

For those of you who didn't peruse the comments section of my blog for yesterday too closely, my landlord — who's a poker buddy and a cool guy — sold the apartment he's been renting to me to his sister, who wants to renovate the place and thus needs me out. It's the only apartment in building of 18 apartments that's individually owned; the rest are owned by someone who hates the fact that someone else owns one apartment, but that's another story. LOL

So I made some calls to people listing in the classifieds section of the newspaper, and a different poker buddy who's a realtor. He took me to a nice little studio apartment a little bit south of where I live. It's a nice place, has a small pool, a little bit of a backyard and a great ocean view. But the owner wants $650 for it, water included, which means with power it will cost me close to $800 a month. Ouch.

I checked out an apartment in a complex about a half block away from me. It's a 1-bedroom, a little more space than the studio. I'm already leaning to this one, which is $500 a month. A smidge closer to work, plus it has a laundry room and a backup generator for when the power goes out.

Two others I looked at ... ugh. One was for $450 a month. I didn't bother getting out of my truck. Building seemed kind of seedy and dilapidated, plus there was a horde of little street urchin children lingering around outside like a pack of post-apocalyptic reavers. Yikes. The second was listed as a "studio house" for only $375 a month. That should have been a big clue, but I went to look at it anyway. Turns out "studio house" means converted shipping container on a shaky foundation with a tin-roofed extension. Got out of the truck, but was scared to enter the place.

I've also had people try to explain their apartment over the phone, all the while trying to avoid detailed explanations, like they were trying to hide stuff. Idiots. I mean, I'm going to look at it before I rent it ... duh!

A couple of friends of mine are going to check with some of their friends to see if they have any decent places for rent in the central area of Guam. I should know on that front by Monday or Tuesday.

But for now I'm leaning toward at the second place I looked at. If nothing else, at least the move wouldn't be a long haul — a lot of short trips would be nicer than a lot of medium or long trips.

Random Guam Fact Of The Day:
• In ancient Guam, young men went from the parents' hut to a communal hut a little after the age of puberty, where they were schooled in the ways of sex. Basically, a kind of female-staffed frat house. LOL.