magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

As is probably easily discernible from the fact that I haven't written anything to the contrary, the apartment on Green Street didn't work out. If I had been laying odds, I would have given it a pretty even 50/50 split, but still, but still, we had gotten our hopes up, began to imagine life in this place, how we would arrange things, decorate, possible paint colours, future dinner parties. Knowing relieved the stomach-churning uncertainty, but opened up a flood of disappointment.

And so we pressed on. We didn't have much choice. Neither of us could really focus on anything else, and although there is no pressing expiration date on my current living situation, Jenny wants/needs to be out of her place by the end of the month.

We've been to see a number of crappy places. Some places that sounded promising, but left us wanting. A few places that felt almost, but not quite, right. And then this Monday morning, a fourth floor railroad, in a rent-controlled building, on India Street, in the heart of the part of Greenpoint that we both have fallen for, a block from the water, with a gorgeous view of Manhattan.

We had both called the broker and left messages last week, and then stopped by their office while we were out searching on Friday. The broker took note of our enthusiasm and told us that we would be the first people to see it, over the weekend if possible, or first thing on Monday. It took us a little while to make it out to Greenpoint, and there were two other people there to look when we arrived, but the landlord's granddaughter, who showed us the space, told us that we were the nicest couple that had come to see the apartment.

They were finishing a renovation, with carpets and linoleum, which is certainly not our ideal, but with the money that we would be saving each month we could easily afford to lay down Flor carpet tiles, and get some nice furniture. And did I mention the view?

The only question seemed to lie with the building's pets policy, although even that looked as if it were swinging in our direction. Plus, Chesterfield is tiny, and quiet, and terribly well-behaved. The broker had passed on all of our information, told us that the family would be meeting to discuss it, and she would get back to us the next day. 'It's not a yes, but not a no,' she told me. I'd have put the odd at at least 75% in our favour.

We didn't hear from the broker all day Tuesday. A bad sign. Towards the end of the business day we called her and left a message, and called the office and spoke to the senior broker, who told us that the owner had rented the apartment to a family member, although she had seemed to be slightly out of touch about the listing one of the first times that we called, and so having only her word still left a glimmer of hope.

But we never got a return call from the broker. And so again found ourselves disappointed, and demoralised. That's three apartments to fall through in less than two weeks. One that we had thought was a done deal, and two others that were, if not sure things, still pretty far from being long shots.

After some discussion, debate, silent thought, more discussion. We've decided that, baring any out of the blue incredible developments over the next couple of days, that as a temporary solution, Jenny is going to move into my place. We will keep looking, but we don't feel that we can keep spending the constant effort that we've spent over the past two weeks, and we don't want to compromise and jump on something we're not totally happy with just because the month is closing out.

For my part, this really has to be temporary. Although I love Inwood, and I love my apartment, anticipating the move back to Brooklyn was super exciting. Being close to friends, being able to get out and be social without weighing the travel time involved. Not having to dread the hour and a half subway ride home at 3:00am on Saturday morning.

For Jenny, it's got to be more than just crashing at my place for a couple of months until we find something else. Putting too much effort into the move does seem a little counter-intuitive, but she wants to feel comfortable and at home, and rightly deserves to.

I had been planning (and postponing, and re-planning) a "housecooling" barbecue party before I left Inwood. As it looks like I'm actually going to be staying through the summer, we'll still have to put something together, once Jenny's settled in.