No, that isn’t a typo. I meant to write “heat”.

For the majority of my adult life, I’ve been fairly transient. Not in a moving-cities sense, obviously, but since I turned 19 I’ve never lived in one house or apartment for more than 18 months. On a related note, real estate agents hate me.

I’m not really sure what drives me to move so much. Sometimes it’s been through no choice of my own (the owner is selling, or all my roommates are sick of me making a three-pan meal at 11:30 on a Monday night after work), but mostly I feel like it’s because I just want to experience that “new place, clean (bedroom) slate, setting-up-furniture-in-new-configurations” thing. Getting to know a new suburb, finding new local gems, learning new routes to work, continuing to not get to know my neighbors even though “this time will be different!”.

It’s definitely not because I like the moving-house process though.

When I first got to Augusta, I checked out seven or eight apartments in a day before choosing my current place. All but one were significantly bigger than the one I’m in, and once I built all my furniture and got set up, my first thought was “I need more space”.

I figured that I’d use it as a base to get settled, find my feet and my niche in Augusta, sit out the winter and then find a pad with an actual bedroom when the warmer months arrived.

But over the past couple of weeks I’ve begun to open my eyes a little bit more as my apartment starts to feel more like home. Every perceived con I can think of is grossly outweighed by the pros. For example:

– “it’s small”: yeah, but you’re not exactly hosting dinner parties or having 10 friends over to watch the game. And is easier to keep clean. And cheaper to furnish and decorate.

On top of that, the landlord is a good guy even despite me being a serial pest via text about stuff, and his fiancé helped me get back in when I locked myself out in 8*F weather like an idiot. And it’s month to month, no lease, so I have extreme flexibility if for some reason I need it.

– “it’s in a suburban street, not a more downtown area”: dude, it’s Augusta. Everything is close. You’re less than a mile in each direction from the grocery store, the gym, bars in Augusta and Hallowell, and a 10-minute drive to work. Moving would upset that brilliant central balance.

Go closer to work and I can no longer walk to the Liberal Cup. Move to Hallowell an suddenly it’s a longer trip to the gym, supermarket, office and the rest.

“It’d be cheaper to share with someone else”: yeah, but then you have to revisit those old talents of being a decent housemate, wearing a shirt more often than not and not taking 10-minute hangover showers. Besides, all the utilities are included. Convenience is next to godliness, as the old saying doesn’t go. Not having to deal with a bunch of utility and service providers is a blessing I’m willing to embrace for as long as I can.

So in short, while having a bedroom separate from my living room is a nice fantasy, I think I’m doing okay where I am. It’s within walking distance to everything, it’s actually cosy, and I can watch TV from the kitchen AND bathroom sinks if I want.

And hell, the extra hundred (or more) bucks a month are definitely better in my pocket.

Y’know, so I can promptly burn them on frivolous Amazon Prime purchases.