I've always known that I'd live in an apartment at some point in my life, but I never really thought about all of the things that that would entail. I love it for the most part, but there are some aspects of it that I could do without. Care to read a few?
The male neighbor (whose door is several inches to the left of mine) does everything in his power to avoid us. As in, he sees me coming and doesn't hold the elevator door open for me, even though I'm close enough for it not to be an inconvenience. I always had grand dreams of being friends with some people in my building, but I guess that's not happening with him. But then again, I don't have to worry, because Leah and I met for the first time. I could always entice her to come over with fresh out of the oven cookies!
Normally, I can't hear the people who live above me. It does happen occasionally, and of course it only happens when I'm trying to get to sleep. I usually hear people out in the hallway, and on some weekends, it seems like the people on my floor have decided to just have their party out in the hallway. To each his own, I suppose.
Bringing home groceries is a pain. Here's what it's like for Stephen and I after a large grocery shop: Unload groceries from the trunk and set them just inside the door. Move them from the door to the elevator. Sure, we could just move them to the elevator in the first place, but since we don't know what the people in our building are like, we decide to play it safe. (I try to think the best of people, but when hundreds of dollars of groceries are at stake, we play it safe). Then we have to load them all into the elevator. One person has to stand inside the elevator, and we have to work quickly, because our elevators get angry if you keep them open too long; they close incredibly slowly (and you have to throw your whole weight up against them to keep from shutting) while making an annoying beeping sound. Once we get to our floor, we repeat what just happened, but in reverse. Then we've got to take them all the way down the hallway to our apartment, because of course are apartment isn't by the elevator. By the time we get all the groceries inside, we're too tired to put them away!
My balcony faces a relatively busy street, and since we're only on the first floor (actually, it's technically the second, but the elevator says we live on the first...), people can see me sitting on my balcony. Right across the street is a bus stop, and I've noticed people staring at me while I'm out reading. I have to look presentable so that I can lounge on my balcony. It makes me miss the old apartment, because we used to live on the 6th floor, and no one could see us up there! I'd often sit out there in my pj's!
Laundry is also a pain. I have to round up all of our dirty clothes and drag them down to the basement. I have to make sure that I look presentable because other people are most likely going to see me in the elevator! If I haven't remembered to fill my laundry card (at the gas station a block away), then I'm screwed. Doing laundry requires 3 trips down to the basement, and costs too dang much.
This next one is just particular to my building: Taking out the garbage can be inconvenient. You have to take it to a little building in the back, and if you've lost your key...then you can't throw out your garbage.
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