The thing about change is that it has big effects on your body and brain. Lots of mountainous highs, followed by riverbank lows. Storms of confidence followed by buckets of self-doubt.
Relationships are fascinating, right? Because, you never know if your perception of the thing is totally different from the other persons. It’s impossible to tell if the idea you have of a person (particularly those on the peripheral) is even remotely accurate. Or, maybe people and relationships are just far more fluid than I like to believe. Perhaps bonds are formed and broken and reshaped and remodeled more often than I am aware. Maybe I’ve just been living in a relationship bubble. Believing that the world is stationary, that people are mostly static.
Clearly they are not.
Boundaries shift and new ideas emerge.
This is all a very dramatic way of saying, I thought I had a great relationship with my landlord. For two years things have been better than perfect. No problems, no drama, nothing. Just pleasantries and professional transactions.
Now that we are moving, now that we are no longer his tenants, we no longer have this bond, this rapport, this ability to be cordial and friendly. Now, it’s just how much can I screw you over without you noticing? How much money can I get from you before you put up a fight.
And, here’s the thing. It’s never simple. It’s never cut & dry, like, screw him–he’s in the wrong! No, it’s taking all these various components into consideration and weighing the present circumstances (losing half a month’s rent) with future ones (losing a reference) and figuring out which one will be more costly in the end.
It also turns something that should have been simple and smooth into something ugly. Now, we have to seek legal advice and research tenant rights. Now we have to figure out if fighting or hoping for the best will ultimately be a better option for us–for our finances, for our emotional well being, for our egos.
I love so many, many things about New York City. But, one thing I will not miss for one tiny millisecond is the real estate bullshit. It is a racket. A seedy, disgusting bullshit of a situation. Where no one wins and everyone is miserable.
I guess a final fuck you from New York was inevitable. Let’s go out with a bang!