One of my dirty little secrets is that I yearn to be a 'nester'.

I wanna make a nice comfy little place that I can call my own. With all the details, knick knacks and frills that only a woman (or a style-conscious gay man), can provide.

Which is why I want females to decorate my place, with curtains, spice racks, matched toilet covers and towels, frills an shit.

All those little details that Im not interested in shopping for, but makes a place feel like home and not just a crash pad.

Apart from me staying at Ma's place the last 3 years of being in NY (trust me, I had no intention of it being anywhere that long) Ive been on my own for nearly 15 years.. and I have not felt like Ive had that freedom to nest because ofthe way Ive moved around.

Well no, I had that house in Jacksonville, but that came prefurnished. That was nice until I allowed the ex-bro in law to move in as a room-mate. *sigh*

No more room-mates.

So, Im looking forward to this place.

Yes, I had stated I intended it to be furnished in lean Bachelor Pad Prime.... but *scrunch of nose*.. I want it to be nice.

Not ratty or salvation-army chic.

Im too old to be satisfied with that anymore.
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I was telling LilBro about the place yesterday, and he got bug-eyed about the rent Im gonna be paying.

"That's UNBELIEVABLY cheap!"

Yup. The amount is FAR less than I intended to pay - and I was using the old 'it has to be no more than a quarter of my monthly net income' formula - which is a frickin pipe dream in New York City.. unless your income is sniffing the 6 figure range.

He too, until recently, was looking for a place - and encountered the same frustrations Ive did, dealing with usurious brokers, opportunistic landlords and the frenetic, pay-any-price demand.

So he KNOWS.

Yep. Its at rent-control level.

Yes, I know how lucky I am, even though I wont be living in NY per se. Hell, its cheap for that area too.

It is indeed who you know.

Yah, The Gods are watching out fer me.....

So far so good.

I gotta keep the faith.
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The other night, I was walking through Bay Ridge by Kate's place.. and I saw something I hadnt noticed in the area for a long time yet.

For sale and for rent signs.
Its not that you'd notice, but I noticed because of the absence of those indicators recently.

Bay Ridge has become a very popular place for those unable to swing Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope or even Queens, and want a nice area that still has that Brooklyn feel.

So people have been flocking there.

You didnt NEED to post For Sale or For Rent signs for long.

And now Im seeing this popping up?

Yup. The boom time is over, and it looks as if people are cutting their losses as well as battening down.
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She'd never had the chance before, but now every time Kate uses the Plentium II, she moans "This is sweet, I WISH I had bought this machine".

Yes, it is nice. :-)

I joke with her that we will build her something MUCH better.. but when she asks "How much will it cost?", as much as Kate is a 'make it happen' kinda gal, I know that it wont happen.

Im sorry hon - If ya gotta ask, thats the wrong question.

Although you build a machine like that with a bottom line cost in mind, you also build it to a high standard - which means that some parts will simply cost so much that unless you understand the difference between 'fast' and 'efficient', you'd blanch at spending for the distinction.

Its the difference between an off-the-rack suit and a custom armani suit.
The Armani may cost thousands, but it will hold up well enough to look just as new and stylish 10 years later.

I want one bad. (...as well as a coupla armani suits..)

Im tempted to rethink my decison to downsize my computing needs, but I know that a well-equipped laptop or two is as much as I need right now.

I'm not sure I can articulate exactly why that is, but I have the strong conviction that is very necessary to do so.

So, the Plentium III project will have to wait.

But, if Kate is brave enough, I'll help her to build one just like it... :-)

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