stilltwentyfour

[stilltwentyfour]

The Big Move, Again

I’ve been putting off this decision about which condo to move into, partly because I don’t exactly have a great track record for prudent moves. No, that’s kind. I have never made a move I didn’t regret. I paid P8,000 for a shoebox apartment in Pasig which I was too embarrassed to bring boys home to (but I did anyway). Then, P8,500 for what I thought would be my dream condo (my brother, my friend Pat, and I ended up the poor victims of a German cockroach infestation). And of course, the Biggest Mistake of My Young Life: moving to Manggahan with my then-boyfriend, who proceeded to make himself known as physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive. I thought P4,000 in rent each month would be a steal—turns out I had to pay the rest with my mental health.

To leave that relationship, I made a rash decision to move to a one-bedroom apartment in Las Pinas—one I only had the time to view at night, after a long work day, and while it had been raining. Its otherwise evident flaws managed to keep themselves hidden, thanks to my desperation and need to get out immediately. Apartment 4 has a termite problem, noisy next-door neighbors, disgusting upstairs neighbors who swept their hair and dirt so it wafted straight down to my doorstep (take notes, Shopee), and a neighborhood you'd be afraid to walk through by 11 p.m. Be quick with those food deliveries at the gate, because there's a giant street rat who likes to look for dinner in the massive uncovered trash cans right next to it. The worst part? They asked me for a one-month advance and a three-month deposit, way more than even luxury condos ask for. Fucking opportunists.

I won't blame myself for making what I thought was the best decision at the time. However, it's been 10 months since then, and it's time for a change.

Out of the 12 months on my lease, I have spent a good four months not at the apartment—I divided my time between long vacations in Cebu (the longest in years) and my cousin's condo in Muntinlupa. I've long been enamored to this area: it's quaint and picturesque. It's further from the main part of the city than I'd prefer, but not so far that things are inaccessible. Best of all, for the same amount (or less!) of rent that I'm paying now, I can score 24/7 security, a pool, and a compound where I can go for walks and runs. An upgrade in every single way.

Now, it's a matter of choosing which unit I want to move into.

I'm gonna do a SWOT analysis and get back to you.

[stilltwentyfour]

So let me just stretch these old writing muscles. I’m sure memory will take care of the rest.

I call this blog ‘still twenty-four’ because in many ways, I am. The past two years have flown by more quickly than I can comprehend, and having been stuck inside with the rest of the world is doing strange things to my concept of time.

In my late high school and college years, I retreated to Tumblr to document my most raw and honest thoughts. This platform the empathetic friend who held my hair up, I the drunken word-vomiter. A great majority of them never should have seen the light of day, let alone paraded on Twitter like some pre-wannabe influencer wannabe influencer). But this secret site will remain just that—a secret, free of judgment and Ask.fm responses and queries from friends asking if I’m ‘okay.’ A place for freewriting, idiocy, and for me to just be me.