The new apartment is going well. I have been Susie Homemaker there. I wet vac'ed the carpet (it was soooo nasty..still kind of nasty but not nearly as bad), I MADE new drapes (they're huge), and last weekend I finally deep cleaned the kitchen. Naturally, my roommates love me. And I love them, for the most part.

Well, I love two of them, Mariah and Kyle. They are rad. The other one is..well. You know, here in the city it always seems to go like this. If you move into an apartment that is shared, there are some people that have been there for a few months, year or two, but then there is that one person who has been there forever and will probably never leave. And there's probably a reason for that. But you can't dislike this person, because it is due to this person and the power of rent control that your rent is not astronomically expensive. So you have to be grateful for this person, but this person is often times socially awkward, creepy, or in some other way, weird.

So that's my other roommate, Nevin. He's really weird. He stays in his room all the time, often times doing obscure psychedelic drugs by himself with the door closed. I wouldn't call him creepy (yet) but socially awkward, yes. I don't think he has any friends. And Mariah tells me he's a virgin. Twenty-seven year old virgin. Ouch. Although I wish the fourth person in the apartment was as cool as the rest of us, I donno, what can you do? He's been there the longest and is the one in control of the lease. So whatever, it's fine. And sometimes mildly amusing. Though also sometimes mildly uncomfortable.

Things with Brian are going well. I am trying to get used to not having drama in a relationship. It's all so eaaasy with him. It feels weird to me! Sometimes I'm worried that I'm bored with him, but I don't think I am. I think I'm actually just used to lots of stress in a relationship, and without that, I feel uncomfortable. We're going up to Yosemite this weekend. That'll be sweet.

Also I'm still talking to Andrew, which is good. We are still good friends. I am of course completely jealous of this new bitch he is hanging out with, but I think that's natural. How are you NOT supposed to be jealous? Even if I DON'T want him anymore? But the thing is I'm not completely totally sure that I don't want him anymore. If he were here, things would possibly be complicated. But he's NOT here and he's not GOING to be here and he's off playing around having fun in his life, and I'm ready to settle down. So it's a moot point I suppose. But still...

I Left my Heart in San Francisco, but...my Underpants in Berkeley?

It has been a while since I wrote the last installment of What is New in Chloe's Life. That has partially been on purpose..I wanted to actually get some things settled before I went and wrote anything, so that I would actually have something solid to tell you. But well, my life seems to be in a constant state of flux no matter what I do, so I've given up waiting for that magical day, lest it never come at all.

Oooooh so much to say...

Last time I wrote was even before Christmas. Well, Christmas was a little hard for Chloe, but it could have been worse. I was pretty bored..I had all this time off of work but nothing to do really. I've been working on the whole "friend" thing, and it's been coming along, but it's a real process.

As an attempt to forge more lasting friendships, I joined this kind of dorky social club thing here in the city. It's actually pretty fun..there are all these different events you can go to, ranging from a wine tasting to visiting a museum exhibition of plasticized bodies to pub crawls to..you name it. It's good because it inspires me to do things I would like to do but that I probably wouldn't bother to figure out how to do and get a group of people together to actually go do. I've made a couple of friends from it too, so that's fun.

Let's see, what else. Well, there's my job. Still working at the property management company. I got a raise recently, woo hoo! So now I'm not QUITE so panicked about money, though of course I still have to count every beer and every Goodwill run that I make. Why did I move to the 2nd most expensive city in the entire country again?? Oh right, because it's awesome.

Yea but anyway, my job. Not very exciting, but at least it's a real Job. And I have health insurance now, look at me! They want me to stick with them actually become a property manager, which I'm sure I could do, but I'm still not entirely sure I WANT to do that but..I donno. For the time being I think I'll stay. I've finally managed to work my way "in" with my co-workers. The bitch at the front desk and I are now sort of friends. It would be a shame to spend all that time wearing somebody down until they like you and then just get up and leave again! No, Chloe must stick to her decisions...Besides, it's not all bad. I have to use my brain a bit, I have some responsibility, and I'm always doing something different.

So what else, oh yea. Major apartment drama. Drama drama DRAMA. I try so hard to keep my life drama-free, but despite my efforts, I am dealing with a huge drama sandwich right now.

So I believe I mentioned to you all the fact that up until recently I was living in a tiny-ass studio apartment with a girlfriend of mine. As you can imagine, this was not an ideal situation. There was absolutely no privacy. In order to have a private conversation we had to talk on the phone in the bathroom, as it was the only door in the place. Not to mention the fact that we were sharing a room, so potential booty calls were definitely hindered. Now that didn't really become an issue....until now (more to follow -- keep reading).

So. We were looking pretty steadily for two bedroom apartments, and eventually we found one that we thought would work. It was pretty small, but it was okay. It was an in-law unit in a house, which means that the landlords live above us. Now there were a few red flags that we really should have seen before we got ourselves into this shit. 1. We were going to be the first tenants they had ever rented to. 2. They were living RIGHT ABOVE us. 3. They were Chinese.

Now, I don't mean to stereotype. Everybody told me before I moved, oh you don't want Chinese landlords. Stay awaaaay from the Chinese landlords. But I poo poo'ed them, saying I wouldn't fall victim to such cultural prejudices. And now..I'm eating my words.

Basically, they're horrible. They want to control our lives. They don't want us to have friends spend the night. They don't want us to drink. There is like no insulation in the place so you can hear everything from upstairs, and I'm sure they can hear us too. It's also really cold. It's worse than living with your parents because you have the same restrictions, but you're paying rent!!

Luckily we realized very quickly, the first weekend we moved in, that they were crazy when they freaked out because I had a boy spend the night (more to follow -- keep reading). I'm sort of glad this happened so early on, because the GOOD thing is that they are letting us out of our lease. So now we're scrounging around looking for new places ASAP. And actually, Carolyn and I are splitting up now. I've already got a place lined up to move into this weekend (THANK GOD) and hopefully Carolyn will soon too. I think Carolyn and I could happily continue to be roommates, but we could also just as easily NOT be roommates. There are pros and cons to both situations, and since I already found a new place, I guess that's how it's going to be.

I'm moving in with three other people, two guys and a girl. I think they have a good vibe going. All I want is to live somewhere I feel comfortable with some chill people. They are definitely 420 and overnight guess friendly, so I think it's going to work out. The place seems pretty clean also, which is good, considering I can be well, a little anal about that. They don't have super-nice things, mostly free stuff from Craig's List. But who am I to judge?

The apartment is very close to where I am staying right now. It's a little farther out than where I was living in the studio, but it's way bigger for the money. Because of this, however, I recently bought a bike. Yes, Chloe is now a bike rider. A biker. A cyclist. Call it what you will, that is what I do. I've come along way from being afraid to even ride Andrew's bike for a split second this summer, to roving around the city, listening to my Ipod, pant leg rolled up like an expert. But let's not forget one thing. What is San Francisco famous for? No, besides Rice-a-Roni. No, besides Alcatraz. No, besides the tremendous homosexual population. It's known for its HILLS! That's right! When people think of San Francisco, they think of steep ass streets and houses built at a 45 degree angle with the road. And now I'm biking those roads.

Okay, so I'm walking the steepest ones. Where I work is on the other side of one of the biggest hills in the city. It takes me about 45 minutes to bike six miles each way in the morning and the afternoon. I can feel myself getting stronger too. Possibly even buff? Perhaps it's too early to go that far. But if I keep this up, maybe, just maybe I will be buff someday. But also, if I keep this up the odds are at one point or another I WILL get hit by a car. Safety lights and all...

But let me just say that only in San Francisco would I find myself on my morning commute waiting at a stop light in front of a car, and sandwiched between two other bikers, also on their morning commute. I love that.

But now let's get to the good part! Chloe's love life! WELL, as I'm sure you can imagine, it's easier said than done to come to a new city, learn the ropes, get well adjusted and build up a fantastic friend group basically from scratch. Hence, why I joined the social club. But equally as difficult as finding friends is finding dates. If not more difficult. Where am I supposed to meet men?? At a bar? All I would find are stupid drunk boys. Eeew. Never one to settle for less than she thinks she deserves, Chloe decided to take matters into her own hands..

And join EHarmony!

Perhaps you've seen the advertisements?

Yes, Chloe has decided to enter the online dating world. I signed up after one particularly frustrating night when I was especially depressed about my friend situation. I had been thinking about doing it for a while, but I finally bit the bullet and did it.

It's this big long process. You have to fill out this extensive personality questionnaire. Then you have to post some photos, fill out a profile thing. Then it starts sending you potential matches. The vast majority of them are totally lame, people I would NEVER date. Either too old, too ugly, too boring, too bald, or too I don't know, something bad. But here and there smattered among them there is a coolish sounding one. So those ones you start to talk to. After going through some steps bla bla bla, you start emailing with people and then, oooh so exciting, you meet them!

So I've met a few people. First guy, I went out with him a few times until I finally gave up when I admitted he was mind-dullingly BORING. And not cute. Second guy was REALLY into me, like, TOO into me TOO fast. Calling me, emailing me, texting me. Yea..I broke that one off pretty quickly. Besides he seemed really square and probably would not have been very, ahem, adventuresome. The third guy I met I actually had some fun with. We talked, we laughed, we got along great. Fucking douche bag never called me back. Why do they DOOO that??

But that brings me to the fourth guy I met, *Brian*.

*Brian* is my new man friend. *Brian* is cute. *Brian* is my age. *Brian* is sweet. *Brian* likes me a lot. He wants to see me ALL the TIME!! Almost TOO much. I've actually said no to hanging out a few times; I dont' want us to be all up each other's ass right away, you know?

Unfortunately *Brian* lives in Berkeley, which is not as convenient as if he lived in San Francisco, but it's not an insurmountable distance. Besides, it's fun to get out of the city sometimes. And he's always coming up with cool ideas for stuff to do, which is a MAJOR bonus. I am not used to having a guy who is so into me though. I mean, I know I'm fabulous, but I'm not used to it being recognized. This boy is DEFINITELY better than Andrew in that department.

Speaking of Andrew, that situation is going pretty well too. We've managed to turn the corner in our relationship. I've told him about *Brian*, and he's told me about some skanky hose beast that he's now dating. I'm really surprised at how well we're managing to continue to communicate. It doesn't hurt that we both started dating someone at exactly the same moment practically.

Personally I think it's absolutely hilarious that I met this guy on EHarmony. I've told most of my friends about it, but I don't think he's told many of his. We've decided for his friends' sake we'll say we "met at a movie," which is not entirely a fib, because we DID meet at a movie. We're just not telling the whole story there. But I think a little white lie there is okay.

So anyway, yay! Exciting! I'll keep you posted on further developments in the *Brian* department. Will Chloe kill herself popping wheelies on her new bicycle? Will she become the property manager she's always dreamed of? Has she finally found her soul mate through Internet dating technology? Stay tuned to find out...