As I was getting ready this morning, I heard a bird singing outside. I thought it was a cell phone ringing. That’s pathetic.
The Birmingham trip was an exhausting near-bust. I got a Yahoo map to one place in particular I knew I wanted to check out (it offers short-term leases on furnished studios near downtown; it’s that place I posed a pic of several weeks ago). Finding it wasn’t difficult with my trusty map. But trying to find other places was nearly impossible, thanks to the Birmingham planning commission’s hilarious road names. You’ve got 1st Street South, 1st Street North, 1st Avenue South, and 1st Avenue North. These are four separate streets! And they go from 1 to 20-something. That is absolutely nuts. And sometimes, streets just randomly stop and pick up elsewhere, with really no rhyme or reason.
I drove around for almost two hours looking for this one place, but to no avail. I think the directions in the apartment guide were wrong. But I did apply to lease at University Place. It’s a little on the ghetto side, though. The efficiencies are $585 a month, and they’re about half the size of your standard hotel room. They’re furnished, if by “furnished” you mean a matress on some legs, a chair, and a TV stand. Oh yeah, and a mini-fridge and stove. Hoo ha. But I’ll keep looking up, because it’s only for three months and it’s all for a good experience. Say it with me. It’s only for three months. Good experience.
But I must say, Birmingham has some really beautiful features, but it’s maddening as hell to drive in. My little Alero could barely make it up the 70-degree inclines some apartment complexes are situated on. I’ve never been to San Francisco, but I’ve seen Mrs. Doubtfire, and Birmingham seems even hillier than that.
Also, I must mention that on the way back, I passed the Boobie Bungalow, a gentleman’s club. Heh. It was good for a double take, if nothing else.