NEEDLING

Put an ad on craigslist looking for a housemate the other day. In a few minutes I had several responses, and I’ve all ready made two appointments for tomorrow and Monday for people to come visit the room I’m renting. It’s a bit nerve-wracking. To meet total strangers via an electronic medium with absolutely no references from friends, acquaintances, work relations, friends of friends, or family. I’m going to have to base my decision solely on instinct. So far, I’ve only heard good things from craigslist experiences. Both neighbors on each side of the duplex where I live found their current addresses via craigslist. The one to the left is a girl renting a room in the musician’s house. She moved here from San Francisco, and she’s the one that told me about the internet service in question. Then last night, I was at the neighbor’s house to the right who were having a party. She’s a graduate student and he’s a computer engineer. I told her about my looking for a housemate and how I’ve thus far gone about it, and she told me they found their house via craigslist. The odds are in my favor to fall on a good person. Yikes. What if I meet some person who’s a very nice person, a little artsy, open minded, and we seem to get along... and in a few weeks this person turns out to be a total wacko? What if I fall on a kleptomaniac? Or a pyromaniac? Who knows. Like I said, the neighbors on both side are all good people, there’s no reason I shouldn’t get a good person as well. In any case, I need a housemate, as I’ve been living over my financial possibilities for months, and I need to reduce my monthly payments.