Week 83: Muri Cafe and the House Hunt

Week 83: July 28-August 3rd, 2024

Right now, I'm really stressed. My current lease ends in early September, and I'm not sure what I am going to do. My ideal situation would be to find my own place, but the criminally high rent prices in San Diego are preventing this dream from coming true. For the past two years, I've loved living in La Mesa, and I love my current apartment building with all its amenities. The main issue is that I feel like I am just way too far from my friends. In the two years I've lived here, my friends have come over only a handful of times because La Mesa is so "out of the way," or "inconvenient." My Uber rides are exponentially more expensive on nights out, and the standard 15-minute travel time of San Diego living stretches to over 20.

Naturally, when I'm stressed, I double down on organization and preparation. This week, I toured seven different apartments. Some were studios, some were one-bedrooms, and a couple were 2 bed/2baths. All were way overpriced, but that is the hard truth of living in America's most expensive city. Unfortunately, my ultra busy week was full of disappointment and slightly awkward meet-ups with potential roommates. On the bright side, one of these meetups was at Muri Cafe, a Kurdish coffee shop in North Park on University Ave. I had never been to Muri Cafe before, and was surprised at how cute it was. It looked like a house that has been converted into a cafe, which was cool.

Outside of Muri, it looks just like a regular house!

Inside at Muri

The dessert display case at Muri

While waiting for the potential roommate to show up, I ordered myself a raspberry dessert.

Super cute and delicious dessert!

The tart was really good, and I tried to eat as quickly and politely as I could while I chatted with the prospective roommate.

Overall, despite my best efforts and even the potential of lowering my standards, I haven't found a place to live yet. My stress level will unfortunately continue to rise until I do. I'll try to enjoy the experience as best I can, since I love visualizing the potential of an empty apartment. Hopefully I will either get lucky with a great one bedroom apartment find, or miraculously meet someone I could tolerate living with. So far, that hasn't happened yet, since landlords and property management companies are criminals and San Diego doesn't have rent control. It's hard being an adult, especially one with high standards for myself and my living space. Everyone please, please, please manifest a better, affordable housing situation for me, otherwise I may end up couch-surfing soon.

See you next week.