Thanks Vicki!
This thread was actually searched for, if you can believe it, and then bumped by Chicago because of pettiness from another thread, I guess she figured it would embarrass me or something......so let me just state for the record my general living situation:
1.) I live in a soundproofed music studio. Rents in NYC are in the multiple thousands. I decided years ago I can't - and don't want to - pay exorbitant rents, so I just moved in here. Been here for years and it's fantastic. My rent is 500 bucks a month, a little less what I was paying ten years ago in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and what I was paying twenty years ago in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan (midtown, in the 40s and the 50s, west side), and a little more than what I used to pay to live down in the East Village, Alphabet City and the Lower East Side. (if you don't know NYC, trust me, it's in the
multiple thousands-per-month to live in any of those places. Go look it up.).
2.) You know what comes with this room? Free wi-fi, free air conditioner/heater, don't have to pay utilities. My phone is 30 bucks a month, no contract, unlimited....so my overhead is basically 530 a month, plus food and general expenses. I work a few blocks away, so I don't even have to take the subway. That is incredibly low overhead for living here. I've set my life up so that I don't have to live in constant stress of "making rent".
3.) I'm a musician, surrounded by instruments that I can play at any hour. I don't have neighbors walking above me, or below me....nor am I disturbing anyone (a constant problem as I have never kept "regular" hours). I have no landlord or super to deal with.
4.) There are about 30 other music studios in this building, so I'm surrounded by my "people". Across the hall is a world-class percussionist who spends each morning playing Bach on the marimba. That feeds the soul in a way I can't begin to explain. This is the environment I have always felt most comfortable: among musicians.
5.) The trade-off is no oven! (no windows either!) There are showers in the building that I can use but no kitchen. So hence the microwave. It's not a bad trade-off. Although technically we're not supposed to have fridges here, every studio has one, and a few months ago my ex-girlfriend had one sent to me, out of the blue....the guys downstairs saw it, accepted delivery and gave me no problem. That fridge has saved my life as the pandemic hit
weeks later. Thanks, babe!
6.) Since corona virus hit, this building has been a ghost town. I couldn't be in a safer place. Never encounter
anyone, practically. I work in the middle of the night, nearby, with just two or three other guys......and then I'm in the best place to be in lockdown. I have a giant music collection, the entire history of music, the entire history of cinema, boxes of books, a drumset, two guitars, a bass, and a keyboard. And a computer to access the TMF, of course! I am in want for absolutely nothing.
PS: If I were ever to decide to start my own video company, or do a "session"...or just tickle the hell out of a girl....I'd be in the perfect place. Soundproofed! Can make as much noise as I want.
Thanks to tklfeather10,and Yote (formerly Cinder!) for the suggestions as well! I still haven't made burgers here, as Jeff suggested! Never thought to nuke burgers! Might give it a try this week! I'm kind of a burger snob though, I pretty much only eat them from specific Greek diners! Of which there is one right across the street! I told you I'm in want for nothing!