After the sketch basement out West, you can imagine my trepidation approaching a house (with five residents already), looking for a room. The price, an unbeatable 410$ a month, in a superb location (right near Kensington market), found on craigslist.

But, being an optimist (and camera in hand to document pain or pleasure for you guys), I ventured bravely on - and as I drew closer to the given address, hope blossomed.

This was a quiet, charming street with a few detached and semi-detached older houses. I found the warm glow from upstairs windows (it was a bit late) welcoming and reassuring.

I passed a cute laundromat (still open) and a few steps later ring the doorbell on one of the semi-detached houses with a picnic table out front and a curtain over the door.

At this point you may notice I have no pictures of said house to illustrate - I did take pictures, but sadly had issues when I tried to upload them to my computer and had to reformat the memory card (bye bye pics).

This is a shame anyway, but it's a damn shame that I can't show you the sight that greeted me in the foyer. A white room, leading from the front door to the kitchen, with a few cute scavenged pieces of furniture. And on those otherwise unpainted walls, in giant black letters:

FORT AWESOME

(At this point I'm sure some of you are going 'dude, I totally know that house! I went to parties there, those punk guys lived there' - I suspect this because my sister has actually been to Fort Awesome, and partied with the guys who massacred the house).

My guide and prospective future roomie (who I'll call K), who seemed very sweet (as did the other roomies, with the possible exception of the guy who lives in the basement, but anyway), had clearly been very proactive with the landlady.

The prospective roomies having just moved in themselves a mere month earlier had been saddled with the task of cleaning up after the former residents. Much trash had been collected and removed, painters have been called, roofers visted repeatedly (there's a major leak and water damage in the other living room).

All of this said, the roomies K et al seem incredibly nice, are clearly working hard to make their space liveable, and aside from the damage, it really it quite an awesome house. The main rooms are sizeable, the bedrooms decently lit and relatively unscathed, and given the perks of the neighborhood, somewhere I'd be willing to live.

Sadly for me and my quest, I think I may have had some steep competition (an open house the evening following my visit). As I haven't heard back from the charming K, I can only assume that my search doesn't end at Fort Awesome.

I remain hopeful - most of the people I've called lately are busy with Thanksgiving weekend things, but perhaps this week will bring me to my new home. I have my entire network of friends working on it (one of my coworkers actually found this fantastic place on the Danforth and bargained the owner down 150$ on the rent for me, but it's still wide of my price range).

Oh, and as for my parents - I've decided that for the sake of my sanity and sense of autonomy, it's better if I get off the gravy train here. The strain on everyone just isn't worth it. Besides, if I'm not relying on them for half my rent, I don't feel bad about asking for the occasional sweater or pair of socks.

Although in two months if nothing is forthcoming, I may have to reassess.

gracias flickr user Naseemo for the pic