Now What?

I lose my place on December 13. I go to Secret New Location (requiring a passport and Arabic phrasebook) on February 1. In between, I got nothing.

So far, I've chased down the real estate agent from the vacant place down the street to see if he would sublet. He said no. I followed up on some Craigslist sublet ads, but typically flaky Craigslisters can't be bothered to respond to my inquiries. I called Candlewood Suites to see if I could bargain them to a reasonable price, but they didn't call back yet. I checked into corporate furnished housing by the PATH. Their idea of a bargain is $3,800 a month.

I saw a small, renovated rental for $875 a month last week. I didn't take it because it required a lease, and I thought it would be a waste to pay for it for the months I'm out of the country. Now I'm regretting that decision.

I realized yesterday that I could spend the balance of December in Barcelona and come out ahead financially. Great! Well, great aside from those pesky inconvenient holidays, which require family time and a tricky commute from El Raval.

Anyway, supposing I have an early Christmas with my family and can stomach the idea of holidays alone in Spain, I'd then only be looking for a New York place for the month of January.

My options seem to be:

-Look into a "women only" place like on Bosom Buddies. There are two in Manhattan and one in Jersey City. I'm a litttle worried someone might try to make me sing with them or be social if I stayed in one of these. Though maybe I'm meet someone like a young Tom Hanks. Maybe he'd loan me some dresses for the singing circle.

-Go through a sublet agency. NYHabitat.com has offered me one for $2100. Plus their fee and $2100 security deposit. (Yow, it sure adds up.) It's a block from my PO Box, a block from my old Avenue B digs, and about ten feet from hipster infestation.

-Force the friend splitting up from his wife to put up with me at Babcock's. That would make three of us. Chippy, Pond Scum, and me. And Chippy's dog. A sordid bunch, but they probably wouldn't make me join a singing circle. Babcock's place cannot officially be sublet, but we're just his dirty, transient friends. I don't think the co-op can make rules about the type of friends one can keep.

Something will come up. But I am starting to get nervous.