housing adventures of the dc kind

i've visited what seems to be every kind of housing situation possible.

beautiful brand new studios ($1800 a month), funky hippie rooms ($1400), rooms that fit a full bed and not much else ($1100 in georgetown) and drab and scary boarding houses ($625).

my one conclusions? dc is damn expensive. i looked up what the most expensive rental areas were, and not surprisingly, new york tops the list. DC is all the way down at 13th, which made no sense at first, but makes sense now. this is a town where anywhere safe enough for young folks w/ overprotective parents can live tend to be insanely expensive. meanwhile, the shady-ass areas are cheap as hell. this averages out to a moderately expensive area, especially if you include northern virginia and maryland. not exactly happening, but safe, i suppose.

in the end, i'll probably live in the gay part of town. not gay as in stupid, but gay as in many gay people live nearby. think theater and art and everything straight people will think is cool in 5 years. apparently i love living with the non-straight types. my apartment in boston was located in what one friend lovingly called "lesboland." but whatever. rent is low and culture is high.