The Ideal Apartement

1. The Neighborhood should be inexpensive, but safe. I like the idea of living in a building with a lot of other artists but this seems to much like an idea that Hollywood has sold me. Either way it shouldn't be to gentrified.
   
2. I'd like to live in an urban area, and I'd like to have windows to look over the street so I could watch people go by.
3. I should be within walking distance to the following. A grocery store, my place of work, an independently owned cafe, one or more bookstores (preferably one that deals with new releases and one that is used), one movie rental place that specializes in independent releases and has a good foreign films selection.
4. The apartment does not need to be large.
5. The apartment should not be dirty. It should not have rats or cockroaches.
6. The apartment should have a lot of room for books.
7. The apartment should have the following rooms. A bedroom. A bathroom. A living room. A kitchen/dinning room. It may also have a room totally devoted to books and my writing, but this is not completely necessary.
   
8. I will have begun to develop a music system that isn't totally dependent on Itunes. I will have a vinyl system and a collection of vinyl.
9. I will have a cat.
   
10. I will leave as small a carbon footprint as possible. This may be hard, as I'm running a minifridge, an Ipod dock, a lamp and a fan at the moment.
11. I'll have various foreign artifacts, such as African masks, Persian rugs, Tibetan Murals, statues of Buddhas and certain Hindu gods, a few Celtic and Mennonite artifacts to celebrate my heritage, and posters of artists I like, i.e. posters for concerts, the odd psychedelic thing...alright that's about it. I'll probably buy some from artists I like. Don't expect much high art though.
12. I don't know if I'll develop much of a movie collection. I've thought about it, but mostly I just like to rent movies. If I want a movie, I'll rent it. If the library has it I'll get it from them. I do have a DVD player that is pretty portable. I like using that, so I'll rent movies (see 3)
13. I'll probably have a phone.
14. I'd have really good cooking skills. I know that this isn't dependent on an apartment, but my kitchen would have a good supply of food and I'd make really good meals.
15. I don't know what it would be I'd do. I'm not sure I can write as a career, because my writing mentor has talked me out of it. I'm going to have to look around in the job market for awhile until I can find something that fits.
16. I'm still thinking about the ex patriot thing. Odds are this will be somewhere in Canada. The vast majority of my friends are in Canada, so I'll be staying here in all likelihood.