I live in Fort Knox

With more exposure to a new person, place or thing, our perception towards them/it almost always changes, right? Well, a week and a half into my new house, this has absolutely proven to be true. In both a good way and a kinda bad way.

First, the good: I'm increasingly happy with my decision to move into it over the other place. There was some serious apprehension when I first made the decision, but now... yeah, it's good. This past weekend was absolutely gorgeous, and I had plenty of opportunity to soak it all up in the place, having some friends over, sitting by the pool and looking out onto the ocean. Then I went to the other place I was considering, and... yeah, not so good. Again, it would be great to live with friends and be walking distance to many more, but in the end, the new house and location just outweighs that. So... yeah, it's good.

But alas, there is some bad. For a few days before I moved into the place, it was broken into, and my housemate/landlord's laptop was stolen. For we apparently have a laptop burglar in the neighborhood who, according to the policeman that came over, has already taken 30. So Craig (the housemate/landlord) got motivated and has turned the place into Fort frickin' Knox. Alarms everywhere, two or three locks on every door, and as I type this, Craig is drilling away to install a few more locks. Well, at least I feel quite safe.

The irony of this whole situation is that if my new place is Fort Knox, then my old house -- no more than a three minute walk down the road -- was easier to get into than Tara Reid's pants. (Hey-ooooo!!!) I guess that place just looked like shit, so no one even bothered. Kind of like Tara Reid. (HEY-YOOOOO!!!!)* Even if all you had to do to get inside was:
a) walk through the front door by simply sticking your hand through a gap and opening it from the inside, or
b) simply hop a fence and just saunter on through the back door, which didn't even have a lock!

*Upon further inspection: Tara Reid references? In 2008? That's a little dated, no? Oh well, it's the first thing that came to mind.

Anyway, maybe we should take the fact that people want to break into this place as a compliment? You know, that it's actually worth it to take the chance and break into the house? Because who wants to get into Tara Reid's pants when Fort Knox is right around the corner?*

*Yup, I've officially taken this analogy too far.

But regardless of the laptop burglar, I couldn't be happier with my decision right now. Because, among many reasons, you really can't overstate how great it is to wake up to a view of the sun rising over the water every morning. And for all those in the US, it's time you got off yer keisters and came down to check it out.