What's the best thing in the world that can happen to you at 7:30 in the morning when you are barely awake and not even functional to the world...

Your doorbell rings and it's a process server telling you that your landlady is giving you 30 days to leave the apartment or she will start eviction proceedings.

I was catatonic. I'm surprised I didn't burst into tears on the spot and I came close to crying while in the shower (not the news I needed to hear).

What pisses me off even more is that my landlady didn't give me any notice about this -- especially after I already alerted her to the fact that I had already found someone to take my soon-to-be former roommate's place when she moves out. She didn't say anything to me. She did all of this while I was out of town and apparently gloated about it in veiled terms to my roommate who said, "Oh that explains what she said a few weeks ago. She said, 'Brian has a big surprise coming to him when he gets back.'" Apparently this is her surprise.

I'm going to talk to her tonight about the situation and see if I can strike a deal with her because I do not have the money to move out and find a new place by the end of this month. I am sure she and I can work something out (and put it into writing of course so she can't wiggle out of it). I would like to think that I have been a good tenant. Everything this woman has asked of me I have done. The trash is taken out on time, I've been better about keeping the apartment neat, I've alerted her when things aren't working well (which has been rare). She's only done 2 repairs in my apartment since I have moved there and only one involving the entire portion of the building (the foyer) where the light was malfunctioning due to a radiator leak that I had no control of and did not cause.

The deal with the Bensonhurst apartment is something else altogether and if it does come through I will be able to move in there, although most likely not with my friend who was to move in with me. If Bensonhurst comes through for September 1, then I can swing it. If it does not, well, I need to put some negotiating skills to the test and hope that I can get her to put something in writing. Even if she doesn't agree, I will continue to pay rent because as someone told me, "It's hard to evict someone when they are still paying rent." However, as soon as that Bensonhurst apartment becomes available...I am so there. I need to talk to the guy at work today but this just really hurt and upset me. I feel violated in a way....

Sigh...