ornoth | Friday Five resumption (#14)

Loyal readers will recall that I gave up on the Friday Five when the administrator decided to take a couple months off. Now that she’s back and has been regularly posting, I suppose I’ll resume.

How many houses/apartments have you lived in throughout your life?

That’s a difficult one. Let’s enumerate, and hopefully I won’t miss any…

Gloucester, MA (1 year)
Portland, ME: 50 Highland Avenue (6 years)
Augusta, ME: 5 Manley Street (13 years)
Orono, ME: UMaine, 412 Knox Hall
Orono, ME: UMaine, 129 Gannett Hall
Orono, ME: UMaine, 131 Gannett Hall
Orono, ME: UMaine, 429 Gannett Hall
Orono, ME: UMaine, 4?? Somerset Hall
Orono, ME: Mill Street (funky summer sublet)
Orono, ME: Main Street (dump, 1 year)
Bangor, ME: 221 Center Street (attic apartment, 2 years)
Shrewsbury, MA: 33 Sheridan Drive (complex, 2 years)
Natick, MA: 20 Village Way (complex, 2 years)
Natick, MA: 5 Harvard Street (2 years)
Boston, MA: 64 Queensberry Street (6 years)
Boston, MA: 160 Commonwealth Avenue (condo, 2 years and counting)

Which was your favorite and why?

I’d have to say that my current and previous residences were by far the most enjoyable. It took me quite a while to realize that I wasn’t happy in the suburbs, but since moving into the heart of Boston I’ve really enjoyed where I’ve lived. They both have had all kinds of interesting stuff going on just outside my door, while simultaneously being my own little pocket of isolation where I can enjoy just being at home.

Do you find moving house more exciting or stressful? Why?

That entirely depends on how much of an “improvement” the new place is over the old one, really. On one hand, I do enjoy the opportunity to go through all my stuff and organize it and throw away all the useless cruft that’s accumulated since my last move; however, moving really sucks, and I no longer enjoy the manual labor element of it. When I moved into my present place two years ago, that was the first time I’d ever hired professional movers. Now that I own, and am very happy with my building and location, I don’t forsee moving again for a long, long time.

What’s more important, location or price?

Hahaha! Dude, I live on beautiful, tree-lined Commonwealth Ave., in a historic landmark: the first public building in New England to use electric light, and the site of one of the worst firefighting tragedies in American history. People throughout Boston recognize my building by name, rather than by address. Just outside my window are fashionable Newbury Street and the DuBarry mural, both old and new Hancock towers, the Pru, the New Old South Church, 222 Berkeley and 500 Boylston, the Boston International School, and Copley Square. I’m within a block of the Boston Public Library, two MBTA stations, Trinity Church, the Copley Place mall, the Ames-Webster Mansion, the Exeter Street Theatre (formerly Waterstone’s bookstore). I’m within 2-3 blocks of the Charles River Esplanade and Hatch Shell and the Public Gardens, and within walking distance of the ocean and everything Boston and Cambridge have to offer. You can’t buy a better location! Let’s not talk about price, shall we?

What features does your dream house have (pool, spa bath, big yard, etc.)?

To a large extent I’m living in my dream house. Sure, it might be nice to have some secret hiding places and passages, and room for ping pong and pool tables, but I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got. About the only thing I might change would be to also have two summer places: a camp on an isolated lakefront deep in the woods somewhere, and a beach place on Cape Cod, but I need someone to give me lots of free money before those happen, tho…