Pennytree Apartments SUCK!

I lived here for a year with my boyfriend. Let's start off with the apartment itself... The buildings are very old and the landlords aren't doing anything to maintain them. When we first moved in the front door had one screw in it at the top of the door so basically one hinge was on the door held by one screw. The cupboards had been painted over so many times they no longer closed. They were painted this weird white and they painted it unevenly. They also stuck and sometimes I couldn't open them. The ceiling had five leaks. One in the living room, two in the kitchen, one in the bedroom and one behind the bathroom sink. The one behind the bathroom sink got everything in the cupboard underneath it wet and it ruined everything we had under there. We constantly complained about it, they never fixed it. In fact when they did "fix it" it started two more leaks and never stopped the other ones. Our bath tub also wouldn't drain. It took us a week to get it fixed and we had to do all the working finding someone to fix it. The disposal to the sink was also broken, we had to call around to find someone to fix that too. The oven also did not work. It turned on but didn't turn off. I ran down to the office to let them know about it and they sent up a Mexican half an hour later who did not understand what the problem was because he didn't speak english. Finally, he turned the oven off, but didn't fix the problem. So we never used the oven again. Not to mention the one time we did it burnt our food because it was too hot. I even played with the knob trying to get it to work, still no. They never fixed that either.

The neighborhood is horrible. The kinds of people they rent the apartments out to... let's just say I don't know how they balanced their rent and their drug addictions. I never left the apartment alone no matter what time of day it was. We were completely in the wrong area that's for sure. Our neighbors fought a lot. One day while my boyfriend and I were outside of the apartment coming in the lady next door told us that she may have to call the cops because she is afraid of her boyfriend and scared that when he comes home he is going to hurt her. She showed us a huge bruise on her leg and missing teeth. She let us know he had dislocated her jaw and broke her ribs previously. I didn't really think anything of it, as I didn't care. But that night he was hurting her I guess and she was screaming help. I phoned the police and they came and took care of it. We wrote statements and later spent a year going to all the court dates. We told out landlord about the problem next door and how they were always so loud. She told us that there was nothing she could do about it. Later in the week the girls boyfriend who lived next door to us knocked on our door to apologize, my boyfriend told him it was no problem and they sat down to smoke a cigarette together. A month after that the neighbors left their door unlocked, with the keys inside. They only had one key to their door. They came over for a second to use our phone then went back to find their door locked. It took two hours until almost one in the morning to get the grounds keeper to open the door. He told us he didnt have the key, then went down to the shop on grounds and "made one" how do you make a copy of a key with out having the key to begin with? When he opened their door, their cigarettes, alcohol and game system were missing. Her keys were sitting on the kitchen table. We also found things missing when we were not home. One day I came home and my digital camera was missing. We came home another night and found papers on our bed that weren't there before we left. Their was a marriage certificate and a creepy letter. I have no idea who the people are in the letter or on the marriage certificate. I think that the grounds keeper came into our apartment with trash and forgot to take it with him when he left. The neighbors also were never evicted, one day they just left. The boyfriend was in jail for smashing another tenants head in with a cinder block and the girlfriend I have no idea where she went. The boyfriend also punched my boyfriend in the face twice because my boyfriend told him that he didnt want to go with him to the landlord to complain about their break in. Even after I told the landlord about that incident she still said she couldn't do anything about it. I called the cops about five times and the manager never said or did anything about our neighbors.

The grounds themselves were always messy. There was trash every where. There were stray cats that the landlord told us we were responsible for catching and taking to the pound. I didn't move in with a cat, I didn't have a cat that ran around impregnating everything. Why should I be responsible? The utility bill was included in the rent. How ever if the building went over the estimated amount we paid before, the excess was split up between the four units in the building and we each had to pay a fourth of it. This made me mad because I didn't run my a/c. My neighbor did, it was like Alaska at her house and the desert in mine. But because they decided to crank up the air, we had to pay about 40.00 extra dollars a month.

The parking there sucked, you parked on the street or paid a nonrefundable 25.00 for a remote to get in the gate where you could pick between the ten parking spots inside. There was no key pad or a pin code, and there was barely any parking.

BUGS!!! There were roaches, bedbugs and mosquitoes. We also weren't allowed to smoke on the apartment grounds at all or in our unit. If we got caught smoking we had to pay a 20.00 fine. So I have to leave my apartment complex every few hours when I need a cigarette? What?

HOMELESS PEOPLE! There were a ton of homeless people, and the apartment manager applauded one of them for going through our trash. He was in the dumpster going through everyone's trash and she clapped and talked to him like he was three years old saying "great job!" What?!?!?!

My over all experience here at Pennytree was completely ridiculous. The apartment I have now is so much nicer, cheaper and in a better community. Skip Pennytree and come to Sandal Ridge!

50 Shades of Grey

50 Shades of Grey 

By: EL James

This book is a dark reflection of several different people. The act of BDSM or S&M isn’t really just some kinky thing some people are just “into”. It goes much deeper than that, and this book is a perfect example. Those who do practice these sorts of things feel embarrassed or scared. The fear of other people’s reactions scare them and they worry they will not be accepted. This book brings this sort of thing into light.

A lot of uneducated people would say that these sorts of people are weird or worship Satan or whatever else they can conjure up. The fact of the matter is, they say these things because they do not understand it. In this story Christian Grey feels he needs to be dominant because of how he was brought up. Even though the book doesn’t tell us exactly what happened in his past; it is not difficult to guess. He was abused as a younger child, he was never able to do anything he wanted to do, and mostly he has hidden rage for his mother. The fact that he feels the need to “punish” women isn’t just a sexual act. It is hidden in his subconscious mind because his mother did something to him to make him hate her. We all hear that men marry their mom. This is true; mothers set the example for their sons. A definition of what a woman and a mother should be. Not knowing any different, they set out to find just that. In cases like Christian’s, the opposite happened. He is upset with his mother; he doesn’t want another woman to treat him like that. So, he in essence he punishes every woman he comes across because it makes him feel better.  

In the book Ana tells Christian that he is messed up in the head and that he needs to get his life straight. This is not entirely false. However, there are things in life that cannot be undone. He is attracted to women, but the first woman in his life left him in a fragile state. He is unsure of how a woman should be because he wasn’t given a good example of one. It’s all psychological. Things like this carry into his sex life. Does that make it wrong? No. Many people find the art of pain and pleasure to be the best feeling they have ever had. They should embrace it and if Christian feels he doesn’t want to live that life anymore, he should get help. There are ways to overcome it, but at Christian’s age it will be difficult.

This book brought into light what really goes on behind closed doors. Christian didn’t want to hurt Ana that was not the intent. The intent was to show dominance by instilling fear. This just happens to be a turn on for a ton of people including Ana, the idea of not knowing what’s going to happen next. Maintaining the trust with your partner sets aside the fear telling you that you are going to get hurt. With everyone’s emotions carefully in place, it can be an exhilarating feeling.  

I loved this book and can’t wait to read the next one!

The Second Amendment

“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The second Amendment of the United States of America Constitution states Constitution is very clear. I believe that back in during the times of the Constitution that it was important to make such a law. In those times you worked on a farm mostly, everyone had kind of the wild west type life style. Life is a little bit different now, however I do believe that one should be able to bear arms. Even though I personally do not like guns, I think that it is important that the citizens of the US feel safe.

My mom told me once when I was young that, “those who carry guns are those who keep the kind of company around them to make them feel the need to carry one.” I believe this is somewhat true. The fact of the matter is, you never know what is going to happen all the time. You may walk in on a situation where you feel having a fire arm will make you feel better and give you the upper hand. I don’t feel unsafe when I see someone walking around with a gun in a holster strapped to their side. I wonder sometimes what that person does every day to make him carry the weapon.

Here are my opinions on the matter of carrying guns. I do not think that Obama or anyone for that matter should be able to tell someone whether or not they are or are not allowed to carry/own a gun. I think that the Sandyhook incident is a tragedy that could have been prevented. Everyone is saying we need to get rid of the gun that’s what did it. The fact is that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Is anyone looking at the parents? Why was the gun able to be accessed by the children? When I was growing up my parents had different kinds of guns. But, they also made sure it was safe. They owned and still do own a gun safe. My stepdad likes to go hunting, but he also has a gun at his disposal in case of an intruder. However he keeps the safety on and it is kept away.

I don’t think that guns should be banned. I think that there should be different precautions and safety standards. For instance, I think that if someone wants to own a gun they must take a class on proper use/handle of the gun. I think they must own a gun safe. There are millions of people who own guns. Most of those people use them in the matter in which they were intended for. It is not their fault someone cannot handle the right, so it is not fair to take it away. I believe you should have a special permit/license given to you in the same way you would obtain a driver’s license. Before you are able to purchase the weapon, you must have taken a class and passed. From there you should be given a permit or a license to carry the weapon. So, when you go to a store to purchase the fire arm you have the permit and that would be the only way you are able to obtain one.

The people of America would much rather have something like that, than be told your rights are being taken away. It isn’t the gun that’s the problem, it’s the user.

Week 76 100WC

100 Word Challenge Week 76

Word Count: 109

Prompt: "...beneath the surface..."

David is my best friend in the world, my lover, my equal and my other half. He has changed a lot since we first met. He is fairly built now, not as built as he was back in high school but still gorgeous all the same. He used to wear his hair long; his smooth curls almost covered the back of his neck.  His caramel skin stretched over his muscles. I remember how captivating he was it wasn't what was on the outside but what was beneath the surface. I used to avoid looking into his chocolate eyes afraid they would pull me in and lock me away forever.