Earlier this summer, I was looking for some new real estate opportunities. What this means in teacher-salary-speak is, I was looking to move from a shared apartment to another shared apartment in a slightly more central part of town. But still a shared apartment. That I rent. That being said, finding any kind of living situation here in San Francisco is a pretty great opportunity...
On the course of my journey, I went to several open houses. These were, without exception, extremely awkward and cringe-inducingly uncomfortable. How exactly are you supposed to behave when you show up to a situation where you need a living situation, and so does literally everyone else who is there at the exact same time as you? And it is very very clear that only one of you will be chosen? Do you try to make yourself memorable? Do you try to force a "connection" with one of the current occupants? Do you accidentally walk into a closet while trying to let yourself out of the apartment? I tried all three of these strategies, and let me tell you, none of them worked for me.
At one of these open houses, though, as I was signing the guest book (?!?!?!?!!?), one of the other desperate searchers came up to me and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but is that a continuous glucose monitor on your arm?"
Stop. Drop. And roll? What a magical question! I dream of these sorts of connections. So we chatted for a few minutes about how it was actually my insulin pump, and the glories of tubeless pumping. Then I asked her for the source of her expertise--was she or someone she knew T1D?
"No," she said. "I used to have Type 1 but I don't anymore."
Crap. I thought. My connection person is actually a weirdo! I braced myself for some herbal supplement advertising (*cough* Halle Berry *cough*) and prepared to extricate myself.
"Yeah, it was really hard to control for me, so I had to have a transplant. But now I've been cured for about 5 years."
Somehow, in all the talk of artificial pancreases, closed-loop systems, and stem-cell research, I missed the memo that there is already a cure for Type 1 diabetes???? I did some more research, and it turns out that it's extremely dangerous and really only for use in extreme cases. But still. How did I miss that?!? Still learning every day, you know?
Just in case you're really tormented by the cliff hanger of this post, I did in fact find a place to live. In a great apartment. With a lovely roommate that I met with one-on-one and we clicked right away. So there!
On the course of my journey, I went to several open houses. These were, without exception, extremely awkward and cringe-inducingly uncomfortable. How exactly are you supposed to behave when you show up to a situation where you need a living situation, and so does literally everyone else who is there at the exact same time as you? And it is very very clear that only one of you will be chosen? Do you try to make yourself memorable? Do you try to force a "connection" with one of the current occupants? Do you accidentally walk into a closet while trying to let yourself out of the apartment? I tried all three of these strategies, and let me tell you, none of them worked for me.
At one of these open houses, though, as I was signing the guest book (?!?!?!?!!?), one of the other desperate searchers came up to me and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but is that a continuous glucose monitor on your arm?"
Stop. Drop. And roll? What a magical question! I dream of these sorts of connections. So we chatted for a few minutes about how it was actually my insulin pump, and the glories of tubeless pumping. Then I asked her for the source of her expertise--was she or someone she knew T1D?
"No," she said. "I used to have Type 1 but I don't anymore."
Crap. I thought. My connection person is actually a weirdo! I braced myself for some herbal supplement advertising (*cough* Halle Berry *cough*) and prepared to extricate myself.
"Yeah, it was really hard to control for me, so I had to have a transplant. But now I've been cured for about 5 years."
Somehow, in all the talk of artificial pancreases, closed-loop systems, and stem-cell research, I missed the memo that there is already a cure for Type 1 diabetes???? I did some more research, and it turns out that it's extremely dangerous and really only for use in extreme cases. But still. How did I miss that?!? Still learning every day, you know?
Just in case you're really tormented by the cliff hanger of this post, I did in fact find a place to live. In a great apartment. With a lovely roommate that I met with one-on-one and we clicked right away. So there!
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