New York in April is always a profound disappointment for me. There is no promise of spring, no crocuses peeking out from under their mulch, no birds. Just cold and rain. Today is not so bad, but it's grey, grey grey. And yesterday was bitter, like the coldest day of winter.

I signed the contract for my apartment on Thursday. Before I went to the lawyer's office, I had the exact same feeling I had when I was young and had a doctor's appointment. I just didn't want to go. But the signing was really not so scary, and afterwards I was very excited. I picked up the board packet from the broker last night. It's totally overwhelming, like 30 pages of forms.