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Last year, my goal was to find the cheapest place I could rent. Mom was driving while I was answering ads on Craig's list from my phone.

In a very industrial area, we found a moble home park, and this little old lady was renting out a room. On the floor was a mat that the last tent used as a bed, about the size of a sleeping bag (which I used instead). This "bed" took up half of the room. It had windows on three of the walls, and those were made of a thin layer of plastic where there should have been glass. The wind passes straight through it's crevices, so it gets cold at night. Good thing it was spring time in Los Angeles.

After my first night there, I came to a realization about this room that wasn't really a room. The wall with my bedroom door is made of the same metal that the outside walls of the moble home are made of. The door has a lock, but it locks from the outside. The light switch is in the laundry room, nest to the outside of my door. This room is actually an extension that was added to the back door of the "house". And to top it all off, a dresser full of papers and bags of old clothes were kepted in "my room" for storage. At least I was supplied with a portable closet for my clothes.

Luckily, just as winter was coming, I was able to switch the the living room. A curtain was set up as a 4th wall, but at least I'm near the heating vent. It's also much more spacious (10ft X 24ft), but at the cost of privacy.

And there's pictures of her family all over the walls.

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"I don't know that I ever wanted greatness, on its own. It seems rather like wanting to be an engineer, rather than wanting to design something - or wanting to be a writer, rather than wanting to write. It should be a by-product, not a thing in itself. Otherwise, it's just an ego trip."

Roger Zelazny