@falcon09: Congratulations about being back in your own apartment! I love having my own apartment! I treasure my privacy! I like apartments better than houses because they are more sturdy and no lawn care or shoveling the driveway. I live in Canada and when the cold North wind howls on Winter nights i like knowing i have only one single exposed wall and that it's thick sturdy concrete. Apartment-dwelling is also "greener" -- better for the environment. The urban planners call it "intensification." No expensive roads to build for urban sprawl, no kilometers of sewer system or electrical service. I also like having an elevator -- so fun to ride on a regular basis and we have mirrored walls in ours -- sexy! We have an active party room in our building. The events rarely involve me but i love to peek in at all the revelers dancing and chatting and the tables groaning with food! Our building is also dog-friendly and we have such an abundance of property it is like we have our own park out back with even an enclosure for the dogs to run free! Such a building i live in! Now if only my neighbors would get over themselves . . . .

@christina: It's funny and apt that you call it "Hellmart." So perfectly describes the experience of shopping there! When i made my first shopping foray about ten days ago since my fear psychosis started on September 27th i actually started in Hellmart and wound up sitting on the floor with my fingers in my ears and my head slumped over on my chest while the stockboy went to check on a sale item that was sold-out -- surprise, surprise. I attempted to get a raincheck at the service desk but i couldn't take it anymore and fled. Since then i have made two subsequent attempts to go and turned back at the door both times once i glimpsed the madness inside. I don't know what to do about the department store purchases i need. The drugstore and grocery store i can tolerate, but not Hellmart.