Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Smelly Lobby

Last night, circa 2:30 am, the mystery of "why the tiny lobby of my building smells like a homeless person has been camping out at night" was solved. A homeless person has been camping out at night. Let me explain how I came to find this out:

After a fantastic audition for the spring opera (results pending), I celebrated with dinner and drinks with some school friends at Davis Street Fishmarket here in E-town. They made a fantastic dirty martini, the food was delicious, and the company was even better. Afterward, some of us girls headed to Lincoln Park for some craziness at Duffy's --a real meat market of a bar that I haven't set foot in since 2004 (the height of my party girl phase). Although I wasn't crazy about the scene, it was great to let loose on the dancefloor with the girls (despite the constant warding off of unwanted grinding immigrant men). We closed down the place (along with about a bajillion other people) and stumbled into a cab around 2 am.

Twenty minutes later, we pulled up next to my apartment. My friend Katie lives just across the street, so she got out as well. I opened the door to my building and there he was: the culprit of the stench, camped out in the lobby of my building. The events that followed are a bit blurry, but I do recall freaking out, yelling to Katie to come back and make sure I got in, the homeless man apologizing profusely, and me saying over and over again to him "but I live here!" I also heard him say to Katie, "has she been drinking?", which in retrospect is hilarious -- as though my being drunk has any bearing on my reaction to finding a random stinky person squatting in my building entrance! To be honest, I probably would have freaked out more had I been sober! What amuses me the most is my Nancy Drew-like way of sniffing out the culprit and solving the mystery.

It's really the icing on the cake with this place. I've had roaches, mice, crazy overactive radiators, possums on the back porch, and now -- sharing the lobby with the homeless. Once again, suburbia seems to be calling my name...