July 23, 2002 | 2:12 PM

I�ve been thinking about this all day. First off because it�s really funny and well written, but secondly because it�s so frustrating.

Why does just finding a god damned home in this stupid city need to be such a pain? WHY???? Just thinking about the procedure of finding a place is giving me an ulcer. This year I caught a break and I thank whatever forces in the universe (be they fate, luck, coincidence, karma, or whatever the hell else worked in my favor) that I came upon a situation that worked for me.

But watching John and Jenn go through this endless bullshit just makes me sick. I understand market forces and all that crap, but I just don�t get why people in charge have to be total assholes. I don�t understand why the process is made so difficult for prospective tenants.

Actually, I don�t even think the market forces argument really applies here. After all, you have to have a home. It�s not like buying jewelry or records or something where you can say, �Gee, that�s too expensive�forget it.� You have to live somewhere. So if every landlord and realtor in the city bands together and decides to charge an astronomical fee for housing, guess what? People will pay it because they don�t have any other choice. And if every realtor company employs agents who make Patrick Bateman look like a choir boy, guess what? People will still use realtors because it�s almost impossible to find an apartment without one.

Capitalism and greed should not dictate food and shelter. I don�t necessarily consider myself a socialist, but in that sense I am.

And I know that in other areas of the country, or hell�the world, things are so much worse than they are here. But still, it�s just craziness. I never thought when I was a kid that just having a home would be such a huge ordeal, and that finding one would seem like the ultimate salvation.

But I digress�this isn�t about me. This is about John and Jenn.

I know that they�ll get something, intuitively. I know it will work out. But I feel crappy watching the whole asinine situation go down. Especially since I�m all set right now and was kind of an ass about them living together when I initially found out. (You know what�I should really force myself to not react to any potentially emotional situation without first giving myself 24 hours to think about it because I am the most impulsive person I know when it comes to my own feelings.)

Well, if you subscribe to the viewpoint that there is order to the universe and that things do indeed happen for a reason, they will eventually wind up in the right environment for them. Everyone has karma and things work out.

But it still sucks.