New Years Sky Lanterns

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year, Davis! Did anyone else see the flying lanterns sailing over Somerville a few minutes after midnight? We had no idea what our eyes were seeing in the sky, until one fell (on someone's roof, briefly). Anyone know where they were launched from?

(This is not a pic of the ones we saw, but they looked like this up close).

Police shut down Diva last night?

[ron_newman]

I didn't see this, but a friend called to tell me that she saw lots of police cruisers outside Diva last night, that they emptied the place out and wouldn't let people back in, and that people were upset because they had paid $100 to go there.

Anyone know more?

Landlord problem - breaking the lease

[rasearcy.livejournal.com]

I've looked through some of the past posts regarding landlord / tenant issues, and couldn't quite find the information I was looking for.  I will be leaving Somerville to move to NYC in February for a new job, and I need to break my apartment lease.  My landlord has agreed to terminate my tenancy under the following terms: 1) a light cleaning, and 2) a termination fee equal to 4 months rent.  That seems insane to me, and I've been looking around for information online, but everything seems so ambiguous and I haven't been able to find anything definitive.  My landlord has also explicitly forbidden subletting.  I guess my questions are whether I actually do have to pay this, and if not, how do I respond to this?

I received some advice that suggested that if I'm able to find someone creditworthy interested in assuming the remainder of the lease (I guess that's somehow semantically different from a sublet, although I don't quite know why) then that releases me from the lease, regardless of whether or not the landlord accepts this person.

Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this?  I've talked with a bunch of people who have broken their lease and most of them just had to forfeit their security deposit.  Four months rent is a lot of money and I'm kind of freaking out.  I don't know how to get my landlord to reduce that amount and I don't want this to turn into a messy, ugly situation.  Any help would be very much appreciated.  Thanks!

Shop at Raspberry Beret to Support Dana Farber Cancer Institute

[quitesmall.livejournal.com]

Hello!  I'm Julie, a Somerville resident.  In honor of some amazing friends and family members who kicked Cancer's a$$ this year, I'm donating my birthday this month to The Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  

Raspberry Beret, at 1704 Mass Avenue in Cambridge, will be donating 20% OF ALL SALES to Dana Farber on SUNDAY, JANUARY 15TH from noon-6pm!

Shop at Raspberry Beret to Support Dana Farber Cancer Institute

[quitesmall.livejournal.com]

Hello!  I'm Julie, a Somerville resident.  In honor of some amazing friends and family members who kicked Cancer's a$$ this year, I'm donating my birthday this month to The Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  

Raspberry Beret, at 1704 Mass Avenue in Cambridge, will be donating 20% OF ALL SALES to Dana Farber on SUNDAY, JANUARY 15TH from noon-6pm!