I need a u-haul.. July 23, 2007
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I’ve been watching my friend’s parent’s house for the last week… taking care of their rambunctious dogs, unbearable bird, and fish (that, surprisingly, I didn’t kill).. swimming in their pool (finally, for once in my life, looking like I belong in Florida.. haha).. and having a ghetto-ass cookout that involved sitting on the front porch with a small grill in the rain. While I got paid for it and had a good time hanging out I seriously neglected some much needed packing that I have had to do in the last week. Today it caught up with me.
When I got home about an hour ago I took one look at the piles of boxes and shit in my room and nearly cried. The giant pile accounted for about 1/3 of what I have to pack and will take up about 1/2 of the room in my car. Oh geez, I have my work cut out for me…
Example of my nerdiness: 75% of my “luggage” is books.
… I also have a file cabinet thanks to Denise’s super-organized mother who encouraged me to get one. Yeah, now that I have one and can’t imagine life without it I have nowhere to put it in my car. With the books. And the clothes. And the shelf. And guitar. And the pots, pans, towels, sewing machine, and etc. (I think I’ll just have to wait until Thanksgiving to transport most of this stuff, eh?)
And that’s that.
Who’s moving? Oh yeah, that would be me. July 23, 2007
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I have two days left in Inverness. In the last week everything has been piecing together so nicely that it’s hard to not be excited about moving back to Charlotte. My roommate, Jenny, and I found a place and sealed the leasing deal on Thursday morning. Although this required waking up at the buttcrack of dawn (8.00am) and getting down the bank, going home to get my paystubs, going to the stationary store, going back to the bank, and then making endless phonecalls to Jenny.. it was well worth it. We secured ourselves a nice house with two bedrooms, a “bonus” room, a fenced in backyard, and new appliances. Aside from having a place for us to live, our main concern was finding a place for my dog and we finally did! It’s in a decent area of town.. the OTHER SIDE. The “Other Side” being the area that I used to live in which!, from a criminal activity report Jenny got her hands on, is apparently one of the worst places in Charlotte to live. Hmm…. Why does that not surprise me? Oh, so the point: It’s close enough to bomb the House From Hell but not close enough to see it. Which is good.
So I’m leaving in two days. .. Right now, that’s pretty much it.
Riding the line between crazy and careless July 13, 2007
Posted by onmytangent in Being Employed, Books.2 comments
With less than two weeks left until I move back to Charlotte I think my nerves are getting to me a little bit more than usual. This I find unusual as I’m not so much nervous about anything other than finding a place to live with my roommate, Jenny. It’s been about 2 hours since I’ve been up and active today and already I’ve parked on the wrong side of the gas pump, dropped my soda twice in a twenty-minute period, and have continually forgotten the time difference between Florida and Oregon in attempting to call Denise. I’m restless, moody, and nostalgic and I don’t like it.
I said goodbye to 1/3 of my book collection today and am surprised that this doesn’t upset me in the least. Books account for about 60% of my possessions and are something I rarely ever part with. But it’s time to grow the hell up and I had to make choices. I can only carry so much in my car and with all the other stuff I have to take with me I couldn’t keep them all. One day I’ll own a bookstore and have a place for everything. … Maybe.
Got myself a Flickr account and spent about 2 hours yesterday downloading all my pictures from China and Tibet.
I have about 5 days left of work and this excites me. I’ll miss my friends quite a bit, but I can’t stay at The Hut, or Inverness for that matter, forever.
And those are the interesting tidbits I have to share.
Denise, Jason, and the Oregon Trail… July 1, 2007
Posted by onmytangent in Friends.2 comments
I was planning on waiting until my nerves were a little calmer and my Snood game was finished but I’d rather not wait. In approximately 6.5 hours my best friend, Denise, will be leaving the east coast to blur past tornadoes, ford rivers, and avoid dysentery to embark upon the vast frontier that is Oregon (not OregON, OregIN). Since I left her house about an hour ago, I have barely been able to contain the tears of joy, hate, jealousy, and sadness. Mostly caused by joy, in case you were wondering.
Denise and I have known each other since about 4th grade, but I’m pretty sure our begun sometime before that at the Inverness Post Office Christmas parties. Our moms worked together, so it was only natural that we knew each other. Sort of. In one of her posts you can view a picture from 4th grade when she and I stood next to each other in the Tall Row. We weren’t really friends but we were the smarter kids, no matter what she wants to believe or tell anyone. She had glasses, I had rabbit teeth so it was only natural that we’d end up together.
I don’t quite remember how we became good friends, but it was sometime around 6th grade when we really started to become part of each others’ families. Except one time in middle school she didn’t invite me to one of her two Halloween parties. That still strikes a nasty chord deep into my soul but I’ll forgive her because one time in 10th grade I started dating a boy she liked and I have still never been able to live that down in my own heart because it was a very wrong thing to do.
When I found out she was moving I can’t say I thought much of it because, at that point, the Great Migration was so far in the future it didn’t even register. We were more excited about The Time Jason Came to Jacksonville and The Time She Went To Oregon During Christmas/New Years. Even when those times passed, the G.M. didn’t seem like that big of a thing. It was only until t-minus one month that it started to hit me that my best friend was moving away. Even further than North Carolina. More than a day’s trip. More than one single day. She was going across the country. I find it coincidental that she always had a thing for the Oregon Trail and now she finally gets to travel it… sort of. Only without the buying oats, killing forest animals, and having relatives die of strange diseases thing. She gets it much better than those pioneers did. Denise and Jason have A/C…. and Cheetos.
And, to be honest, if I hadn’t made this trip back home for the last year I wouldn’t be as upset as I am now. Denise has been my rock, my shoulder, and my… well, she’s everything a friend could ever be and more. I have never been so fortunate to have a friend as good as her. I think it’ll be the physical proximity I’ll miss the most for right now, but we’ll always have the internet. And ESP.
Now onto Jason (sorry, I know this is long, but I haven’t written in a long while so I might as well make it count, eh?). Hmm… Jason Steele. I met him on Thursday for lunch with Denise and as much as I wanted to have a deep inside-the-gut bad feeling to make Denise stay just for a few more weeks, I can’t say that I had any negative first impressions. (There ya go, Jason. Have at it. I don’t hate you and, even worse, I don’t dislike you.) It felt like the only thing between us was that we had never seen each other face to face. I felt a good vibe from him and a good feeling about he and Denise as a couple. Although he was, for a short while, on Team Loser in just about every game we played he made his debut as a star member on Team Awesome tonight during a game of Celebrity Taboo. What’s even more eerie about how… freaking great Jason is is that Denise’s father likes him, too. And that I just don’t know about. Not only is this dude polite to her parents, he’s polite to her friends (Laura and I), fun to talk to, can take all my insults and jabs with a smile, can play poker (and taught me how to play real poker), and… well, shit, he’s just a good guy (although I’m sure his friends might say otherwise… ). In fact, he’s probably the best Boy Scout I know. Way to go, Mr. Steele.
So yeah. As sad as I am about missing my best friend I know she’s in good hands. And if those hands turn out to be bad hands.. well.. Jason simply won’t have any genitalia to use ever again. There, that’s my threat. I’ve been dying to make one since I’ve met him only I didn’t have the heart to say it to him face to face. (Jason, consider that a big thumbs up. I usually have to threaten people about hurting my friends. I once did it to my friend’s husband right after they got married. Bad timing, yes… but I still got a good one in there.)
So while everyone leaves eventually not everyone can take with them a picture of London or a cooler full of Gatorade. All I request is a phone call so I know the Dys didn’t eat them alive or something. And don’t worry, guys, they have plenty of money for new oxen along the way.
