Bringing it all together.

Classes officially begin on Monday and I am ready! Over the summer I made the decision to matriculate a course at the Denver campus this semester, so I spent the afternoon today taking a look around and getting a few things sorted. I really like the Student Union and found most of the people I met and talked to very friendly and helpful when I had questions. And I love riding on the train City life is nice.

On the home front there’s been a lot of change, too. Very unfortunately (and almost unbelievably), my landlord and her husband were BOTH laid off from their jobs last week! So, due to that, they’ve decided to keep this house on the market but are now (understandably) looking to rent the entire house to someone in the meantime, having only rented out my room until now (they own and live in another house). This means that I’ll definitely have to move sooner rather than later, as previous circumstances had caused me to believe I could rent just my room through to the end of the year.

It’s all good, though. I’m feelin’ good and not worried

Moving?

So, after all this packing up (yet keeping the house clean for potential buyers) frenzy, my landlord told me yesterday that she’s thinking of not selling the house. I asked her how that affected me, since I need to know for sure and very quickly, and she said I can stop packing my things. In the meantime, I’m continuing my search for another suitable living situation (which, to this point, of course, I haven’t found). I personally think keeping the house would be a good decision, but it’s not my decision to make. On the other hand, I really like living in that house and don’t want to move yet.

Mania!

The Obnoxious Boxes have returned…sigh.  I always hate this part.

And so, moving on…

It’s Mostly Over.

The move was a complete success, and practically effortless (Thank You Cam!). I now reside happily in a nice little town home with two happy Labradors. The part I dread is all the unpacking. I’ve managed to get my book cases set up, and my bed. I’ve even put away most of my clothes. I still have to organize my smaller things, such as notebooks, kitchen and bathroom stuffs, etc. The new house has plenty of storage space, though, so it’s really just a matter of time (and energy) before I get it all sorted.

For now, I haven’t got access to the internet because my old computer is painfully slow and I’m too impatient to drag its carcass out and set it up. The major agenda item for this month is a new laptop.

It’s my birthday tomorrow! Geez, it’s difficult to fathom that another year has gone past. Actually, I’ve been missing home lately. This always happens around this time of year. November is the beginning of the holiday season and I look forward to being with my family.

I’m off to study for Monday’s exam.

It Goes Steadily.

I spent a few hours in the garage last night dancing, singing and cleaning to old school Janet Jackson and Rob Base hits (remember “It Takes Two”?!?!—and yes, I still remember all the rhymes in that song)—what a stress reliever! I’m steadily getting through my pile of miscellaneous “junk”, much of which I should’ve thrown away years ago, I’m realizing. It’s amazing the amount of space one can save by storing documents electronically.

I go to meet my new landlord to pick up the keys tomorrow. The fact that I’m moving again will feel real then. Those of you in my address book will receive an email with my new contact information in the near future.

Stop the Presses!

I began sorting out my paper stuff Thursday night, by separating books from magazines, articles/misc papers and mail. Since I’m determined to throw away most of it, I’ve put all of the items that could potentially get tossed into one, big plastic bin, and all of my books into 2 neat piles next to my bed. Let me tell you: TONS of open space around my desk, floor and bed suddenly appeared. Amazing. But there is sad news. Now that all the books in my room are standing alone, I see how many I’ve managed to collect in the last 2 years. It’s nearly 40 books. And for some reason, I went with mostly hard covers. Sigh. This means extra weight, and quite possibly, an extra book case, as the ones I have in storage hold all of my older books, without room for more.

Boxes. This is the second phase. My friend Mary has offered to give me the boxes from her move last weekend. That is generous of her, and I hope she has a nice big one for me to stuff most of my clothes in. That will get added to group of items that need 2 people to move them, along with my bed, dresser, desk and tall book case. I’m doing my best to keep the number of smaller boxes to a minimum.

The third phase is deciding what size truck I need. I thought of renting from U-Haul a 10’ moving van, but now I’m thinking better of it. I want to move everything over in 1 trip. So that means two book cases, one bed, one dresser, one small desk, one large clothes box, Fabien’s snowboard, and several med to small boxes with miscellaneous items inside. Oh, and my luggage. And my stereo! (Geez, I’d better make a list.) Since I need to see it to get a better idea of the space, I’m going to take a trip over to the office this weekend and check things out.

Last week I decided to not buy any new groceries and eat through what I already have so I’d cut down on the amount of food I’ll throw away next week (I hate packing food). That was a bad idea because after 2 days I got tired of Vienna sausages and chicken noodle soup. I’ve eaten out several days in a row now, and the tab (and my cholesterol) is getting high. Oh well (I still hate packing food). The bright side is that I’m moving next door to a grocery store (worthy of Wegman’s), so it’ll be no trouble stocking up the fridge next week.

Surprisingly, at this point in the process, this move seems like it will be the easiest I’ve ever had. Maybe I’m deluding myself, as executing these sorts of things is not my strong suit, and I tend to overlook the obvious. But that bit of warning aside, I really do think this will be simple…

I got it!

The call arrived last night, I have the apartment I’ve been hoping to get. BIG relief–so much relief, in fact, that I barely slept all night from being giddy over it. I was really beginning to worry that I wouldn’t have a place by the end of this month. Now on to other, smaller details such as renting a moving truck and getting boxes. I took a quick inventory of my stuff this evening, and I am pleased with how little I’ve managed to accumulate over the last couple of years. With some well-planned sorting/recycling, I should be light as a feather to unload. I tend to stick to the One-Year Rule: if I haven’t read it or worn it within the last year, it has to go. The Rule doesn’t apply to books, of course, although maybe it should. I’ve got too many of them already.

Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Let’s try a quick recap of what’s been going on:

• School is going well. Homework and exams began rolling in at a regular pace a few weeks ago, so it feels real. I’m pretty confident about my ability to maintain high marks this semester. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the grant I was hoping for. That was disappointing, especially since I was told on several occasions that I had it. The most frustrating part was waiting—almost 2 months of being told it’s coming, to end with “Oops, sorry, no it’s not.”—which launched me into a long, pedantic dissertation on the unreliable state of education funding today. Don’t worry; I’ve spared this blog the gory details . If you’re interested, though, shoot me a note. I’d be happy to commiserate some more.
• New place: So yeah, since I didn’t get fully funded this year, I’m moving at the end of this month to less-expensive digs.