Mildly surreal

I'm here in my new living room, my new apartment, my new home.

I have a home. That's just weird to me.

I hate moving to the point where I throw myself at it until either it's done or I exhaust myself in the process. None of this taking weeks to pack and prepare. Screw that. If my moves take more than 24 total clock hours then something has gone seriously wrong. It also means that I pass out because I can't do it any more...and yes, I've found this out from experience. I've moved 17 times in 29 years, only 4 of which were family moves (I don't count the military moves because I didn't have to pack up the entirety of my possessions). The rest were just me, and I've got it down to a science.

This time, from starting to pack the first box to moving the final box into the new place, the total clock time was a little more than 19 hrs. which included buying and building an entertainment center. It would have been a little longer but this time I had 4 sets of hands moving instead of the usual 2 sets, and to those folks who helped I'm highly grateful.


They say that something always breaks in a move. I've never had anything broken.

I haven't left the apartment since I arrived on Sat. morning around 8am. What's more strange is that I haven't watched a single minute of Sportscenter. Instead it's been filled with movies and stations I never ordered but have been mysteriously gifted with, albeit temporary, which brings me to my points of note...

- So far everyone's been impressed w/the apartment in spite of its few subtle (or not so subtle) quirks. The fact that it has quirks tells me I belong here. Joe liked it so much that he volunteered it for a poker night in March. We'll see if that happens.

- The cable box they gave me was programmed with a few extra channels - HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, the various Encore's, and some other package that I have no idea what to do with. What they DIDN'T give me, however, was internet. The tech had to come back out to adjust the signal or something.

- I have a couch now. I haven't had a couch since March of 04. It's cool. You can draw pictures on it with your fingers (seriously...it's cool). I had to jump up and down on the cushions for about 15 minutes in order to break them in which was something of an unusual sight in itself. Fifteen minutes of couch cushion DDR. Okay, enough about that.

- I haven't had wall hangings up since August of 05. Now my pennants are back up, as are my flags and Blues Brothers poster. It's nothing fancy, but it's mine. I do need to get something to hang over my entertainment center. I'd like a panoramic picture/poster of The Horseshoe or some other cool stadium where OSU wins a big game.

- With the exception of 2 kitchen boxes I'm completely unpacked.

- I don't need to go shopping for a bit because mom went kinda crazy at the store and bought me supplies for a week or so, plus all the cleaning supplies I need. She didn't check to see that I actually already had half the stuff she bought, but it wouldn't have mattered if she did. The stuff she bought was on sale...how is she supposed to pass up a sale?

- So yeah, no Sportscenter. It's been strictly movies for me, mostly on the premium channels. Last night I passed out in the middle of Goblet of Fire after about 80-90 minutes of it. I finished it today. Kinda dark. I watched Lost Boys which was a significant waste of time, but it was a vampire movie and a couple of my readers had mentioned it recently so I figured I owed it to them (Corey Haim AND Corey Feldman...I should have been drunk and high before I started watching). The Three Musketeers...Wedding Crashers...Napoleon Dynamite...stuff like that.

- My apartment has crown molding and a chair bar (or is it a rail...I can't remember). I didn't notice these, however. Joe pointed them out to me. Apparently they're good things. Eh. Shows what I know or care about. I'd be happy with four walls and a ceiling.

- I was exhausted the first night but didn't want to go to bed. It was a new location, and there was nobody else here. It wasn't scary or anything like that. No weird noises. Just empty-feeling. Really empty. I stayed up until I passed out on my new couch.

- It doesn't feel real yet. Maybe it's because I haven't been outside other than to take out the trash. Maybe it's because I haven't gotten anywhere close to starting a routine yet, particularly without having gone to work from here. It just feels like I'm staying in someone else's place. In fact, when I woke up after passing out last night I had no idea where I was for a few seconds.

- You're all welcome to come over! Hope to see you here soon...