Moving 10/17/09

So we left that building and moved about a half mile down the road to brand new apartment building. Old place lowered the rent and seemed to attract a lot of immigrant Asians. Whole big families in one apartment. People doing odd business transactions in the back loading area. Strange smells in the hallway. I saw the writing on the wall that it was getting to be the time to leave. I really enjoyed living with Nick...but I wasn't sure where he was at. So I talked with Nick a few months ago and gave him the chance find a place on his own...and I would move to my own apartment too. He immediately insisted that we move together...It was nice to know that he likes living with me too . So now we live in a nice two bedroom, two bath apartment with a balcony. And a bathtub big enough for me to use! It is located near restaurants and a Rite Aid and a cool movie theater. Fully protected underground parking. Very nice.

The apartment is nice but the move SUCKED! We were both very organized and everything was packed up and moved into the living room for easy moving out of the apartment. Jessica came and visited me that week, and she and I spent a day painting the new apartment (I had to have my purple wall!) and all was ready. Truck was rented-- friends all agreed to help, we thought we were ready!

However, on the day of the move, everything went to hell. It was raining on Saturday...a steady, cold windy rain. And it never stopped. Not for one moment of the entire bastard day. And two of Nick friends did not show up...didn't return calls, nothing. So we were short help. We had Jessica, my 52 year old friend Beverly, and Nick's friend David for the whole day...and one more friend of Nick's in the morning for a few hours. Pretty pathetic. Keep in mind that all of Nick's friends are very small and very gay. No muscles in the bunch. And you know how slow I move with my knees.

We started at 10am and the first load was not loaded until about 2pm!! I knew then we were in trouble. We were limited in time by the reservation of the freight elevator at the new apartment...so I was very very worried! So I had to do something I was not thrilled with...I drove down to where the illegal immigrants hang out for day laborer jobs and grabbed two strong looking men from Mexico/El Salvador and drove them to the new apartment to get help unloading. They turned out to be very strong and hard workers, and not a problem at all. They worked with us for almost 8 hours...and were pleased when I paid them each $10 per hour. It was the smartest thing I did...because we would still be there, in the god forsaken rain, at midnight if I had not done so! Of course, one of them was young and cute (and Latin!), so I had to keep Nick in line and stop him from hitting on the poor kid (LOL) (I was afraid the guy would get offended and leave!) But at the end, Nick asked him for his phone number, and the kid gave it to him, so what do I know?

Eventually, we got all the crap in the new place. Very haphazard, not sorted, but off the truck and in the apartment. Nick has worked every day when he gets home from work and his room and the main living areas organized. My room is about half done....and this weekend, I repainted the purple walls white in the old apartment and cleaned all the rooms, fridge, etc. and now it is ready to turn over to the manager. What a relief that is!

Last few years my birthday was always horrible. I was surprised that this birthday was a good one. Spending that time with my daughter was great, and my friends all took care of me. Nick surprised me with decorating the apartment with a happy birthday banner, and coming home in the morning with presents for me. And he took me to dinner that night as well. And my phone and e-mail kept buzzing with birthday wishes. Honestly, it was the best birthday I have had in years. I am so happy here. I know now a year later that I made a good decision to move here.

Work is work. Nothing exciting...and it is hard to get up in the morning to go to work without something to be in charge of. The pay is good...no stress. No one bugs me...but still very unfullfilling. But it may be ME and not the job. My heart does not seem to be into work.