Be It Ever So Humble...
Sep. 20th, 2004 08:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcepsaActually, compared to what I've been living in since I started going to college 5 years ago it's relatively extravagant--regardless, there's no place like home ;)
Anyway, the actual moving part of moving is done. Now comes the unpacking, the assembling, the trying to organize, or--as I like to call it--Apartment Tetris ;)
Prologue
Friday night: Finished packing, then went over to Jen's place to hang out with her and Otto for awhile. Ended up watching Alien and The Ghost And The Darkness and chatting with those two--another friend of theirs from school came over as well, so I had a fun evening of watching scary movies and listening to stories. Ended up spending the night (yay sleepovers!) and the next day we dragged ourselves out of bed to head back to my place to start moving stuff.
The Story
Got back just before noon (when we were supposed to all meet) to discover that both other groups were running late--so I didn't feel so bad about not being there a little early ;) Jen and Otto helped me with a little more of the packing (even when you're finished, there's always more! ^_^; ) and then decorated boxes with markers that Otto had brought. I've gotta say that it's a nice touch, having all those decorated boxes sitting around the apartment as I'm unpacking. Helps brighten up the place and is much more friendly than a bunch of brown and white cardboard ^_^
Anyway, two more of my friends showed up and we started loading stuff into the cars while we waited for the last two friends to show up with their car. We were able to get almost everything into those two cars--it was awesome :) Then the last two showed up and we loaded up the rest of the stuff (only thing I couldn't get to fit was my bike, so I'll be going back for that sometime this week probably) and took off for the apartment.
Jen, Otto, and I all got there first (which was good, considering that I was the one with the ID card and everything ;-) and noticed that there seemed to be something slightly strange in the neighborhood. The traffic lights weren't on, one of the security gates was closed and the other (by the guard booth) was partially open. It turns out that there had been a partial electrical failure, so the gates and traffic lights weren't working.
Neither were the elevators.
I live on the 9th floor.
At that point, I did an excellent job of not panicking. It helped that the other two cars hadn't gotten there yet, so I was able to keep busy with guiding them in (Otto and Jen stayed upstairs to enjoy my balcony) and and past the guard and everything, and then we were going to order pizza and figure out where to go from there. Jen had the good idea to see if there was anywhere else that I could store my stuff, so I checked with the management but unfortunately they didn't have any storage area. As it turned out, just as the third car got there, power to the elevators was restored. Whew!
So they started unloading and I ordered pizza. By the time I had gotten in touch with the pizza place and gotten the order placed and found the money to pay with, they had pretty much finished unloading everything from the cars. I felt a little guilty about that, but they had been pretty adamant about getting the pizza and I did help carry stuff from the elevator to the apartment, and they didn't really seem to hold it against me, so it worked out ok :) It was really great to have them helping me ^_^
After that two of them had to get going, but the rest hung around and waited for pizza. It was delicious (mmm, Papa Johns garlic sauce... :p~ ) and it was nice to just be able to sit down with them and chat a bit and enjoy being in my new place. Afterwards they said their goodbyes and I straightened things up a little bit to try to get ready for Phase Two: Furniture. Then I gave Ryan a call from the pay phone (my phone service isn't working yet...) and ended up going down and spending the night at his place. Yay Stargate Atlantis and Firefly! ^_^
The next day (Sunday) we got up around 8:30 and headed over to get the rental truck. Picked it up and went out to get furniture. It all went pretty smoothly, except for a small accident when we were loading my dining table (it slipped and gouged my thumb). Oh, and the futon not fitting into the elevator at her place well enough. It was a two-door elevator and we were only able to get the futon in by going diagonally. We had gone down about one floor when Ryan and I both realized that it would be impossible for us to get it out through the other side of the elevator at the lobby since we didn't have enough room to turn it and angle it out the door! So we got it off on the first floor and took the stairs down one of the side exits and then carried it back around to the front. Never a dull moment ;)
We hauled the furniture back to my place, then I got in touch with another acquaintence to get some more furniture (mainly another futon and some dishes). I ended up getting a little bit more than I bargained for--two futons, dishes for about 8, some pans, hangers, and a few other miscellaneous things--so I'm really glad I was able to meet up with him while I still had the truck ^_^
Once we got that stuff back to my place and unloaded, we took the truck back and dropped it off, then went out and got some food. After that we headed down to Sam's Club only to discover that it had closed. So we went to Wal-Mart instead and I got a few more things (mainly bathroom and kitchen stuff, and a floor/table pair of lamps). Got home around 8, got the dining table set up, straightened up a few other things, took a shower, and went to bed.
Epilogue
All in all I have to say that I think the weekend went tremendously well, and I'm very grateful to everyone who helped to make it as smooth and stress-free for me as they could. You guys are all fantastic ^_^
It's amazing and a little bit scary to be out and truly on my own for the first time ever. Sure, I've been sort of on my own since entering college, but it's never been like this. I had a roommate in college that was a friend from home, and then moved in with other friends that I had made there. When I did my summer selling books, and my summer internships, I was staying with other people. When I moved out here last summer, I lived with another friend of mine from home. Then I moved into a house with other people. Now, for the first time, I have my own apartment. It still feels a little surreal. Walking around after I got back last night, going "This is mine. I can do whatever I want with it. I don't have to share it with anybody..." and some part of me just can't seem to grasp that. I still haven't managed to fully wrap my brain around that concept yet ;) It's really exciting, too, to have that kind of potential :) Like a blank canvas, only in three dimensions and you can touch the art--I'm just really not used to being the only one working on it. I'm used to having a corner of the canvas and sort of fill in around the edges. Now that I've got the full space all to myself, it's awkward, like learning to ride a bike or something. The only way to overcome it are the three steps of practice, practice, and practice :) It's exciting too, to be able to have all that opportunity! No messes in the kitchen that I didn't make, no trying to decide who gets to use the TV, no fighting over the phone or having to tell people not to call because they might wake somebody up, no arguing how to arrange furniture or where to put lights... So I think it's fitting to close with this quotation from Better Off Dead, "I think all you need is a small taste of success, and you will find that it suits you."
Anyway, the actual moving part of moving is done. Now comes the unpacking, the assembling, the trying to organize, or--as I like to call it--Apartment Tetris ;)
Prologue
Friday night: Finished packing, then went over to Jen's place to hang out with her and Otto for awhile. Ended up watching Alien and The Ghost And The Darkness and chatting with those two--another friend of theirs from school came over as well, so I had a fun evening of watching scary movies and listening to stories. Ended up spending the night (yay sleepovers!) and the next day we dragged ourselves out of bed to head back to my place to start moving stuff.
The Story
Got back just before noon (when we were supposed to all meet) to discover that both other groups were running late--so I didn't feel so bad about not being there a little early ;) Jen and Otto helped me with a little more of the packing (even when you're finished, there's always more! ^_^; ) and then decorated boxes with markers that Otto had brought. I've gotta say that it's a nice touch, having all those decorated boxes sitting around the apartment as I'm unpacking. Helps brighten up the place and is much more friendly than a bunch of brown and white cardboard ^_^
Anyway, two more of my friends showed up and we started loading stuff into the cars while we waited for the last two friends to show up with their car. We were able to get almost everything into those two cars--it was awesome :) Then the last two showed up and we loaded up the rest of the stuff (only thing I couldn't get to fit was my bike, so I'll be going back for that sometime this week probably) and took off for the apartment.
Jen, Otto, and I all got there first (which was good, considering that I was the one with the ID card and everything ;-) and noticed that there seemed to be something slightly strange in the neighborhood. The traffic lights weren't on, one of the security gates was closed and the other (by the guard booth) was partially open. It turns out that there had been a partial electrical failure, so the gates and traffic lights weren't working.
Neither were the elevators.
I live on the 9th floor.
At that point, I did an excellent job of not panicking. It helped that the other two cars hadn't gotten there yet, so I was able to keep busy with guiding them in (Otto and Jen stayed upstairs to enjoy my balcony) and and past the guard and everything, and then we were going to order pizza and figure out where to go from there. Jen had the good idea to see if there was anywhere else that I could store my stuff, so I checked with the management but unfortunately they didn't have any storage area. As it turned out, just as the third car got there, power to the elevators was restored. Whew!
So they started unloading and I ordered pizza. By the time I had gotten in touch with the pizza place and gotten the order placed and found the money to pay with, they had pretty much finished unloading everything from the cars. I felt a little guilty about that, but they had been pretty adamant about getting the pizza and I did help carry stuff from the elevator to the apartment, and they didn't really seem to hold it against me, so it worked out ok :) It was really great to have them helping me ^_^
After that two of them had to get going, but the rest hung around and waited for pizza. It was delicious (mmm, Papa Johns garlic sauce... :p~ ) and it was nice to just be able to sit down with them and chat a bit and enjoy being in my new place. Afterwards they said their goodbyes and I straightened things up a little bit to try to get ready for Phase Two: Furniture. Then I gave Ryan a call from the pay phone (my phone service isn't working yet...) and ended up going down and spending the night at his place. Yay Stargate Atlantis and Firefly! ^_^
The next day (Sunday) we got up around 8:30 and headed over to get the rental truck. Picked it up and went out to get furniture. It all went pretty smoothly, except for a small accident when we were loading my dining table (it slipped and gouged my thumb). Oh, and the futon not fitting into the elevator at her place well enough. It was a two-door elevator and we were only able to get the futon in by going diagonally. We had gone down about one floor when Ryan and I both realized that it would be impossible for us to get it out through the other side of the elevator at the lobby since we didn't have enough room to turn it and angle it out the door! So we got it off on the first floor and took the stairs down one of the side exits and then carried it back around to the front. Never a dull moment ;)
We hauled the furniture back to my place, then I got in touch with another acquaintence to get some more furniture (mainly another futon and some dishes). I ended up getting a little bit more than I bargained for--two futons, dishes for about 8, some pans, hangers, and a few other miscellaneous things--so I'm really glad I was able to meet up with him while I still had the truck ^_^
Once we got that stuff back to my place and unloaded, we took the truck back and dropped it off, then went out and got some food. After that we headed down to Sam's Club only to discover that it had closed. So we went to Wal-Mart instead and I got a few more things (mainly bathroom and kitchen stuff, and a floor/table pair of lamps). Got home around 8, got the dining table set up, straightened up a few other things, took a shower, and went to bed.
Epilogue
All in all I have to say that I think the weekend went tremendously well, and I'm very grateful to everyone who helped to make it as smooth and stress-free for me as they could. You guys are all fantastic ^_^
It's amazing and a little bit scary to be out and truly on my own for the first time ever. Sure, I've been sort of on my own since entering college, but it's never been like this. I had a roommate in college that was a friend from home, and then moved in with other friends that I had made there. When I did my summer selling books, and my summer internships, I was staying with other people. When I moved out here last summer, I lived with another friend of mine from home. Then I moved into a house with other people. Now, for the first time, I have my own apartment. It still feels a little surreal. Walking around after I got back last night, going "This is mine. I can do whatever I want with it. I don't have to share it with anybody..." and some part of me just can't seem to grasp that. I still haven't managed to fully wrap my brain around that concept yet ;) It's really exciting, too, to have that kind of potential :) Like a blank canvas, only in three dimensions and you can touch the art--I'm just really not used to being the only one working on it. I'm used to having a corner of the canvas and sort of fill in around the edges. Now that I've got the full space all to myself, it's awkward, like learning to ride a bike or something. The only way to overcome it are the three steps of practice, practice, and practice :) It's exciting too, to be able to have all that opportunity! No messes in the kitchen that I didn't make, no trying to decide who gets to use the TV, no fighting over the phone or having to tell people not to call because they might wake somebody up, no arguing how to arrange furniture or where to put lights... So I think it's fitting to close with this quotation from Better Off Dead, "I think all you need is a small taste of success, and you will find that it suits you."
