Twisted Spinster

I’m back online, finally. That’s all I’ve got to say for now — I’m still exhausted. I figure I’ll recover from this move sometime in June. Or maybe August.

So it’s not easy moving from one apartment to another when one has a three-day migraine, who knew? To make a long story short, I had to take a day off from work in order to get the rest of my crap out of my old place. Also I’m having a bit of a bleg, since as usual moving was more expensive than planned and I am just a little bit tapped out. (PS: to the person who donated recently, thank you! I can’t send a thank you via email right now as I don’t have my own internet hookup yet.)

Okay, enough futzing around — back to the salt mines.

Well, moving day was yesterday, and it’s always something — this time it was the fact that my new apartment complex had decided to refinish my tub. Like the day before I moved in, so that I’ve been breathing fumes, and was advised not to use the tub for one more night. That was fine, because I’ve still not completely moved out of the old place, so I took a shower there. On the other hand, I can’t stand paint fumes. My cats don’t seem to be affected, though — they are too freaked out by the move itself. They keep looking at me as if they are saying “When are you going to take us back home???”

I am taking a much-needed Panera break (I live even closer to a Panera than I did before, uh oh…); I don’t have internet access at the new place yet, so this is necessary. Also I was starving and in serious need of caffeine.

I’ve had a more-or-less splitting headache since Friday, and it’s been one of my weirdo sinus/digestive system things, which really put a wrench in my plans. I could have been completely moved by now if it hadn’t been for that. As it is I still have a ton of stuff at the old place and I only hope that the manager there isn’t having it all thrown into the dumpster while I sit here. She wanted me to have the keys in the drop box by 8am but that wasn’t going to happen. I am going back there after I finish up here. At least I got the important things (computer, clothes, cats), but I still have all my dishes and pots and pans and a pile of books. I also have the stuff at the storage room, which I was supposed to get yesterday, but by the time I got the heavy furniture moved, I was ready to keel over.

And let me tell you about that… moving the bed nearly killed me. As it is I had to drag it over concrete, so one side is all scraped up and I’ll have to re-stain it some time. It’s the side that’s now against the wall, though, and I don’t know if it will last another year in my care anyway so I don’t know if I’ll bother… Anyway, I had rented this van from Uhaul. I had never driven a van before, but I thought it would be like driving a large car — like my father’s old Ford LTD, or a station wagon. Well, it was actually like piloting a small mountain. I sat perched somewhere up in the ether, looking down at all these tiny normal vehicles. I was terrified that it would tip over, so I drove about ten miles under the speed limit, which of course made all the other insane, rude, impatient Orlando drivers crazy. I swear, people drive here like they have somewhere important to go and they have to be there NOW BITCH MOVE IT. Please, chill. It’s Orlando. You don’t have anywhere important to go.

Then I get to the new place and I can’t get the goddamn bed out of the van. It jammed — I’d had to do this tilty, shimmy thing to get it in there in the first place. Fortunately one of the maintenance guys was in the leasing office and took pity on me, and then as he was dragging it out of the van a young guy who lives in the building saw him and offered to help. So the place at least has some nice people in it.

Enough for now — this has been a mundane and boring post, I know, but I just wanted to write this all down in case I got hit on the head and lost my memory of my last couple of days. Yeah, that’s why.

I was wondering when Bush would finally lose patience with the buttheads of the press and pimp slap their asses. Rawk.

I found someone who needed all that furniture I wanted to get rid of. That’s a good thing, because I was wondering if I’d have to just leave it in the apartment. (The pieces consisted of, among other things, a solid wood dresser set and the couch, which I knew I’d never be able to drag to the dumpster on my own.) They came and got the stuff this evening, so now I have one less thing to worry about.

Electricity changeover done — check. Cable will be turned on in the new place… eventually. (And thereby hangs a tale. Somehow the cable tech got a message to be at the new place today at ten o’clock, even though I set them up for Monday from four to six pm… and the recording at the cable company said my appointment was on Monday from four to six pm. I found this out because the tech called me after being confronted with a tenantless, empty apartment.) Money in the bank… check. Though it won’t be there for long… I hope I like this new place. Moving is expensive, and I’d like to use my hard-earned money for other things than down payments — things like going to Europe again.

Okay, I broke down and called Uhaul, and to my surprise was able to rent a van for Saturday. The worst thing will be moving the bed — the frame is as heavy as iron and the futon is a pain in the ass — it’s too heavy and big to carry, it’s too limp to move with my wheelie thing, and it doesn’t have any handles so it’s nearly impossible to drag along. But I have to keep the stinking thing until I can afford a new mattress. Such is life.

I am so looking forward to Sunday, because that will be the day all of this will be over.

You ever have one of those days where you just don’t want to leave the house, even though you have a million things you need to do because you won’t have much time during the week? Well, I am having one of those days. I’ve been sitting here like a lump all day. I need to get more stuff out to the dumpster, I need to get boxes sorted and packed and stuff put into trash bags (and I need to get some trash bags) — but I know I’m just not gonna. Argh.

I got rid of all my vinyl LPs today. Some of them went to the dumpster, and as I was rolling the rest of them in my wire grocery cart that way, I ran into a guy who lives downstairs, and he asked if he could have them. So that’s the end of that. I also dumped the old broken stereo, and an old chair that was just taking up space. And that’s all I can manage today.

It’s all right here. (I’ve seen/read at least a third of the stuff listed, of course.)

It’s already Anzac Day in Australia. Tim has an awesome photo and story at the link. More from me at some point, if I ever emerge from Impending Move Horror.