movynge ys a thynge of muche wo

May 25, 2006 at 2:44 pm (bureaucratic bullshit, devastating drama, fierce fishies)

Moving like, totally and completely blows. It’s amazing how expensive it gets and how so many things can go wrong.

After busting my butt for my fishies to transport them, I managed to drop them on the way out. I don’t think Shyam made it. Bettas can supposedly survive out of water for quite awhile, since they’re aerial breathers, and I dashed out to the van to get their water treatment and made sure their water temp was right before I put them in it, but I think the fall was too much for them. I knew after that they wouldn’t live if I drove them across the country. I went to Family and Graduate housing to return my keys and was just sobbing there. I left both of them with a woman there, along with all their supplies.

I didn’t get out of Urbana until about 5 PM. I had planned to leave by noon. So I got to Columbus at around 10:30 PM, spent the night, and finally got here at 8 PM on Tuesday after a hellish drive on the fucking Pennsylvania Turnpike. That road made me feel like I was in a communist state. You can’t exit it except every thirty miles or so. There are no rest stops. My father didn’t believe me and then he looked it up and found out there wasn’t a SINGLE one. So, when you have to pee, you might just have to drive for thirty miles. Then you have to pay to get off the road. Then you will probably have to drive around in the countryside for awhile until you find a place where they’re nice enough to let you use their loo.

At one point, I was blueballed by a sign saying there was a Starbucks in a place called Somerset. Nope. It’s being built. So I went to Dairy Queen, where they were advertising some coffee drink and I ordered it. They piled whipped cream on it, which pissed me off, and they didn’t have a bathroom! Then after I finally found a restroom, I accidentally wound up going the wrong way down the turnpike. So I had to drive for thirty miles from whence I’d come in order to turn around. Of course, I had to pay for it–twice over. I really don’t think the fucking thing works that well. It’s totally insane–I can’t believe the people of Pennsylvania allow it.

I spent my first day here returning my rental car and hanging out, waiting for a physical and TB test. Again, a communist state. I waited about 3 1/2 to 4 hours for a five-minute physical. After a few hours, I asked if I could go eat lunch, and I was told I absolutely could, since that’s where all the nurses were! I also had to change my plans to go to Mass. this weekend, because they require me to come back after 48 hours instead of 24. Groan…..Oh, well. Hopefully I’ll be able to make the 9:50 train to Springfield tomorrow morning….

Today I spent waiting for Comcast. I got really mad at them. I waited for them from 6:30 AM on. They kept messing everything up. Plus they gave me a shitty phone number that doesn’t have 1s or 0s, but also doesn’t spell anything. But they finally showed up at 5 PM. So now I have more reliable internet, cable tv, and unlimited long-distance phone calling.

In the meantime, I discovered I’m in walking distance of Whole Foods, and biking distance of Trader Joe’s. When I figured out Comcast wasn’t showing for awhile, I went to Whole Foods to get breakfast and lunch. Then I joined a gym nearby, so that was cool.

I live six blocks from work, which is cooler. My area is very cute and my building was built over 150 years ago. It’s on the historic registry.

Last night, I went out with a couple of librarians. One of the guys I’ll be working with and his girlfriend went to Dominican and moved here from Chicago about six months ago or so. They are pretty great. They were so nice — they took me out for dinner and introduced me to their doggie and I got to see how much more space you can get for the same price I’m paying if you live out in University City….

Backtracking a bit — I had a wonderful going-away party, and so many fantastic people showed up. It was a great time. You can see the pics here. I was helped in this move in a tremendous way by many friends, and I honestly don’t know how I would have made it here without them. Thank you everyone, and especially David, Stacey, and Annette.

Soon, all will be okay…. :)

Oh, and incidentally, I was listening to the Beach Boys on the way here. I was listening to “Wouldn’t it be nice.” That song, like, so resonated with me when I was sixteen….

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it looks like Chaucer is also moving…

May 16, 2006 at 6:24 am (novelty)

“BSL, movynge ys a thynge of muche wo…ich am boxynge vppe moste of myn possessiouns so that churlez mayen brynge them to Kente to the newe house of the famille Chaucer. Lowys doth louren yn sadnesse of his departure from his freendes, and swete Philippa my wyf ys runnynge the whole showe wyth an accounte-boke yn oon hand and a large panne yn the othir. Yow may gesse wyth which oon she hitteth me vpon the hede whanne ich trye to haue a sytte-doun. But by Seynte Ysidore, yesternighte the sterres al oon shone doun on my composicoun of responses, and myn penne dide quicklie flye.”

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things seem to be sliiiiding into place…

May 15, 2006 at 11:16 am (jobs, marooned, vehicles)

…hopefully.  It’s still a bit hairy but I’m having less of a nervous breakdown.

I am so happy because I found someone to ride with me in the U-Haul to Chicago on Thursday.  She answered right away, and she’s someone I really like, so I’m psyched.  I will be saving probably at least $600 by moving it myself, but I know I couldn’t drive that truck by myself without killing or maiming someone else or myself.

It looks like I might have a real apartment, too.  I had to email the woman I was going to sublet from (although it was still up in the air) and let her know she should look for other subletters as options.  I had to borrow money for this move and I don’t want it all stuck in a down payment on a sublet with no kitchen.  The place I’m probably going to get is gorgeous and just a few blocks from work; unfortunately, it’s a studio.  I’d really like to have a one bedroom.  But it would be good for a year and then I can move to a bigger place if I want.  Or if I really love it, maybe it would be good for me to downsize.

My mother and I are in the library right now.  She is doing genealogy and I am BORED, so I’d better get started on that independent study.  OK, well not started, but finished perhaps.  Yes, I did graduate, and I had more than enough credits to graduate, but I don’t want an F on my transcript or DWK mad at me. :)

Incidentally, we looked like clowns on graduation.  My English friends were extremely amused.  We had to wear Smurf-like blue robes with hideous orange “I” badges for U of I stitched on the front.  Our hoods, of course, were lined with blue and orange satin, and the discipline color for LIS turns out to be canary yellow.  Although I suppose the music performance people fare worse — their discipline color is pink.  Pink with blue and orange kind of sucks.  But then, so do blue robes.  We would have looked much better in black.  Black goes with everything.

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happy freakin’ autumn! and rant about Nerve

May 11, 2006 at 1:17 pm (bureaucratic bullshit, dating doldrums, thoughts about urbana-champaign)

grrrrr. I really hate wind. I hope that Philadelphia isn’t as windy as it is here. It is SO COLD. I’m glad I didn’t pack my wool sweaters yet.

I went to get a pedicure with my little freshman friend. OK, so she’s not that little — she’s about my height! We are bonded because we were both born in the Year of the Tiger — twelve years apart, obviously. So I called her from the library and said I hadn’t brought a scarf or anything and since we were going to walk about 25 minutes over to Urbana, could she please bring me one? She brought me a bandana. So I walked around looking like a peasant or an alternative activist or something. I suppose I kind of AM an alternative activist, except that I was going to have my toes worked on by Vietnamese women who probably don’t make much from painstakingly working on people’s feet all day. I always leave big tips. And I don’t get pedicures that often.

I was informed by the silly city of Philadelphia yesterday that they were all wrong — I have to take my stupid medical tests two days earlier than scheduled and IN THE MORNING. So that made me have to change my plans around all over again. Now I’m leaving in just over a week. Leaving leaving.

I finally resolved my psychological problem with Nerve today. I have had hidden profiles on Nerve off and on since 1999. I actually get a bit annoyed with people who ask me if I know about it. I knew about it in 1997-8 when they launched the Web site — I’d gotten a friend from college a job at Oxford and she’d been dating one of the magazine/Web site’s founders. So here’s my issue: One of my profiles was called Walküre. I imported the umlaut. So what did they do? They did a total overhaul last summer and combined my profiles without asking. And they assigned me a new “handle”: walkre1. There is no such fucking thing as a walkre, at least to my knowledge. And if there is, it’s not likely to be a noun but some kind of derivative of a verb. Guess who the lucky person was who got Walkure without an umlaut as a handle? A STRAIGHT man from New York. That wasn’t fair. I had the one with the umlaut way before he even JOINED Nerve. He probably doesn’t even know what a walküre or valkyrie is. Does it mean “straight man?” NO.

I tried to change my handle but they wouldn’t let me do it. So I deleted everything and started all over with a new handle. OK, so I lost my credits doing that, but I couldn’t live with the handle “walkre1.” I just couldn’t.

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komodo

May 10, 2006 at 2:44 pm (doggies!, novelty)

So Komodo dragons have been playing a big role in my life lately. Now Starbucks has a Komodo Dragon blend. My friend Chad will be ever so excited.

Anyway, I have decided that perhaps some Boston Terriers are distantly related to Komodo dragons.

What do you think?

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heated immigration politics

May 9, 2006 at 7:50 am (politics)

Oh, my God. I can’t believe my mother forwarded this unbelievably fucked-up article to me. I’m really, sincerely hoping she doesn’t believe this bullshit. Anybody who starts off an opinion piece talking about the “brave men” of the Alamo, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Travis, as being mercilessly killed by Santa Ana, is clearly biased and misinformed. I love it how the entire piece is about “Mexico’s declaration of war on America” and how Vincente Fox is “invading” us.
What’s particularly interesting about the timing of this forward is that only yesterday, I was laughing my ass off at this tremendously funny and offensive Dubya parody. I’d say that the parodied Dubya has it right: the writer of the “Mexican War” article is definitely one of his “paranoid, racist, piss-ignorant base.”

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having a slight nervous breakdown

May 8, 2006 at 8:21 am (jobs)

so. I am going to have to leave here on the 24th or 25th. I have to get tested and all kinds of crap before I start, which gives me the option of doing it all on the 26th, since the 29th is Memorial Day. Grr. Luckily, my mother’s friend offered me her house to stay in while she’s gone in Ireland, and it’s very convenient to Philly.

I found out that movers aren’t allowed to move plants over state lines. One-way tickets from Champaign to Philadelphia are exorbitantly expensive, and round-trip are worse, especially since I wouldn’t use the return ticket. So I think I’m going to rent a mini-van and drive. It’s supposed to be a 12-hour drive. That shouldn’t be too bad, right? That way, I can keep my plants that I’ve been busy growing and I can easily transport my fishies without too much trauma to them (hopefully). Plus it will be cheaper than a one-way ticket, even if I include gas!

It looks like there’s a strong possibility that I will have an apartment by June 1. It’s a sublet at 13th and Locust, and then I can sign a lease in my name in November. The people who live there now are very nice artists and they are concerned about to whom they sublet their apartment, since they’ll be on the lease for another six months. Only drawback is, the place doesn’t have an oven. However, I think I still have a convection oven that my father gave me and it’s supposed to work better than a regular one.

Now I have to figure out getting the stuff I have here to Chicago to meet up with the movers who will then move my stuff here and my stuff in storage in Chicago across the country. I’m thinking that a U-haul would be the cheapest option — I just need to find someone who’s willing to drive along with me, because it would make me nervous to drive something that big and cumbersome alone.

I have finished all my work…except of course, for the biggest project, my independent study from last semester that is like pulling teeth to get done. Groan. But somehow it will get done.

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scoops

May 1, 2006 at 5:48 pm (flix, jobs)

Today I accepted the job in Philadelphia. They offered it to me at the end of my interview, and brought me up to the HR office to formally offer it to me. I will be working in the music library (hooray), so it’s especially good that I had some time to kill before my interview and wandered on in there and introduced myself. The little music-library network was well in place, too, for I met up with the former head of the U of I Music Library (who hired me and then went to Penn), who had been emailed by the new head of the Free Library of Philadelphia’s music library to inform me I was on my way….

I am apparently starting on the 29th. Which really means I’ll probably be starting on the 30th, since the 29th is Memorial Day. Since I’m required to take some medical test before my start date, it looks like I’ll be leaving on the 25th or earlier. Which gives me just over three weeks to finish my assistantship, find an apartment online, figure out a way to move my ginormous plants, etc. And my fishies, too! I already scheduled the movers, but I may need to move it back a bit, because right now they might deliver around the 30th and I probably won’t even be able to get into an apartment that soon. More likely, after the 1st of June will be better.

I am very excited to be near my friends on the east coast and my family again. I have a number of dear friends who have been my friends for many years, and I don’t get to see them very often because they’re all on the east coast. Well, not ALL of my friends, obviously, but quite a number will be conveniently located closer to me now that I’m moving back east. While I am from Colorado, and while my parents and my aunt and uncle live there, my bro and his girlfriend are in DC, one of my cousins is in NYC, and the other cousin is about a 20-40-minute train ride out of Philly. Since I had to pay for my trip to my interview, I took almost a week and met up with all the aforementioned family members on the east coast. See my Flickr pics for more details.

In other, completely unrelated news, The New Yorker has a glowing review of a movie in it. This is news. If you read The New Yorker, you know that they trash almost everything that comes out (in the most amusing manner ever).

Here is David Denby’s review of Flight 93.

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