Settling in...

- Got a library card today! Woo hoo! Kinda had to, sorta, because I wanted to print something out for free. M's printer is not here yet.
- My car arrived today! The Polish trucker was all dzien dobre (or however you spell it) on me. He was great though. The poor car is DIRTY though. Needs a good washing.
- Have I told you today how much I hate comcast?
- Tomorrow is my dentist appointment and I'm meeting with a friend of a blogger friend to network. So nice to have nice blogger friends! And really, it's the only way I'll find a job - applying to ads just won't cut it I think.
- My newest goal is to find a moisturizer with sunscreen. I'm here a week and a half and I'm getting pretty brown. I don't want to end up leathery.
- Billy has his cat tree and is very happy to have it.

OK, bed/cleaning calls.

a phew photos

weather map shows the fault lines. woo hoo!

Attack of the killer packing paper

Billy goes half and half

Everything and nothing and rambling

The sun is setting on yet another perfect day in northern CA. Or so M would say! He waxed on and on today about the glories of living in the promised land (ie, where we are). It really is pretty amazing. Funny, because last night we went to REI to pick up my bike which had been shipped there, and we talked to a salesman for a while who used to be a funds manager or something like that and then wandered the world for about nine years and now works at REI and complains about the management of it, which I don't blame him as I worked at an REI and there are definitely some issues with it. And it is true that people who work for a long time in retail know how to do nothing and get away with it, and people who don't work for a long time and have a really high work ethic can do nothing once and get caught (speaking from experience in the latter case). In any event, he asked why on earth we'd move here - because it's so expensive. Well, we answered, there's a ton going for it!

And while I'm in the ramblin' amblin' mood, I'll just take the time here to say how much I despise Comcast. And have from the moment I called to order. Actually, even before since their website does not allow you to provide a comment unless you are a customer. They think I am Emily and although they made the error, I have to go to a store and show my ID in order for them to change it. Here's a good story - I called today to get help with my bill, and I get Miguel. As we're just starting to talk, I hear cheering in the background, like they are watching a football game. I ask Miguel a question about an item, and he literally says to me "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention, can you repeat that?". OMG. Immediately I ask for a manager, and of course was on hold for 10-15 minutes, but dammit to hell I wasn't going to hang up and give them the satisfaction of getting away from me. Jason the manager comes on, and I tell him what Miguel said, and Jason says: He said that?! He helps me and I ask how Miguel is going to be handled. Apparently Miguel said that I wasn't giving him information and that's why he transferred me to the manager. Thing is, all calls are recorded. Dumb shit. The manager told me exactly how he was addressing it and it sounded great.

And yet another rant. I have been calling around because I might be going away soon for a short trip and need a cat sitter. Yelped, and found a few. I talked to one woman on the phone and she asked me to send an email. For some reason I mentioned to her that I was looking at another service. She got all pissy because she was really busy and was making an exception for me and that I should contact her when I was sure I wanted her. I was pissy after that, but she had good reviews, so I wrote back a mildly apologetic but clear that she had not be clear she was making an exception, and have not heard back from her. I'm not going to let her get away with not responding - I'll call her tomorrow. Let her verbalize that she doesn't want to talk to me.

Erg.

And I'm ovulating and it hurts like hell. Ouch.

I think I'll go to bed.

Can I blog?

Now two people on FB have suggested to me I write a blog. I'm not sure I can. Do you think I can?
(meant to be a joke. I'm writing one here.)

Can I do blue?

These are the shoes I found when looking for more important things at thrift stores. They are hardly worn, and I got them for $5 I think. Blue. Goes well with jeans here in SF area, land of NOT heat waves.

I'm still getting used to the idea that every single friggin' day is going to be beautiful. Or so M says. I did live in LA for a while, so I understand the concept. But I'm still in the mindset of 'it's a nice day - gotta go out and enjoy it'. Which is a great concept for life, but really, when there's unpacking to be done... Also, it's hard to be blue when it's nice out. Where's my damn excuse gone to? Dammit - I have to change my perspective??? sigh. (kidding) [on a related note, found a psychiatrist, and thankfully he's in my health plan. he told me yesterday his rates and i could not commit to going to him until i checked - first visit was $450! - thank you lord for health insurance]

It's so odd that M is here in the other room all the time during the day. So far (2 days) it's been easier than I thought. We at least have big wooden doors that shut so it does seem like a separate space, ok, it is a separate space.

I'm going to go read and respond... been doing too little of that of late.

Another day, another $0

And now the continuing story...
- M was sick since Saturday, but he's better now. At least able to work!
- I signed up for the gym today, and a trainer also (expensive, but trying it out).
- It's awfully embarrassing to go to Goodwill and to pick up Freecycle stuff in a BMW (M's car - no, he's not rich - just thrifty to the point of being able to afford stuff he wants)
- My car finally got picked up and will be here in a week or so...
- Again on Seven Second Delay...good to not have a job so I can participate in high falutin' radio show.
- OK I should go do some stuff. Like read blogs!!!

Guns 'n Roses

California, here I am... right back where I wasn't from... [sing along...]

I should have started writing this earlier today. I would have been much more witty, except when I was taking a nap. [Note, I am losing my grammar instincts. More witty? Wittier?] I don't even know where to begin - too many days have gone by. I'm not sure I should stay away so long...gets to be overwhelming thinking about what to write. Because you want to hear every last detail, right?

Here's a photo that shows it all worked out in the end.


OK, the last days of my house I worked long and hard to get stuff out of my soon to be not mine house and get my car packed and spend a few moments with my closest friend. I was almost frantic about having enough time to get stuff out, and two angels appeared. One I may already have written about - the guy who showed up and took almost everything out of my shed I wanted/needed gone. Assorted nails, pieces of tubing, scraps of plywood...you name it. He is renovating a property and owns another and seemed to have a use for almost anything. I think the only thing he refused was a rake. The other angel appeared Wednesday morning, an hour before the walk through. I had done a curb alert on craigslist
and much stuff was gone, but when she appeared to take the rest of the boxes (amazingly enough #1) she took other things that I didn't have time to bring to Goodwill (plates, stereo that I had gotten off the sidewalk, etc.). The rest I just threw away. Which, considering everything, was a small amount. I freecycled my butt off and tried to get rid of stuff in a responsible way, and was fairly successful.

Wednesday at 1:00 was my closing. It was nice to meet the buyer - never have done that before. Nice guy and not a pedophile I think. That evening I had to drive to B's house so I could leave my packed car there and she could drive me home so I could spend the last night at 'home' and not upset Billy. I started losing it. I had to say goodbye to her husband, who is also a close friend, and I started bawling. But B and I went to dinner and had a nice time, and I went back and stayed up until 1:30 AM finishing packing/cleaning.

Got up at 4:45 am to really finish everything, and B showed up at 6:00. Thankfully she was there early, as I did not really have enough time to finish everything. I did get Billy into his new cage, and put him outside to get some fresh air before going on a plane. Did some stuff and hear B say - um, Billy escaped. Crap! I hadn't latched the opening well in my haste. Thankfully he's been out and he feels safe at the back door, and I was smart and went inside to get him rather than go around back.

Driving to the airport I started crying thinking about leaving and saying goodbye, but I sucked it up. B dropped me off with Billy and my 75 pound bag (!!!) and parked and came inside with my other things. Thank heaven for her, really. All was going well and they were very nice (American Airlines) until TSA people said ' you have to him out of the cage so we can put it through x-ray'. I said no, he'll escape. They said, well, then, he's not getting on the plane. I told them to put him through the machine and they said no, we can't do that. By now I'm sobbing hysterically because I'm so afraid he'll run away and they weren't bending, and the TSA supervisor even intimated that I didn't know how to take care of my cat so I started yelling at him and sobbing at the same time. B just remained calm and told them why I was freaked out and helped find a solution - they set up some bins around the cage so it was like he was in a room when I took him out - sobbing the whole time.

So - lesson learned which was not on any website - be prepared to take your pet out of its cage at the airport. I kept repeating 'but noone ever told me! it's not anywhere on the website!'. Didn't matter.

In any event, made it on the plane and was ok for about a half hour, and the head games began. In the course of the entire trip I had every single possible type of headache imaginable, including one that felt like a cap designed to inflict pain, and ended with a migraine. I had to change planes in Los Angeles, and I was a zombie in the airport going from one gate to the other. At one point towards the end of the trip I felt the waves of nausea that signal vomiting and I just rode the wave and kept it down. I would have taken a migraine pill but I forgot to replenish my wallet!

In SF, M met me (so nice to see him) and Billy arrived safely in the terminal (meow). M brought me home (!), I walked in the door, and promptly vomited in the toilet. I have such awesome vomit control! I slept the afternoon away, and was ok enough to go out and get food (soup).

The next day was POD unpacking day. Thankfully we had already decided to hire day laborers and did that - three of them.(boxspring did not fit up the stairs) They were great, and even though my only job was to tell them where to put stuff once they had gotten it upstairs, at the end of the three hours I was exhausted. I took a short nap when lunch was being picked up, and after lunch I slept for another couple hours. Then dinner! M by that time was starting to collapse but managed to walk back home.

M had flown across the country with D, a friend from work. D is great - a young computer geek who likes adventure and is recently divorced and has a great sense of humor. I was kidding him - he looks like a young version of the PC guy on the Mac commercials, and he is a diehard Mac fan. He may have convinced M that we need to get a smartphone - which is great. He was constantly pulling out his iphone and showing off what he could do. In any event, Saturday was our 'rest' day, and D was the guest, so he got to decide that we would fly to Sonoma and get the airial view of SF. It was all very surreal and felt wonderful.

But then M really collapsed and has been sick since then - barely getting out of bed. I'm not surprised, but will be worried if it lasts much longer. I sit here and the fireworks are just going off. We were going to go watch them, but he's in bed and I'm typing this... Oh well. Next year maybe...

When I brought D to the airport this morning, it started sinking in that I am here not on vacation, but to live. It's a bit freaky. I think of the things I threw away that I want now, and laugh at the fact that we brought a microwave but have one already in the kitchen. There's unpacking to be done. I read the newspaper and the weather map of the area shows the fault lines. The apartment is light filled and wonderful, but we may have a slanted view of it because neighbors are away for the holidays. Billy is doing fine, despite all my earlier worries.

So, guns n roses, because it feels like the promised land but has been kinda hell getting here. Hopefully moving forward all will be well. And happy belated 4th to everyone!

It's reassuring that this was the song in my head after dropping D off this am and coming back home to M: