Things I Have Accomplished In the Last 48 Hours; Or, Get Me Off This Crazy Train Called Moving Across the Country

The following things happened between yesterday morning and right this second, giving me official cause to tell this move to "bring it, sucka" because I am knocking shit out of the proverbial park.

1. I have a place to live in New York City. Repeat: I have a place to live in New York City. I had to somewhat let go of my ideal Upper West Side quaint studio scenario in a move that is, in the end, totally, mind-blowingly convenient. I'll be four blocks from school, a ten minute walk from the Fairway, and a few blocks from the 1 line which runs from the top to the bottom of Manhattan. Fully furnished. Sigh. And Olive will have a playmate! Deposit sent. Lease in the mail.

2. I have initiated email introductions with two of my new roommates. A teacher, a poly sci grad student and me. Quite the serendipitous combo?

3. Student loans are finalized. Repeat: student loans are finalized!!! Yes!!! And in an odd turn of events, I think I'll actually be acquiring less debt than I would had I stayed in Seattle and done the full-time MPA program at UW. I mean, there are many reasons why that would have been a disastrous choice regardless, but whatever, conscience cleared.

4. "Cat Business" ... I'm lumping this into one because holy hell moving across the country with a cat is an ordeal. But, Olive officially has a vet visit in which I will pay a doctor $80 to look at my cat for five minutes and give me some sort of State-approved certificate that says she's healthy and can travel on a plane. I also managed to track down the Jet Blue-approved pet carrier at Mud Bay and am picking it up after work today. Also, there will be cat valium. Which hopefully doubles as people valium.

5. Discovering that my Columbia ID gets me into most every museum in the city for free. While one R. Matthews pointed out that the museums are all mostly "by donation" anyway, what jerk actually has ever demanded a ticket without paying? I don't have the balls. And now, I don't have to!

6. I have a plane ticket. I have a plane ticket. I have a plane ticket. On August 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. I will leave the Pacific Northwest from whence* I entered: Portland, Oregon. What? Your mind is blown in the fluidity of that Circle of Life connection I just made there? I think I just gagged.

7. Lost most, if not all, humility. I'M GOING TO NEW YORK CITY IN 23 DAYS! YEAAAAAAAYYYYYYY! Humility be damned!

Siiiigh.

*I know this is technically redundant, but "I will leave the Pacific Northwest whence I entered it" just doesn't sound right so bite me.

when bad things happen to bad people

you know, i'm not really into dancing on people's graves, but i can't help but comment on this. sorry jerry. this was obviously some sort of coordinated attack by the jews, gays, feminists, Teletubbies, pagans and ACLU. but what really gets me, is that there is now some sort of unspoken (or loudly spoken) decree that all republican presidential candidates need to issues statements on this. this guy was a radical, on-the-fringe hatemonger. these guys really need to pander to his fans? really? REALLY? there's something wrong there. this is about the time i need mike gravel to show up and call a bigot a bigot. old man has balls. (i'm pretty in love with mike gravel.)

growth!

you know, out of all of the million things i have to talk about today, including but not limited to us attorneys, uk work visas and brown rice, all i really want to talk about are my tomato plants. look how big they're getting! compare picture one (behind the dahlia) to picture two: and that's only been two weeks! i was so pessimistic, but it looks like they're going to make it afterall! boys are going to be big. yay for sunshine and the promise of cherry tomatoes. i'm also pretty in love with amy winehouse's 'i'm no good.' it's my running song tonight.

it's a hell of a town ...

found a message on my phone from adam this morning asking if i wanted to meet up with half of his london crew in new york this weekend. as if he needed to ask. unfortunately, we picked a bad weekend for a cheap getaway. what the hell is going on in new york this weekend? it took us all day to find an available hotel. but it's found! deal is done! nyc + me = tomorrow night! last time i was in new york it was a little bit of a whirlwind and i never really got my bearings. that happens when i don't get to walk my way around a new place. it was also february and ass cold. so i never made it north of the met. oh but this time harlem, this time columbia, i'll drop by. it's supposed to be sunny and 60s all weekend. hallelujah. nothing else is really on the agenda. i'm thinking some flea markets and some soho and some moma. and a nice sunshiny stroll through the park. also secretly want to go to the public library. ahhh. come on new york. second date? let's give it a shot.

it's here.....

SAM is about to open and all those skeptics and haters (you can include me in some of that) maybe need to giver her a second chance? $1 billion in new art. $1 BILLION! she's trying! and things like this this and this and this and the fact that the building is one big MOMA ripoff, give me hope! i mean nothing will replace my henry and frye, but sometimes you just want to go visit a pollock and spend a gazillion dollars on mondrian drinking glasses. i'm a sucker for a good museum gift store (National Gallery anyone?) though i will say, $13 admission? what are you, the EMP? not cool sam, not cool.

jackpot?

saturday we take the boat out, come back up to the marina parking lot and what do we find? someone has thrown out their 40+" samsung lcd television. we suspect the owners of the mega yacht a few slips over, who adam claims he saw pawing over a new big screen the other day. regardless, it is now in my apartment. so adam manhandles this thing for two days (parking lot to car to boat to cameron's car to my house), we plug it in and bravo! it works! for a minute! the lamp is blown. but cheap fix for a $2k television, right? worth it, right? $200 and I get a real television that can handle katamari damancy and some sexy setup with my macbook, right? RIGHT. so now i have this GIANT television eating up half a wall in my tiny apartment, that I refuse to give up on. REFUSE. just so you understand the severity of this bargain, let me explain my current television. in, say, 1994, my parents bought about ten of those giant black box mitsubishi tvs. i have been dragging one of them around from apartment to apartment since i was 18. now 13 years old, this bad boy is still kicking. i even have the original remote, if that gives you any inkling into how well i've cared for this thing. it is a perfect 2x2x2' cube. born before the days of dvds. baby doesn't have anything but a "cable in" and a power button. i've spent the last five years running a dvd player through a vcr, with the most elaborate speaker hook up you can imagine. it's time to let him fade away.... also samsung related: dudes, remember when you wooed me with your blackjack and convinced me that by bumping up its memory i could also use it in lieu of a new mp3 player? remember? also remember how you failed to tell me that no one on this planet sells a pair of headphones compatible with your special little headphone port? i do! you're on my shitlist.