Mover's Log, 4/30/04, 10:03 a.m.:
Thankfully, have taken today and tomorrow off work. Need someone to explain to me where all this crap came from. Started out last week labeling boxes in perfectly specific manner (i.e. "books" and "clothes"). Chaos Theory has prevailed; boxes now labeled thusly: "take-out menus, appliance manuals, and screws"; "random shit from living room"; "stuffed squirrel, IKEA mirrors, and spice rack." Yesterday, called U-Haul to confirm reservation for Giant Truck with which to transport possessions. Had requested usage of truck from this evening through tomorrow evening. U-Haul employee informed me that, no, reservation was for 3 p.m. today through 3 p.m. tomorrow. Funny thing is, Will and Melinda will not have keys to new house until 5 p.m. tomorrow. Am unwilling to drop all wordly possessions in back yard of new house in order to return truck on time, because factors like rain and thieves tend to ruin possessions like TVs and computers. Awoke early this morning with plan to eat breakfast, then find solution to U-Haul problem. Oh. Realized, cannot eat breakfast, because Husband has already packed the cereal. Toy briefly with idea of tearing through sealed boxes to search for Frosted Mini Wheats. Heart nearly stops at thought of undoing any packing, so discard notion. Change clothes and drive to new house, where current owner is packing up last of her stuff. Beg for one of garage door openers so as to have someplace to put worldy possessions in interim between U-Haul return and key acquisition. Current homeowner is saint, gives me garage door opener. On way home, stop at McDonald's for breakfast. Experience usual performance anxiety at drive-thru ("disembodied voice is waiting! quick! must make decision! must not displease disembodied voice!") and wind up ordering #3 breakfast meal when meant #2 breakfast meal. Do not like sausage biscuit. Wanted egg mcmuffin. Damn. For next magical trick, must figure out how to duplicate self as even though have acquired garage door opener, no one, including husband, will be available tomorrow until at least 3 p.m. to help unload truck. Am going to have to manauver 26-foot truck, backwards, into driveway, then somehow get dining room glass-cabineted hutch and buffet, oak bed frame, coffee table, two sofas, entertainment center, and two desks from truck into garage by self.
posted by Kate at 10:25 AM link/comments
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
I'd like to show you what my life is like right now.
I decided that I wasn't going to do what I always do when I move, which is to pack up everything in no particular order -- just PACK it godammit -- just to get it the hell over with. This time, there's a jihad on junk and clutter. See those trash bags? Those there, on top the boxes? That's just trash from TODAY. That's not even counting the 9 bags we dragged out to the curb last night.
This says a lot about me. I blame the Catholic upbringing.
Here we see some old CPUs and monitors. Notice how the monitors appear to be leading a march. I want them to march out of my house and into the trash, but Marc won't allow it, because as you'll see, he clearly doesn't have enough computers.
Another computer ... our apartment mainframe. Notice the additional computer peeking out from the corner.
Well, looky what's hiding under a box of books (I had no idea my husband was such a huge Tom Clancy fan) in Marc's office closet ... another computer!
Gah! Lawdy, just turn your head. It's like a computer gore flick ... all those guts hanging out everywhere.
Oh, for pity's sake.
At least the cats are happy, because there are empty cardboard boxes to be jumped in and out of.
We should probably reinstall this thing before we move out.
Oooh! Making progress! Behold the near-emptiness of my office!
More emptiness! Empty closet! According to cats, empty closets are also good for jumping in and out of.
This is all the stuff that used to be in my office and in that now-cat-containing closet. We have to move it all into a U-Haul, then drive it across town, then move it all out of a U-Haul, then unpack it, and I'm getting a little dyspeptic just thinking about it.
Why why why did I take this pressure cooker when my grandmother offered it to me? It's a good pressure cooker; I shouldn't throw it away. But I'm afraid of the pressure cooker, even if it is capable of cooking an entire side of beef in under three minutes. I'm afraid I'll open it and it'll explode in a horrific bang of beef bits and hot air, and the entire side of my face will be relieved of its flesh, and I'll have to walk around for the rest of my life looking like Tommy Lee Jones in that Batman movie. I will never use the pressure cooker, yet I will cart it around with me for many years to come. I must start having children immediately, because the sooner I can get them to move out and get their own apartments, the sooner I can get rid of the pressure cooker.
posted by Kate at 10:51 PM link/comments
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Well! Good to hear from you, Jen, and congratulations on adding more alphabet to your names. I'd like to read your and Paul's short stories. Is there any way for me to do that?
I'm bad at waiting, too, but in my case I usually don't have to wait for important things like whether or not my writing will be published. I wait for my oil change; I wait for the cellphone charger I bought on ebay to show up in the mailbox; and right now I'm waiting for Marc to hurry the hell up doing those dishes already and start cooking the steaks I bought on the way home. It's hungry work, this sitting on my ass posting to my weblog.
We're getting ready to move again. We're going to join Melinda and Will in their new home for a year. It feels weird to be back on the path to communal living, but they're going to charge us less than half the amount of rent we pay now, and with Marc in school full time (and only working part-time), we could use a break. We're also thinking that with the extra money, we might open one of those "savings account" thingies. I don't know much about them, but I hear a lot of people have them, and they're all the rage in Paris or something.
posted by Kate at 8:29 PM link/comments
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
It's been far too long since I last posted...I liked your birthday list, Kate. And the reason why I won't ever get married is precisely to avoid having to file a joint tax return.
So, the update on Jen And Paul In Idaho. You can now add the letters MFA after our respective credentials. Paul passed his thesis defense last night; I passed mine on April Fool's Day. Beer was promptly imbibed on both occasions. The highlight of Paul's defense was when a professor grilled him about the difference between craft and art, and then concluded the inquisition with this gem: "So what advice would you give Tolstoy?" That question has already gone down in the history of classic MFA defense questions. The highlight of my defense was when one of my committee members left unexpectedly because he "had to catch a plane." I tried not to have a total breakdown at that very moment. The whole creative writing MFA defense is generally a surreal blip of hoop-jumping wherein one tries not to fall flat on one's face while professors construct freaky obstacles and place bets on how spectacular your clumsy attempts to survive will be.
Paul wrote a short story collection called Saturdays Remain the Same. It rocks, and Paul has renounced the term "short story" in favor of "linguistic narrative art." Can you tell he's been in graduate school for five years? I wrote a collection of personal essays called Under Glass. I'm sick of explaining what it's about...greenhouses, basically. I mailed it to an agent yesterday morning. I've decided that writing is very much about learning how to wait and I have yet to master waiting. I check my email compulsively...
posted by Jen at 1:43 PM link/comments