Brief Moment of Regret? Worry? Followed By "Things I Won't Miss About the Suburbs"

I went out to dinner with my mom, sister and my mom's friend last night after she spent a bunch of time taking pictures of the house and "staging" for showing the house. This apparently consists of putting a LOT of fake flowers, plants and vases (brought over from the Bonnie and Doug basement where knick knacks go to die) everywhere and putting on a nicer bedspread -- one that doesn't show so much cat hair. The place looks good, although I'm almost afraid to touch anything.

Anyway, we were eating dinner and watching the baseball game on the bar's t.v. Yankees vs. Red Sox. Yankees up by 2, but bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th and David Ortiz coming up to bat. Yikes! Watching the screaming fans at Fenway and listening to the always-audible chants of "Yankees suck," I had a brief moment of wondering what the hell I'm doing and where it is that I'm moving to. I'm going to live among these people? I live and breathe baseball. I love the Yankees, I go to games, I read the books, I tolerate Michael Kay, I've been to spring training multiple times....I am a FAN! But those Red Sox fans? Truly, a different animal. :-)

Topic shift.
File under Things I Won't Miss About the Suburbs: The new Walkmen album came out earlier this week. I had to go to 3 different stores before finally locating it at a mega-Borders. NN got me into these guys a few years ago. At first I was unimpressed and didn't understand her undying devotion, but they grew on me and I went through a phase of listening to only Bows + Arrows for about 3 months straight.

I won't miss not being able to find the "good" music I like to listen to. On the flip side, I've never had a problem locating the following out where I live: Ultimate Manilow, REO Speedwagon's Greatest Hits, Glam Rock Hits of the 80s, Poison's Greatest Hits (which KF and I belted out at the top of our lungs driving down the FDR a few summers ago), Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart, and the soundracks to every nerdy movie, including Fame, Grease, and The Wedding Singer, I've ever seen. So there you go.

Public Service Announcement

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with this country? Do what you can.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment the week
of June 5th.

The text of the proposed amendment to the
Constitution is as follows:

"Marriage in the United States shall
consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the
constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to
require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon
unmarried couples or groups."

The HRC is delivering postcards
to congressional offices stating opposition to this amendment. Let
your elected representatives know that a vote for the FMA is a vote
against your friends and family by sending one: http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/fma_postcards.

Maybe Not Homeless (Except for 2 Weeks)

Up in Cambridge/Somerville area for today and tomorrow and I think I may have found someplace to live. I looked at six different apartments today. The first one I saw could have worked. It was in a big house, right near Tufts, and could have definitely fit all my stuff, but it was a little ragged looking -- lots of orange carpet, 70s'-style kitchen, and drafty windows. I thought to myself, "I could live here," but I didn't love it. It was less than a mile from Davis Square, though, so a good location. Everything else in Somerville that I saw was "charming" (read: small) -- lots of places I would have loved if this were my first apartment post-college, but since it's not, I have a hard time rationalizing spending $1650 a month for someplace that wouldn't hold ANY of my furniture.

I sort of fell in love, though, with a place right in Cambridge. Way more expensive, but very modern with 2 bedrooms, walk-in closets, two off-street parking spaces, and a POOL! It's walkable to all 3 squares and easily commutable. The only issue is the move in date -- July 1. My job starts on June 20 so I will be living out of a suitcase for 2 weeks. Kind of sucky. But with a mortgage (someone please buy my house) and rent, this might not be that bad. We'll see. I'm looking at a few more places tomorrow, but if none of them top this place, I'm going to take it.

On the move: I had lunch at a nice place and then got a pedicure -- a perfect day to feel really content about moving up here. I spent last night with YG and the MG too, and we had fun. She's a riot and is constantly giving me shit about liking the Yankees. They are supposedly "mean." The Red Sox, on the other hand, are "nice." Overall, I'm happy to be coming up here.

Enormous

The enormity of what I'm trying to accomplish in just 5 weeks is starting to set in. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and way overtired. I've been up to 1 or 2 a.m. every night since I've made my decision, cleaning out the house and making lists, and then I sleep through the alarm. Blah. I spent the other night in the garage just trying to make ROOM for crap that I have to throw out.

I feel like this is an opportunity to have a fresh start, to pare down, clean up, declutter....all good stuff. I look at all the things I have and it just makes me sad that I've spent so much money collecting stuff that I never needed and I don't use. Hello, 15 tableclothes? I don't cook and I never eat at the table. It's a waste, and I want to try and keep from doing this in my new place, wherever that ends up being.

I also want to make sure that I keep my food normal during the next few weeks and exercise when I can. This weekend was supposed to be this but I have so much to do that I'm staying home and getting the house ready for showing next week. YG is going to help me since I have no idea what the hell I'm doing when it comes to home repairs.

In other news -- my last official day of work will be June 6, but I'm taking about a gazillion personal days before then. Up in Cambridge on Monday and Tuesday to try and find a place to live. And more good times, over $800 of car repairs. :-(

Busy, Busy, Busy

Insanely busy this weekend and today. I messed around in the house some more, and ended up shredding 4 large garbage bags worth of paper this weekend, making a ton (literally?) of room for myself. Also have dates with Home Depot, the DMV, and Sears Carpet Cleaning. Glamorous.

And have appointments with 5 different realtors next Monday and Tuesday to try and find myself a place to live.

Deep breath. In one month, it will all be done with, but getting there is going to be a bitch.

More Reactions

I'm collecting some of my favorite reactions to the move:

"Only six more weeks until you're beantown's new sassy it girl. Wheee!"

"Wave adios to your sucky job and off to Beantown for you! (We'll make a Sox fan
of you yet... ) "

"Will your new job let you talk about blow jobs at the office? Because it's not
too late to negotiate for extra perks... "

"I am totally coming to visit you , and we can hang out in harvard square and go
to shows at the middle east and pretend we're not 30."

And this gem from my mom because it's absurd...and just odd considering that I'm in the middle of a divorce AND I would presumably tell my own parents if I was thinking of getting married :

"So you're going up there? Um, you're not getting married, are you? Because you should wait a while to do that again. "

This is infinitely more fun than making more lists. I started with one list and then it begat another list and that begat another...and now I'm just feeling overwhelmed. And the best way to deal with being overwhelmed is to procrastinate. I do have a couple of moving quotes, though, so that's a start. Now I just need to figure out how many cubic feet of stuff I have.

My reaction

Like-seriously refers to the reaction that I've been getting from lots of people when I tell them I'm moving. Me: I'm moving to Boston. Randomly-selected friend: Like...seriously? Me: Uh huh...
And then I hit them with the rock fingers.



My reaction on finding out that I got the job I want and am moving to Boston.

Not a Trendsetter

Everyone's got one. Or everyone had one...like two years ago. I'm officially rejoining the blogosphere. I tried this a while back and after three posts, gave up and never went back.
But now I'm moving....and I'm sure that's of much interest to a number of people, besides me.