The Move

Monday, January 31, 2011

I sit here composing this blog with aching shoulders, weak biceps, an quads that feel like jelly. The big move was this past weekend and my body is still feeling the effects. I have to say that after moving all of that stuff I don't know if I'll ever move out of there....until the lack of closet forces me too.

So Saturday morning my mom arrived at the apartment. Of course, the people who were supposed to be there to help us unload did not show. But such is life. So K and I schlepped a truck-full of boxes and furniture up three flights of stairs. After two hours of hauling, K was able to get a few of her guy friends to come and move the larger furniture pieces, thank god, and so they took care of the hardest bits.

After emptying the last of the Virginia boxes, we drove the truck over to West End, where we proceeded to load all of our clothing and such into the truck. We had a lot more stuff than we originally thought. By the time we finally managed to load all of our stuff into the truck, it was full again! Did I mention that we were not allowed to bring our things through the front door and instead had to wheel them from the side of the building around to the front (through the snow) using a little cart the doorman lent us? Ya....it was not very fun and many of our things ended up in muddy snow puddles. But, we got the truck loaded for the second time and made it over to the new apartment where K and I started the moving process all over again.

The apartment looks even smaller with all our things in it- especially when everything is in disarray. Before we could even begin to figure out how to start unpacking, we had to drive the truck all the way uptown to return in to the nearest Uhaul location. By the time we returned the the truck and subwayed back downtown it had been 12 hours since we started! Exhausting.
The good news is that we went for dinner at an Indian place which was delish and were still able to somehow get my bed set up and go to sleep afterward.

Saturday was part 1 of "room organization." I spent a lot of time cleaning dead roach bodies off of everything (freakin eaw!!!) And my mom and I were able to build shelves in my room and put together the garment rack. Not having a closet is going to be really challenging for me. I know I'll get used to it and figure out where everything will go, but right now it's a little frustrating not having a lost of space.

Speaking of frustrating....I'm still working on the cockroach situation in our apartment. So far they have seemed less....around...but I've still seen a few live ones since moving in. Yesterday, K left a bag of grapes on the counter and within the hour there were two inside the bag. Disgusting. I really need to get some spray and work on keeping those suckers exterminated. And we need to keep the trash in the hall instead of in the apartment. Hopefully K can keep up with that so we don't end up living with roaches everywhere!

I'm at work today but feel bad that my mom is still here by herself while I'm working. It's good she's here because she's going to get a lot done, but I wish I could be working on the apartment with her instead of working. I guess I better get used to this whole 9-6 job thing!

You ain't got no manners!!!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

After a few days of sickness I'm starting to feel better! This was the worst week I could have been sick. There's so much I need to do! I have to clean both apartments, pack, get my cable and electric all set up, and get my freaking deposit back from the Brooklyn apartment, among other things. Today K has a snow day (lucky!) so she's going to the Brooklyn Ikea to buy a bed. She better get that all figured out or she's not gonna have a place to sleep and I know she's not gonna be crawling in bed with me and my mom. Anyways, tonight we're going to clean the new place. Hopefully all the roaches will be exterminated!! If not, I'm going to buy some foam stuff that supposedly keeps them out of cracks and such...I dunno....I heard about it from my current landlord. Eek.

Another problem we've been having (which I'm hoping will be resolved today) is getting our deposit back from the Brooklyn apartment. We were told two weeks ago that we would get it back and up until this morning I've STILL been calling people trying to make sure we get refunded. I wrote my first big threatening real-life email yesterday! I told the broker that I would expect our refund by Friday or he would be hearing from my lawyer. I then proceeded to give him the name of a family friend, as my mother advised. Upon emailing said friend I realized that as a California lawyer he really has no pull here. It wouldn't matter anyway, as I seemed to light a fire under the broker's ass. I got a call from one of the office assistants right away. She gave me the number of another woman to call, who would supposedly write our checks. Why it takes 4 people to relay this information, I have no idea. Anyway, I called this woman repeatedly and, each time, she asked for my name. I must have given it to her three or four times. I soon learned that this could be a more difficult process than I thought. After several angry calls, she proceeded to ignore me, which caused me to look into small claims. The good news is, K texted me this morning to tell me the checks had been written and she is going to pick them up this afternoon. Thank god that's over with...now hopefully the checks are there. Just another lesson to be learned in the big city.

So, as for the title of this blog: I observed something in the Time's Square station yesterday I thought was quite ironic. I was just making the train change between the N train and the 1 when a hurried bleached blond walked right in front of a woman pushing a large cart of some sort, nearly running into her. The woman who had been cut off immediately started screaming, "say excuse me! Come on fuckin' bitch, you ain't got no manners!" She continued to scream until I was far enough away that her yells were muffled by the clopping of commuters' wet boots against the ground. Now, I'm not suggesting that that the blond is in the right; both women were wrong to do what they did. I simply found it interesting that a woman would tell another she was impolite by screaming profanities for a good two or three minutes. I read a really interesting article yesterday about hypocrisy. It read "everyone is a hypocrite, and if they don't believe so than they are delusional." The article then went on to explain why, using scientific experiments to back it up. So as I watched this event unfold, I realized how true this statement must be. I've been hypocritical once or twice...ok...maybe more than once or twice. But what this woman did on the subway completely nailed it.

Oh Shit.....Roaches...

Monday, January 24, 2011

It was lovely to have my mom in town this weekend, although she was only here for one full day. I can imagine she was anxious to leave after sleeping on my ironing board bed. Quite literally when she said down on the bed she made a horrid face. Ironically, my bed is the most comfortable in the apartment.

Upon first inspection, she said she thought the apartment was cute, and not so bad. However, by the end of the second day she said, "I don't know how you've stayed here so long." It's true. And I'm excited to be moving....but after Saturday I've come to realize just how much work I have ahead of me.

Saturday morning my mom and I got up early, went to breakfast at Lalo, and then over to see the new apartment. According to my dad, buyers' remorse happens frequently, and after stepping into the apartment that freezing morning, I think I developed a case of it. The kitchen radiator is leaking huge amounts of water onto the floor. The stove is not hooked up at all. The wood is coming off of the floor in my room, the "light fixture" (bulb) in the bathroom is loose and ugly, and the smoke alarm is not working. On top of all of this....there are roaches! Gross. Three dead ones in my room, one in the bathroom, and two in the kitchen. In addition to that, there were live ones crawling up the wall, in the oven, and in the bathroom sink. I live with a room mate who does her dishes as often as she updates her will, so I foresee us having a major roach problem. Things really need to be kept clean, and I know that I'll be the one that has to maintain that.

I know that once we get in there and clean it and get our rooms set up I'll feel differently. So I'm anxious to get on with the process.

I think I'm going to buy a loft bed for my room, and I'm trying to think of ways to make it feel less like a college room. I just really need the space. With the exception of my room, there are no closets in the entire apartment and even my closet is too small to hang hangers. Plus is doesn't even have a rack to hang them on, so I have a garment rack for my clothes. I just hate clutter and I want to feel excited about my room.

My mom is driving up from D.C. this Saturday with a Uhaul full of my grandfather's furniture for the new place. I know that once she leaves it will feel like home. It will be a big change! I can't wait to have my own room! I really need my space. K and I are going over to the apartment tonight to meet the super and have him help us with all the little things that need to be fixed in order to move in. Hopefully it doesn't take long and goes smoothly. The subway is a ways from the apartment and today it is really freakin freezing outside. Good thing spring is just around the corner.....right?

Other news? Not really anything. Work is going well. I'm not really dating anyone anymore. And yesterday I came down with something. So far its just been a nose-throat kind of thing although, it's starting to make my back feel achey. So hopefully I don't get too sick! If I do take a day off, I'd rather do it next week when my mom is in town. We'll see how it goes.

Overtime and downtime

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Working overtime when you have no money is a good thing. I spent two days this weekend working overtime and earned what I would have in a week otherwise. So I feel good about that. Now that I'm settled into my job, its kind of easy. Here's a list of things I do on a daily basis:
Answer calls
Send faxes
Receive faxes
Prepare invoices
Send invoices
Send Fedex packages
Send messengers
Order cars for clients
Order food for clients
Sign receipts for food for clients
Use filemaker to input sent items
Use Excel to organize and add bills
Keep track of what gets billed to what client
Tell clients where to go
Surf the internet

After leaning all the basics, the job became....easy. And now that I have succeeded in the apartment hunt I am not sure how to occupy my down time. Hence bogging. I go on Stumbleupon a lot, which is a really interesting website. But facebook and gchat just are not enough to fill my time. So today I tried something a little different. Desk exercises! Since I get up when it's dark out (and its really freaking hard to work out when its really still night time) I decided to be less lazy at the desk. So I did squats, lunges, and desk pushups. Hey, at least it's something. I suppose I'll be updating my blog more now that I have some more free time. I feel like I'm ready to move up!

Actually, last week I asked my supervisor if I could take some time to sit in with editors. She said it was ok, but she said "Ahh I can't believe you're trying to get off the desk already!"

Well...I need to have goals right? Though I feel fairly confident that I will move up in this company, so that's good. I talked to the tech guy (who I honestly can't stand) and he said he would install Photoshop on my computer. At least then I will be able to play around and learn a new program. That will be good. I've started watching After Effects tutorials. I can't play with the program at this computer, but at least this way I'll have a better understanding of it when I do manage to get my hands on it...I hope.

So for all of you tech people out there....anything I can do on the computer that would be more productive than just stalking my friends on facebook?

A new leaf

Sunday, January 16, 2011

So its January 16th and I'm back in the city. Christmas went really well- it was great to be home and see my family. I got to see Sara's grave and say goodbye to Gracie. So sad that the two of them had to get old at the same time. The three weeks I spent at home were relaxing. I knew I had a job to come back to, which was great.

One thing that I worked on while at home was my wardrobe. As my mom said, I've lived the past five years in the desert in a college town. My "look" was not exactly up to date nor very adult. So my mom and I spent a few days shopping for basic and more grown up pieces. Now, I remember shopping in high school was fun. I would go to the mall and spend an entire day there. But not this time. I have to wonder, what kind of world do we live in when one can wear FIVE different sizes? That's right. Depending on the store and cut of a garment, I can wear anything from a size 2 to a size 10. I, obviously, feel much happier when able to fit into the smaller size, but who wouldn't. Another frustrating thing about shopping? The top half of my body is a different size from the lower half. This makes it fun to try on dresses. And don't even get me started on the skirts. I must have tried on 50. And I am so sick of seeing skirts that are too tight in the butt and too small in the waist. Really, shopping is an awesome confidence booster, especially with fluorescent lighting and three way mirrors. But, despite my frustrations, we were able to find some great pieces for good prices. Even so, I don't even want to think about how much money I did spend. But I never shop for anything so I don't feel that guilty.

Flash forward to the city. By the first week of January, I had already given A, my landlord, my month's notice. So...we had to be out by February. Let me tell you, apartment hunting in New York is one of the most stressful, difficult things I've ever done. We saw tons of apartments. There was the 3 bedroom in the East Village for $2,700 a month that was the size of a small storage space. It was really dirty, had no closets, and smelled like a soiled cardboard box. There was the place on the Upper East side for $1,750 that had one decent sized room and one closet sized room. So many things have to be taken into consideration when apartment hunting. Space, location, commute, price, closets, dishwasher...etc. By the end of the first week I knew I wasn't going to find my dream apartment. At least not while my salary is so low. A major problem was, K and I have different wants. She doesn't care about space; for her it is all about location. I was more interested in space, and location and space don't go hand in hand. We did find a huge place in Park Slope, Brooklyn for which we put down a deposit. But at the last minute K decided she didn't want that apartment. I understand. We came here to live in the city, and there's something about being outside of Manhattan that both of us find a little unnerving. The problem is, we really wanted time to think about our decision and make sure it's the right one. But in New York, you have to walk in and decide if you and the apartment on the spot. If you don't apply for it right away someone else will, which is what happened to us with the affordable hell's kitchen apartment. We saw it during lunch this past Wednesday. We told the broker we would meet him at 7pm to put down a deposit and give him our paperwork. Before we could meet with him, however, someone else had applied. Lucky for us, their application fell through and we did end up getting the apartment finally! It was coming down to the wire and I don't like not knowing where I'm going to live in fifteen days. So yesterday we finalized everything and got our keys.

K and I were on the subway last week and she made a very good point. Finding a good apartment is like finding a good boyfriend. Sometimes they look great on the outside but once inside you discover how disappointing they really are. Some have qualities you really like, but are lacking in other equally important areas. And no matter how hard you look you are never quite satisfied with what you find. But, no matter how disappointing the apartment is, its nice to know its waiting for you at the end of the day.

So the next step is moving. Blegh. The good news is my mom is flying out on Friday to help me with the move. Thank god, because if she wasn't I really have no idea how I would go about this. I have no furniture or anything, so shes driving up some of my grandpa's stuff. And she'll also help me decorate. I really don't know how we're going to make this apartment work. It has a really funky layout and is really tiny. But I'm sure we'll figure it out. So that's what the next two weeks will be dedicated to: moving. Cleaning, hauling, lifting, organizing. I really look forward to being settled and having my own room! And a kitchen. But especially my own room.

When I first came to New York I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish.

Find a job. Check!
Find an apartment. Check!
Reinvent my style. Check!

I'm trying to decide what my next goal will be. I think one will be to go out more. Try to be more social. I can tell that K is frustrated with me for being such a homebody. She says I'm going to look back on my twenties and regret it. Sometimes I feel that way. And I understand what she's saying. But it's very crappy to go out when it's 10 degrees outside. And sometimes when I'm out I just wish I was at home watching a movie. I hate getting dressed up and then feeling disappointed. Or being tired or hungover the next day. Or checking my balance to reveal how much money I've actually spent. But, I'm going to try and put in more effort to go out.

Any suggestions of what my next big goal should be? A promotion perhaps? Or maybe that would be moving a little too fast?