First Week in My Apartment - Cliff's Notes Edition

• Number of boxes left to unpack: 3
• Number of meals actually cooked: 3
• Complete failures in cooking: 1 (burned a sandwich pretty badly today.  Still ate it though.)
• Number of times the fire alarm has gone off while cooking: 2 (surprisingly enough, the sandwiches did not cause the fire alarm to go off)
• Number of sofas: 0
• Number of times my car hasn't started because of the battery: 0 (It's been starting every time somehow.  Watch, tomorrow I'll have to jumpstart it.)
• Parties thrown: 1 (the day I moved in, with everyone who helped me move)
• Number of bills paid: 2
  

I don't think I'm doing too badly for myself so far.  We'll see how I'm doing in a month.  I think I'm going to have an official housewarming party after I get a sofa.

Almost There

Look, Ma!  No boxes!

Well, no boxes with something in them. . . .

At least, no boxes with something in them that I know where I’m going to put it.  But hey!  Those are the last three boxes!

Moving Day

Today was the big day, the day I move into my own place. I had spent the previous couple of weeks packing, writing lists of things I need, getting together a group of friends that can be bribed with pizza to move heavy things... And I was in my new place a lot quicker than expected. I woke up, ran to Target to get a few things I knew I'd need immediately, and ran all of it as well as my clothes to my apartment. Mom came soon after with a few other things and drove me to pick up the U-Haul. I picked up my "new" (gently used) bed from my Aunt's, then proceeded to meet everyone at my house for moving.

I overestimated the amount of time it would take to load my crap into a truck, I guess. Several people were late to the "move out" part of the day, but despite a little hassle with getting the TV out to the truck, it went remarkably smooth. (At least, it was to me. Eric might have something to say about that.)

Everyone then made the cross-town trip to my new place. It took about 45 minutes to load the truck. Took less than half of that to put it into the apartment. We started a little before 12:30, and a little after 2:00, we were having pizza. And about 20 minutes of that was driving, and another 20 was waiting for the pizza. We sat around talking, listening to the Beatles, until I had to take the U-Haul back. Somehow, even without any entertainment beyond my music collection, several people were entertained enough to stay while Lisa and I returned the truck. (BTW, note to self: U-Haul is an unfortunately necessary rip-off. They say it's $20 a day; it's more like $70.)

Upon our return, my poor, neglected Nintendo Wii became the center of attention, where we played a little WarioWare and Lisa made a Mii with the help of the artistically-gifted Matt. Matt and Viv left after a while, Lisa and Mark stayed, and we picked up the third Ben of the day, Ben R., who, to my amazement, actually wanted to play Smash Bros. with me. Even though I wasn't very merciful. Whoops. Lisa ran out to get some food, Smash Bros. lost its appeal (since only half of us were playing [note to self: find two more Gamecube controllers]), so after a democratic vote, I took advantage of the PS2's DVD capability and we watched the first half of Fellowship of the Ring.

So, to sum it help:

• People who helped move out: 4
• People who helped move around my mom's TV: 5
• People who helped move in: 7
• People who celebrated my moving in: 8
• Casualties among my things: my larger jewelry box (door was broken on it), Mah Jong set (not quite a casualty, but the pieces went flying everywhere in the back of the truck; I still need to see if everything's there)
• Pizzas consumed: Three large ones, leaving 1 piece of cheese pizza as leftovers
• Things left at home: iPod (OH NO), TV remote, one glass tabletop
• Things taken from home that I shouldn't have: blanket, camera
• Things I should've thought about borrowing ahead of time: CHAIRS. Thankfully Matt and Viv has folding chairs they borrowed from Lisa in their car
• Next things to purchase: SOFA, shelves for DVDs and games, handtowels, shower curtain (since that cheap liner I bought is bad)

Again, thank you to everyone who helped today. I really couldn't have done this without any of you!

Hello, Goodbye

As Eric so wonderfully documented, I had to say goodbye (for now) to Jillian, a friend I’ve only come to know recently, who’s fed me delicious food and dealt with me whining about bastards men.  I know I’m not the only one going to miss her, and I know I’ll see her again in about nine months (just in time for my birthday!), but it was nice having someone there who at least seemed stable compared to the rest of us (and yes, I’m including me in that).

I’ll look at it this way: when I see her again, she’ll be able to make even more amazing foods featuring lemon and ginger!  Mmmm.  Lemon and ginger. . . .