no gangbangs, just one-on-one
Hello my friends! I have decided to make my triumphant return to LJ by regaling you all with my moving adventures, because who doesn't enjoy a good moving story? Clearly, by virtue of me having moving stories to share, you can assume that I found a place. Actually, I think I found it the day after I last posted here. It was ultimately the least drawn-out apartment hunt I think I've ever had. Mm, maybe that's not true, but it was certainly over much faster than our last house hunting was.
It makes sense for me to tell you a little bit about my new place before I tell you about my moving adventures, so let's start there. It's a one-bedroom ground floor apartment at Dufferin and St. Clair, for anyone who's familiar with Toronto (I know there are a couple of you at least). Big windows in the living room and bedroom, so lots of natural light (although dear lord, do I need to get the curtain rod mounted in the living room ASAP so that I can stop being completely visible to everyone who passes by). $995 a month, I only have to pay hydro, which I can't imagine will be too bad. Anyway, it's way way less than what I was paying for rent before, so definitely a plus. No dishwasher or laundry, but I kind of figured I'd end up giving those things up, and there's a laundromat within walking distance. The house (my apartment is the ground floor of a house that's been divided into three apartments) is on a nice residential street, but easily accessible by public transit. I'm a very short walk from the St. Clair streetcar, and probably a similar walk to the Dufferin buses if I wanted to take that route. It's going to be WAY easier and faster for me to get downtown and to all of my friends, AND it will likewise be much easier for all of them to get to me. I'll actually be able to invite people over and not have it take them over an hour and a million ridiculous transfers to get to me! Oh, and I have a parking space behind the house included in my rent, which is pretty sweet because some of the other places I looked at only had street parking.
Actually, the parking space is a pretty good place to start with some of my stories. All of the garages and parking spaces are off of this little alley that runs between the houses on my street and the ones on the next street over; from the street, to get to it, I'd walk between my house and the house next door, past the backyard and a tiny little shed to get to the parking space, and do the same in reverse when coming from the parking space to the house. It's basically just a narrow strip of sidewalk, and there are no lights in the space between the two houses, making it pretty dark at night. This led to a bit of a fright last week when Gabe came with me to get the key, and I turned around to head back down the path to my car and there was a guy standing right there who I completely had not seen. It turned out he was just the person who lives in the basement unit, and he's actually an employee of the landlord. Seems pretty polite, and apologized for scaring me that night.
Friday night, I ended up bringing a bunch of stuff down so I wouldn't have as much to take when I actually moved yesterday. I'd brought the first load of stuff inside and was heading back to my car, when all of a sudden, something dark moved on the sidewalk in front of me and jumped onto one of the trees that are right next to the sidewalk, nearly giving me a heart attack. It was a raccoon, who was now on a tree branch about a foot above my head and maybe 3 feet away from me. We just stood there staring at each other for a minute or two, and I spoke very calmly to it, saying that I didn't want to bother it, I just wanted to get to my car, and to please not jump on my head as I walked by, and then moved very slowly past the tree. By the time I came back with the next load of stuff, the raccoon had scurried off somewhere else, but it was definitely a much closer encounter than I had been expecting!
Yesterday was the actual moving day, and because I'm me, all of my stuff was packed in labeled boxes and ready to go. I'd taken a sick day Friday so I could finish packing all but the last couple things, and then woke up at 6:40 Saturday morning, unable to fall back asleep, so I finished the last few bits and was pretty much ready to go by 9 am. But my friends weren't scheduled to arrive to help until between 11 and 12, and the truck wasn't reserved until 1, because I'd just assumed that there would be more to do than what there actually was. Amy and Amanda showed up first, right around 11, and we moved all the boxes out onto the porch so they'd be out of the way when we started moving the furniture. Sarah showed up not long after, and we were all kind of sitting around with nothing to do until someone suggested that I call Uhaul and see if I'd be able to pick up the truck earlier. Luckily for us, when I called, I was told to "come and get it", so Amy and I went off to do just that. Gabe, Nicole, Max and my coworker Samantha had all gotten there while we were getting the truck, so as soon as we got back with it we were ready to start loading. I cannot recommend having a crew of 7 friends to help you move highly enough. It made the whole thing go SO quickly, and once all the furniture was in, we were able to just assembly line the boxes from the porch to the truck. Likewise, the unloading process when we got to my new place went really quickly. I was taking stuff out of the truck, and every time I grabbed another box, someone was waiting at the back for me to hand it to.
Everything went great! Right up until the couch, which was the very last thing to come off the truck. And then we discovered that there was no way for us to get it into my new place. The damn thing was too long to fit into the doorway standing on its side, and because of the angles, it wasn't going to go in any other way. Well fuck. Once I accepted that it just wasn't going to be possible, I called Brad to make sure he'd be okay with me taking the loveseat instead, which he was fine with. We then had to put the couch back in the truck, drive all the way back to my old place, bring the couch back in, take the loveseat out and put that in the truck, and drive back to the new place again. It was a good thing I'd picked up the truck early, because after all that, I had just enough time to unload the loveseat on the curb of the new place and entrust it to my friends to get it in before I had to bring the truck back. So much driving! But they were able to get the loveseat in, thankfully, and I was very very grateful for everyone's help through the whole process. And now I've got a loveseat and a big comfy chair, but I can always get more seating at some later point. Or my friends can just sit on the floor, haha. :p
While the couch was the only major mishap of the day, it was only the start of the day's adventures. My friends had ordered pizza and gotten beers and ciders for everyone while I was returning the truck, so when I got back, we were all hanging out in the backyard eating and drinking. At one point a man walks into the backyard, heading for the entrance to the basement apartment (not the landlord's employee I'd met previously), but stops to tell us "No gangbangs!" (Is that one word or two? Spell check doesn't like it, but I can't imagine that it would, and some things you just don't google.) We all just kind of look at him confused, and he repeats himself, adding "Just one on one". We're all a little dumbfounded (while that is completely within the realm of jokes I would make with my friends, who says something like that to a group of complete strangers?!), and just burst out laughing once he goes inside. About ten minutes later, he comes back out and asks us if any of us know where to buy a dime bag. Uhhhh, really dude? Sorry, we can't help you there. Shortly after, we all go back inside, and notice that it smells like something's burning. We carry on about our business, and Gabe and I go to the bedroom to mount my curtain rod (I'm sorry, that sentence just sounds really dirty in my head now, hahaha). We don't get very far before everyone else starts shouting that there's actually a fire downstairs and we all need to get out. Oh lovely, I've only just moved all my stuff in, that's a perfect time for there to be a fire. Everyone grabs their keys and purses and phones and we go outside, Amy calls 911, and meanwhile, Jo, my upstairs neighbor goes into the basement apartment and discovers that there's a pot left burning on the stove while the sketchy guy had gone out. Pot is removed, fire department shows up very quickly (the fire station is like two blocks down from my house on my street, it's very convenient), they investigate and discover that there's no more fire, remind us to check our smoke detectors and go.
After all that excitement, we all hang out outside chatting with Jo for awhile before my friends start heading home. I check my smoke detector and discover that it is not, in fact, working. Excellent. On the plus side, my landlord and the super are very prompt in their responses. Jo sent a very detailed email to the landlord last night, outlining the events with the sketchy dude who almost burned the house down. We had assumed that he must have been living here as well, with Earl (the landlord's employee), but it turns out that he does not, and is just someone Earl knows and was trying to help out. The super came by this morning and there was a very heated discussion between him and sketchy dude, which I heard through the floor, but the end result of it was that sketchy guy was told to leave and if he's ever seen on the property again, we're to call the cops. All righty then! The super also fixed my loose kitchen cabinet doors while he was here, put down a bunch of woodchips in the front yard, making it look much nicer than the dead dirt that had been there previously, and he went and got me a new smoke detector and installed it. So I am definitely glad to know that if there are any issues, the landlord and super will be on it quickly.
What a way to kick off my tenancy in my new place, huh?! Being asked for drugs and nearly having the place burn down is certainly quite the welcome to the new neighborhood, lol. But Jo and Earl both seem like they'll be good neighbors, and hopefully now that sketchy guy has been kicked out, things will be far less exciting! Today, Rogers came and hooked up my cable and internet (which took forever, but it's done at least), I unpacked most of the kitchen and bedroom, and I took a trip to Target that lasted way longer than was probably necessary. Unfortunately I'll have to go back sometime this week, because the shoe rack I bought broke as soon as I tried to put it together. :-/ There's still a bunch of unpacking to do, but it's nothing critical, and next weekend is a 4-day weekend, so I plan on getting it all done then if I haven't done it before then.
How's that for a novel to herald my return to LJ entry-writing? :p Here, have a really fascinating article about a lab-grown vagina!!! Science is so cool! :D And now, my friends, I am fading fast, so it might be time to wrap this up and start getting ready for bed. I hope to start making myself far less scarce around these parts, so you should be seeing more of me soon! Much love to all of you! ♥
It makes sense for me to tell you a little bit about my new place before I tell you about my moving adventures, so let's start there. It's a one-bedroom ground floor apartment at Dufferin and St. Clair, for anyone who's familiar with Toronto (I know there are a couple of you at least). Big windows in the living room and bedroom, so lots of natural light (although dear lord, do I need to get the curtain rod mounted in the living room ASAP so that I can stop being completely visible to everyone who passes by). $995 a month, I only have to pay hydro, which I can't imagine will be too bad. Anyway, it's way way less than what I was paying for rent before, so definitely a plus. No dishwasher or laundry, but I kind of figured I'd end up giving those things up, and there's a laundromat within walking distance. The house (my apartment is the ground floor of a house that's been divided into three apartments) is on a nice residential street, but easily accessible by public transit. I'm a very short walk from the St. Clair streetcar, and probably a similar walk to the Dufferin buses if I wanted to take that route. It's going to be WAY easier and faster for me to get downtown and to all of my friends, AND it will likewise be much easier for all of them to get to me. I'll actually be able to invite people over and not have it take them over an hour and a million ridiculous transfers to get to me! Oh, and I have a parking space behind the house included in my rent, which is pretty sweet because some of the other places I looked at only had street parking.
Actually, the parking space is a pretty good place to start with some of my stories. All of the garages and parking spaces are off of this little alley that runs between the houses on my street and the ones on the next street over; from the street, to get to it, I'd walk between my house and the house next door, past the backyard and a tiny little shed to get to the parking space, and do the same in reverse when coming from the parking space to the house. It's basically just a narrow strip of sidewalk, and there are no lights in the space between the two houses, making it pretty dark at night. This led to a bit of a fright last week when Gabe came with me to get the key, and I turned around to head back down the path to my car and there was a guy standing right there who I completely had not seen. It turned out he was just the person who lives in the basement unit, and he's actually an employee of the landlord. Seems pretty polite, and apologized for scaring me that night.
Friday night, I ended up bringing a bunch of stuff down so I wouldn't have as much to take when I actually moved yesterday. I'd brought the first load of stuff inside and was heading back to my car, when all of a sudden, something dark moved on the sidewalk in front of me and jumped onto one of the trees that are right next to the sidewalk, nearly giving me a heart attack. It was a raccoon, who was now on a tree branch about a foot above my head and maybe 3 feet away from me. We just stood there staring at each other for a minute or two, and I spoke very calmly to it, saying that I didn't want to bother it, I just wanted to get to my car, and to please not jump on my head as I walked by, and then moved very slowly past the tree. By the time I came back with the next load of stuff, the raccoon had scurried off somewhere else, but it was definitely a much closer encounter than I had been expecting!
Yesterday was the actual moving day, and because I'm me, all of my stuff was packed in labeled boxes and ready to go. I'd taken a sick day Friday so I could finish packing all but the last couple things, and then woke up at 6:40 Saturday morning, unable to fall back asleep, so I finished the last few bits and was pretty much ready to go by 9 am. But my friends weren't scheduled to arrive to help until between 11 and 12, and the truck wasn't reserved until 1, because I'd just assumed that there would be more to do than what there actually was. Amy and Amanda showed up first, right around 11, and we moved all the boxes out onto the porch so they'd be out of the way when we started moving the furniture. Sarah showed up not long after, and we were all kind of sitting around with nothing to do until someone suggested that I call Uhaul and see if I'd be able to pick up the truck earlier. Luckily for us, when I called, I was told to "come and get it", so Amy and I went off to do just that. Gabe, Nicole, Max and my coworker Samantha had all gotten there while we were getting the truck, so as soon as we got back with it we were ready to start loading. I cannot recommend having a crew of 7 friends to help you move highly enough. It made the whole thing go SO quickly, and once all the furniture was in, we were able to just assembly line the boxes from the porch to the truck. Likewise, the unloading process when we got to my new place went really quickly. I was taking stuff out of the truck, and every time I grabbed another box, someone was waiting at the back for me to hand it to.
Everything went great! Right up until the couch, which was the very last thing to come off the truck. And then we discovered that there was no way for us to get it into my new place. The damn thing was too long to fit into the doorway standing on its side, and because of the angles, it wasn't going to go in any other way. Well fuck. Once I accepted that it just wasn't going to be possible, I called Brad to make sure he'd be okay with me taking the loveseat instead, which he was fine with. We then had to put the couch back in the truck, drive all the way back to my old place, bring the couch back in, take the loveseat out and put that in the truck, and drive back to the new place again. It was a good thing I'd picked up the truck early, because after all that, I had just enough time to unload the loveseat on the curb of the new place and entrust it to my friends to get it in before I had to bring the truck back. So much driving! But they were able to get the loveseat in, thankfully, and I was very very grateful for everyone's help through the whole process. And now I've got a loveseat and a big comfy chair, but I can always get more seating at some later point. Or my friends can just sit on the floor, haha. :p
While the couch was the only major mishap of the day, it was only the start of the day's adventures. My friends had ordered pizza and gotten beers and ciders for everyone while I was returning the truck, so when I got back, we were all hanging out in the backyard eating and drinking. At one point a man walks into the backyard, heading for the entrance to the basement apartment (not the landlord's employee I'd met previously), but stops to tell us "No gangbangs!" (Is that one word or two? Spell check doesn't like it, but I can't imagine that it would, and some things you just don't google.) We all just kind of look at him confused, and he repeats himself, adding "Just one on one". We're all a little dumbfounded (while that is completely within the realm of jokes I would make with my friends, who says something like that to a group of complete strangers?!), and just burst out laughing once he goes inside. About ten minutes later, he comes back out and asks us if any of us know where to buy a dime bag. Uhhhh, really dude? Sorry, we can't help you there. Shortly after, we all go back inside, and notice that it smells like something's burning. We carry on about our business, and Gabe and I go to the bedroom to mount my curtain rod (I'm sorry, that sentence just sounds really dirty in my head now, hahaha). We don't get very far before everyone else starts shouting that there's actually a fire downstairs and we all need to get out. Oh lovely, I've only just moved all my stuff in, that's a perfect time for there to be a fire. Everyone grabs their keys and purses and phones and we go outside, Amy calls 911, and meanwhile, Jo, my upstairs neighbor goes into the basement apartment and discovers that there's a pot left burning on the stove while the sketchy guy had gone out. Pot is removed, fire department shows up very quickly (the fire station is like two blocks down from my house on my street, it's very convenient), they investigate and discover that there's no more fire, remind us to check our smoke detectors and go.
After all that excitement, we all hang out outside chatting with Jo for awhile before my friends start heading home. I check my smoke detector and discover that it is not, in fact, working. Excellent. On the plus side, my landlord and the super are very prompt in their responses. Jo sent a very detailed email to the landlord last night, outlining the events with the sketchy dude who almost burned the house down. We had assumed that he must have been living here as well, with Earl (the landlord's employee), but it turns out that he does not, and is just someone Earl knows and was trying to help out. The super came by this morning and there was a very heated discussion between him and sketchy dude, which I heard through the floor, but the end result of it was that sketchy guy was told to leave and if he's ever seen on the property again, we're to call the cops. All righty then! The super also fixed my loose kitchen cabinet doors while he was here, put down a bunch of woodchips in the front yard, making it look much nicer than the dead dirt that had been there previously, and he went and got me a new smoke detector and installed it. So I am definitely glad to know that if there are any issues, the landlord and super will be on it quickly.
What a way to kick off my tenancy in my new place, huh?! Being asked for drugs and nearly having the place burn down is certainly quite the welcome to the new neighborhood, lol. But Jo and Earl both seem like they'll be good neighbors, and hopefully now that sketchy guy has been kicked out, things will be far less exciting! Today, Rogers came and hooked up my cable and internet (which took forever, but it's done at least), I unpacked most of the kitchen and bedroom, and I took a trip to Target that lasted way longer than was probably necessary. Unfortunately I'll have to go back sometime this week, because the shoe rack I bought broke as soon as I tried to put it together. :-/ There's still a bunch of unpacking to do, but it's nothing critical, and next weekend is a 4-day weekend, so I plan on getting it all done then if I haven't done it before then.
How's that for a novel to herald my return to LJ entry-writing? :p Here, have a really fascinating article about a lab-grown vagina!!! Science is so cool! :D And now, my friends, I am fading fast, so it might be time to wrap this up and start getting ready for bed. I hope to start making myself far less scarce around these parts, so you should be seeing more of me soon! Much love to all of you! ♥