I live. Mostly.
So when last I actually updated it was moving day.
We are in the new apartment! 85% of everything is unpacked. Pictures to come after the remaining 15%. The only things still at the old apartment are misc bits and the artwork; the storage area has been completely cleaned out. (That was actually a major disappointment: there was a wine box! It said it contained 12 bottles of Moscato d'Asti! I did not remember buying them but was SUPER EXCITED that I could have Asti tonight. So I get home tonight, and open the box...and it is full of first edition Exalted. And I made the saddest face. I mean, 1E Exalted is rockin', don't get me wrong, but woeeee wanted wine.)
The only things left to unpack are some of the kitchen stuffs (serving dishes, my pots and pans since we've been using Mike's, some glassware, etc.) and my desk, a category which comprises four or five boxes somehow. My dad has informed me that he is sending me his old TiVo, so soon we will have that. And we are getting a storage area for stuff like the old bed frame and mattress (for when we've a place with a guest room), etc.
The early part of this week was made of stress and spaz, largely due to the car (more on which in a moment), but also because I was tired and freaking out from having been moving, in one form or another, for over a month. Wednesday night I took an hour to arrange the bookshelf in my bedroom, and immediately started feeling better. (My books are not in the right places. They are not even grouped by genre. They are not alphabetized by author and then subdivided by series. In the case of my gaming books they aren't arranged by spine number. This drives me up the wall. I know I don't have time to alphabetize them all, and I know it's more important to get the other things out of boxes and into some semblance of order--things like kitchen tools and clothes, that I use on a daily basis--but it creeps on the edges of my nerves and when I look at the books I *know* they are out of order.
Ahem. But anyway.
So the car! The guy started taking my car apart on Monday to fix it, which apparently involved replacing some kind of cable that ran from the top of the engine to the bottom, and also the transmission mount that had busted. And then called me, because when they took down the transmission they found a piece of the transmission in the fluid pan.
Um.
So ensued a giant rigmarole with CarMax, the net result of which is:
*CarMax recommends (i.e. will pay for because it's cheaper) putting in a used transmission. They are willing to pay $1800 for this thing.
*Mechanic vehemently opposes this, proposes instead words I did not understand, but the numbers I do grok: total cost $3000.
So I had the choice of doing it CarMax's way, and having no idea what the fuck kind of transmission they are putting in my car, or having it fixed the way the mechanic says it *should* be fixed and theoretically extending the lifetime of the car.
(I'll point out this is an 01 Corolla with only 94K miles on it, so if I fix this, it's pretty reasonable to expect the thing will run another 50K miles, which at my current rate of use will get me through at least the next 4 years or until after it's paid off.)
Net result, I am forking over $1200, but at least the warranty has mostly paid for itself with this one thing. And I can have my car back Monday or Tuesday, thank you God, because this being entirely reliant on the kindness of others is MAKING ME FUCKING CRAZY.
(My mother gave me a blistering lecture about not falling into a black pit of fixing the car forever for far more than it's worth. Yes, Mom, thanks, I know, I cannot afford another car right now thank you kindly, it's kind of been a bugfuck expensive month what with $2K worth of moving expenses over and above the usual. When I relayed this lecture in rant-mode to
celeloriel, she opined that it was the "parent cannot help so is freaking out and lecturing" variety, which in retrospect makes sense. At the time I bit my tongue really hard to not swear at my mother while I was sitting at work.)
....anyway. So tomorrow we are running two minor errands, namely the acquisition of a storage space and the visiting of a Comcrap facility to return the equipment from my old place, and then we are going to come home and pass out in the central a/c to avoid the heat index of 100+. And Sunday I am handing over some of my things to wrenbow and getting some things into the storage space and moving the art over here, and then whenever I get the car back I can go finish the cleaning. I am pretty sure the carpet is a lost cause (thanks a lot, Zelda, now FUCKING LEARN TO SHIT IN THE FUCKING LITTERBOX augh) but I have doused it thoroughly in Resolve and will do the best I can to tidy up the mess. I'll get dinged on the security deposit. I no longer care. I just want this done.
But! On Sunday night we are going to Ravinia for some manner of concert involving the CSO and a soloist the boy wants to see, so that will be lovely. Romantic picnic dinners FTW!
Okay. Moar Echo Bazaar now, and maybe some kitchen unpacking and maybe not, but mostly Persona 3 Portable for the night, I think. (I love Minako. And being able to level-grind without getting tired. And I adore the Chariot S. Link. And the Hermit. and need moar Charm so I can flirt with Akihiko.)
We are in the new apartment! 85% of everything is unpacked. Pictures to come after the remaining 15%. The only things still at the old apartment are misc bits and the artwork; the storage area has been completely cleaned out. (That was actually a major disappointment: there was a wine box! It said it contained 12 bottles of Moscato d'Asti! I did not remember buying them but was SUPER EXCITED that I could have Asti tonight. So I get home tonight, and open the box...and it is full of first edition Exalted. And I made the saddest face. I mean, 1E Exalted is rockin', don't get me wrong, but woeeee wanted wine.)
The only things left to unpack are some of the kitchen stuffs (serving dishes, my pots and pans since we've been using Mike's, some glassware, etc.) and my desk, a category which comprises four or five boxes somehow. My dad has informed me that he is sending me his old TiVo, so soon we will have that. And we are getting a storage area for stuff like the old bed frame and mattress (for when we've a place with a guest room), etc.
The early part of this week was made of stress and spaz, largely due to the car (more on which in a moment), but also because I was tired and freaking out from having been moving, in one form or another, for over a month. Wednesday night I took an hour to arrange the bookshelf in my bedroom, and immediately started feeling better. (My books are not in the right places. They are not even grouped by genre. They are not alphabetized by author and then subdivided by series. In the case of my gaming books they aren't arranged by spine number. This drives me up the wall. I know I don't have time to alphabetize them all, and I know it's more important to get the other things out of boxes and into some semblance of order--things like kitchen tools and clothes, that I use on a daily basis--but it creeps on the edges of my nerves and when I look at the books I *know* they are out of order.
Ahem. But anyway.
So the car! The guy started taking my car apart on Monday to fix it, which apparently involved replacing some kind of cable that ran from the top of the engine to the bottom, and also the transmission mount that had busted. And then called me, because when they took down the transmission they found a piece of the transmission in the fluid pan.
Um.
So ensued a giant rigmarole with CarMax, the net result of which is:
*CarMax recommends (i.e. will pay for because it's cheaper) putting in a used transmission. They are willing to pay $1800 for this thing.
*Mechanic vehemently opposes this, proposes instead words I did not understand, but the numbers I do grok: total cost $3000.
So I had the choice of doing it CarMax's way, and having no idea what the fuck kind of transmission they are putting in my car, or having it fixed the way the mechanic says it *should* be fixed and theoretically extending the lifetime of the car.
(I'll point out this is an 01 Corolla with only 94K miles on it, so if I fix this, it's pretty reasonable to expect the thing will run another 50K miles, which at my current rate of use will get me through at least the next 4 years or until after it's paid off.)
Net result, I am forking over $1200, but at least the warranty has mostly paid for itself with this one thing. And I can have my car back Monday or Tuesday, thank you God, because this being entirely reliant on the kindness of others is MAKING ME FUCKING CRAZY.
(My mother gave me a blistering lecture about not falling into a black pit of fixing the car forever for far more than it's worth. Yes, Mom, thanks, I know, I cannot afford another car right now thank you kindly, it's kind of been a bugfuck expensive month what with $2K worth of moving expenses over and above the usual. When I relayed this lecture in rant-mode to
celeloriel, she opined that it was the "parent cannot help so is freaking out and lecturing" variety, which in retrospect makes sense. At the time I bit my tongue really hard to not swear at my mother while I was sitting at work.)
....anyway. So tomorrow we are running two minor errands, namely the acquisition of a storage space and the visiting of a Comcrap facility to return the equipment from my old place, and then we are going to come home and pass out in the central a/c to avoid the heat index of 100+. And Sunday I am handing over some of my things to wrenbow and getting some things into the storage space and moving the art over here, and then whenever I get the car back I can go finish the cleaning. I am pretty sure the carpet is a lost cause (thanks a lot, Zelda, now FUCKING LEARN TO SHIT IN THE FUCKING LITTERBOX augh) but I have doused it thoroughly in Resolve and will do the best I can to tidy up the mess. I'll get dinged on the security deposit. I no longer care. I just want this done.
But! On Sunday night we are going to Ravinia for some manner of concert involving the CSO and a soloist the boy wants to see, so that will be lovely. Romantic picnic dinners FTW!
Okay. Moar Echo Bazaar now, and maybe some kitchen unpacking and maybe not, but mostly Persona 3 Portable for the night, I think. (I love Minako. And being able to level-grind without getting tired. And I adore the Chariot S. Link. And the Hermit. and need moar Charm so I can flirt with Akihiko.)