My First Guest!
I arrived back at my apartment after a nice walk with Loki, and within five minutes, receive my first knock on the door as a resident of the apartment. My first instinct was that it was a mistake. My confusion quickly evaporated, as my mother was sending someone down to help me put together my bookshelves.
Said piece of furniture is a behemoth, with three section and 24, yes, TWENTY FOUR wide shelves. In this environment, books can be free to be books without fear of loss, burning, or lack of appreciation. Since it's so massive, it's obviously impossible to move intact. It's been sitting in my apartment, sadly in need to assembly, because I stupidly forgot to bring my mother's drill, which she loaned me for the occasion. When I headed back to Maryland after returning sexyscholar, fmh and shawnj to Michigan in a more exhausted state than when I took them away, the Moms sent the drill back with me, with instructions that I return it my next visit or if I join her for Christmas in Myrtle Beach.
On the whole, then, I wasn't surprised, to hear knocking on my door. I walked over, prepared to come up with a question about my mother than the person outside would know.
Of course, I didn't have to bother with a question, since it was my mother standing in front of me. I'd suspected that she was going to be coming ever since she mentioned that I was going to get help putting together the bookcases in the first place. Along with her was a family friend, DFish, whom we've known since I was in 6th grade. He was the person who'd originally helped my mother with these bookcases when she purchased them from the University of Michigan for (Jesus!) $5.00. fmh and the "Dad" of dadandgirl should remember him from when they put this same piece together in the house in Ypsilanti, from where I've just moved.
Saturday saw the bookcase put together and upright in its wall-to-wall glory by around 9:30-10:00 am. All of the screws removed were salvageable, and the only thing I have to concern myself with is whether or not it will be worth the money to replace any pieces the next time I have to take it apart. So far, I've got all of my fiction, hard cover, trade paperback and paperback all on the shelves. Hardcover takes up the top three shelves on the left; trade paperback, paperback; classic novels in paperback; modern literature in English from non-English authors and foreign language novels take up seven shelves in the middle, with the bottom shelf occupied by the few games I own--card or board--and my tarot card decks. Now I'm working on Non fiction section on the right, and finally I'll finish with Language books and reference texts. I have quite a few spiral notebooks from previous coursework which I'd originally put on the shelves, but I'm thinking of keeping them in boxes for now. I'm in the process of copying class lecture notes on computer, so I can preserve them. Not only do they provide great information, but the transcription process is a great review. Once notes from a given class are finished, I'll keep a copy on computer and in on a flash drive in my safe, and print out a hard copy for the bookshelf.
Mom spent a good portion of yesterday helping me nail down a budget for first semester. Ya'll know that financial aid never allows you to live high on the hog, anyway. I have more expenses than I'd like, and my original plan got scrapped in favor of my mother's plan. She's got a better head for numbers than I do, which should surprise no one, given what's she's been able to accomplish. Right now we're planning budgets for each semester. Hopefully we'll have it all worked out, and next school year won't require as much maneuvering. The biggest worry at the moment is making sure that I have enough to pay rent and other necessary bills from June to August, as stipend checks are only dispensed during the school year. I hope to have a job lined up by the end of the school year next April.
Not finished by a long shot, the Moms also took me shopping to help stock me up on necessities, both grocery and non. So I've got a decently-stocked larder, and my cleaning supplies are nicely rounded out now.
This is a good thing, especially since Magnus has kindly offered up the apartment's first fur ball.
More money was foisted on me . . . well no, there was no pressure at all. It was enough to make a tidy amount of pocket money for metro use and smokies. I'm working on cutting out the latter entirely, and I can't wait to get into the gym on campus. I've been billed and it's been paid for already, so I'm going to take full advantage of it. It's even cheaper than the WC Rec. Center!
Mom and DFish left about two hours ago. She's well-satisfied now, I think, that I'll be fine. I don't think she was totally settled on my being out here while I had items in my apartment that I couldn't not take care of without help. I'm glad I had an opportunity to let her see the apartment, how I'm doing and ease her maternal worrying about how I'm doing. She's not one of those overbearing, will be here five times a year, type parents, but she is a parent.
I am so grateful for my Mother and everything she has done for me.
Said piece of furniture is a behemoth, with three section and 24, yes, TWENTY FOUR wide shelves. In this environment, books can be free to be books without fear of loss, burning, or lack of appreciation. Since it's so massive, it's obviously impossible to move intact. It's been sitting in my apartment, sadly in need to assembly, because I stupidly forgot to bring my mother's drill, which she loaned me for the occasion. When I headed back to Maryland after returning sexyscholar, fmh and shawnj to Michigan in a more exhausted state than when I took them away, the Moms sent the drill back with me, with instructions that I return it my next visit or if I join her for Christmas in Myrtle Beach.
On the whole, then, I wasn't surprised, to hear knocking on my door. I walked over, prepared to come up with a question about my mother than the person outside would know.
Of course, I didn't have to bother with a question, since it was my mother standing in front of me. I'd suspected that she was going to be coming ever since she mentioned that I was going to get help putting together the bookcases in the first place. Along with her was a family friend, DFish, whom we've known since I was in 6th grade. He was the person who'd originally helped my mother with these bookcases when she purchased them from the University of Michigan for (Jesus!) $5.00. fmh and the "Dad" of dadandgirl should remember him from when they put this same piece together in the house in Ypsilanti, from where I've just moved.
Saturday saw the bookcase put together and upright in its wall-to-wall glory by around 9:30-10:00 am. All of the screws removed were salvageable, and the only thing I have to concern myself with is whether or not it will be worth the money to replace any pieces the next time I have to take it apart. So far, I've got all of my fiction, hard cover, trade paperback and paperback all on the shelves. Hardcover takes up the top three shelves on the left; trade paperback, paperback; classic novels in paperback; modern literature in English from non-English authors and foreign language novels take up seven shelves in the middle, with the bottom shelf occupied by the few games I own--card or board--and my tarot card decks. Now I'm working on Non fiction section on the right, and finally I'll finish with Language books and reference texts. I have quite a few spiral notebooks from previous coursework which I'd originally put on the shelves, but I'm thinking of keeping them in boxes for now. I'm in the process of copying class lecture notes on computer, so I can preserve them. Not only do they provide great information, but the transcription process is a great review. Once notes from a given class are finished, I'll keep a copy on computer and in on a flash drive in my safe, and print out a hard copy for the bookshelf.
Mom spent a good portion of yesterday helping me nail down a budget for first semester. Ya'll know that financial aid never allows you to live high on the hog, anyway. I have more expenses than I'd like, and my original plan got scrapped in favor of my mother's plan. She's got a better head for numbers than I do, which should surprise no one, given what's she's been able to accomplish. Right now we're planning budgets for each semester. Hopefully we'll have it all worked out, and next school year won't require as much maneuvering. The biggest worry at the moment is making sure that I have enough to pay rent and other necessary bills from June to August, as stipend checks are only dispensed during the school year. I hope to have a job lined up by the end of the school year next April.
Not finished by a long shot, the Moms also took me shopping to help stock me up on necessities, both grocery and non. So I've got a decently-stocked larder, and my cleaning supplies are nicely rounded out now.
This is a good thing, especially since Magnus has kindly offered up the apartment's first fur ball.
More money was foisted on me . . . well no, there was no pressure at all. It was enough to make a tidy amount of pocket money for metro use and smokies. I'm working on cutting out the latter entirely, and I can't wait to get into the gym on campus. I've been billed and it's been paid for already, so I'm going to take full advantage of it. It's even cheaper than the WC Rec. Center!
Mom and DFish left about two hours ago. She's well-satisfied now, I think, that I'll be fine. I don't think she was totally settled on my being out here while I had items in my apartment that I couldn't not take care of without help. I'm glad I had an opportunity to let her see the apartment, how I'm doing and ease her maternal worrying about how I'm doing. She's not one of those overbearing, will be here five times a year, type parents, but she is a parent.
I am so grateful for my Mother and everything she has done for me.