MOVING AFTERMATH: This was the most horrible move in my life. Admittedly, I've only moved four times since leaving my parents' house at age 21. The worst move prior to this one was when I moved from Jonesboro south of the city to downtown Atlanta and the lofts. That was almost six years ago. I decided for this change of location that I would hire movers and let them do all the heavy lifting. So much for that...

As I said in the last post, the movers were more than four hours late and we moved late into the night in the pouring rain. The guys were nice and moved pretty quickly once they showed up, but I was exhausted. I found out that there were some things the movers wouldn't take because they weren't packaged properly, so this left a huge stack of stuff at the old loft. When I went back on Monday to get the stuff and clean up the loft for the walk-thru, I had a small nervous breakdown. I was so tired, my muscles ached, and the new apartment was not all I had hoped it would be. I kinda snapped into a fetal position, but managed to call my best friend Tina and she and her girlfriend Mandie came and finished moving my stuff for me. Without them, I would have never been able to cope.

The big problem at this new apartment is that its poorly designed inside. The bathroom is big, but the layout makes no sense. There are no towel bars and too many doors (two entries and a closet). The alcove that could either be a study or a dining room has no phone jack, which means no where to hook up my laptop for DSL. I went to Best Buy yesterday to find a wi-fi router so I could go wireless only to find that my modem is ancient and not compatible. For the time-being, my office is back in the bedroom, which pisses me off no end. The bedroom is too small for my big bed, desks, bookcases, etc. Why do builders never think about power sockets and phone jacks when designing a building? I'd like to find them and make them come back and do more work.

On the plus side, the apartment is nice and it's VERY quiet. I can barely hear my neighbor on the living room side, but in the bedroom it's so quiet I find almost unnerving. Thank god for my sound machine to lull me to sleep. The furniture looks good in the place and the kitchen is sweet. I'll put my stamp on it and settle in eventually. After five years of living in the same place, this move was tougher than I thought it was going to be. When I did the walk-thru yesterday and turned in the keys, I was nostalgic. I finished Better To Travel there, finished my novel, wrote so many new poems, had a lot of sex, fell in and out of love, had alot of laughs and cries. But it was definitely time to go.

In other newes, I have a proof of the Java Monkey Speaks Anthology Vol. 1 here on my desk. It looks AMAZING. Kodac Harrison and I co-edited the anthology, which features poets from the first two years of the reading series and open mic. I'm proud to have my name on it and work inside. The book will be released on Sunday, June 19 at a special Java Monkey Speaks reading. It starts at 8 p.m., but come early! I imagine the place will be packed.

More soon.

Comments

David Herrle said…
Ugh. One of THOSE moves. And an ensuing breakdown. I sympathize.

Thanks goodness for friends who can add some calm hands to pull you along when the waves slap you around.

That's great about the silent bedroom - and the initial discomfort due to your conditioning in noise. Maybe you can purchase that new "Drug Dealer Next Door" recording for your sound machine. :)

Congrats on the JAVA MONKEY book!

-d.
Anonymous said…
Ah, well! I'm sitting here listening to XTC's Nonesuch, in the middle of a few drinks, and just decided to catch up with your blog.

Since you asked, my most fun move? Probably when my Ex and I moved from our condo to a house and, on the second trip, one of the movers had to leave (it turns out he was on probation and had to go and meet his Probation Officer). Un-for-tune-ate-ly, he took the keys to the moving truck with him, and it sat there in the driveway overnight, with a few third-trip things left at the condo.

Oh, well, I'm back at the condo now.

I'll never move again. Seriously. I will die here, or take one bag and be happily homeless for my remaining years.

Anyway, just trying to decide what to read tomorrow night at B&N.

Take a deep breath, and, as BRD says, Be Here Now.
Anonymous said…
Moving to Cali hasn't been a breeze either, but your move sounds terrible. Hope you are settling in now.

GAV
David Herrle said…
XTC. Great band. My fave of their works is ENGLISH SETTLEMENT.

-D.
Steven Shields said…
Just a thought about the modem--if you don't have cable internet yet, might be worth it to go cable and rent the modem from them. I get Comcast for about $50/month and a small rental fee for the modem (like, $10 or less. And if it craps out, they replace it). Not as cheap as dial-up but it pays for itself monthly in terms of time saved. Going wi-fi with cable is something I did recently at home; it's easy, and a lot nicer than running a lot of phone jacks places they already aren't. Just a thought.
Cindy Lou Whoo said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Cindy Lou Whoo said…
moving sucks anyway but imagine doing it with two angsty teens and a four year old, this will be my reality very soon. PRAY NOW AND MAYBE I WON'T HAVE TO SACRAFICE THE CHILDREN! thank you for quoting Prince on my photo he is my all time favorite and anyone who doesn't show at one of your feature has problems and that's just a fact! i love you! hold it down with love,t

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