Adventures of a Tofu Slut

You guys, I just packed my tea.

IT TOOK UP AN ENTIRE BOX. And that's with squishing and squeezing.

I took a photo of the ridiculousness, but of course I've already packed the camera cable. :D

I got my hair cut on Friday, and it's awfully...fluffy. I don't know. I'm sure part of this is the omg humidity, but it seems to have many layers all over the place, so it doesn't do that flippy thing that I liked so much, and bits of it stick out and curl up all over the place. Plus she cut the bangs at a different angle, so now they go sort of sideways instead of down, and it's just not quite right. Oh well!

Meanwhile, let me add my voice to the chorus of "Holy fuck what was that weather out of nowhere?". I was quite determined that I wouldn't let the heat get me down this summer, but now I'm not sure - I was pretty miserable, except for those moments where I was right in front of the window box AC (which I tried not to run very much, because the environment is my friend). I really hope our new place isn't too hot - we don't really have all that many options for window air conditioners (I think one might work in my bedroom, but I'm not super thrilled about not being able to have the window open. I guess if we take it out as soon as it starts getting cooler.), plus there are the skylights, which I'd forgotten about until one co-worker this morning started talking about how incredibly hot it was under the skylights in his place. However, again I saw oh well! No point in thinking about it now, when I can't do anything. Besides, I've made it through terribly hot summers before - I'm well practiced in avoiding home and wrapping myself in towels from the freezer in order to sleep.

Saturday I invited local people over to help themselves to the books that I'm not taking, and all my videos (the VCR isn't coming with me - I haven't used it in over a year). Only starfishchick, starfishdude, and my new work friend C. showed up, but they took things away. Hooray! And then sarcasma and I took some of the remainders to sell, which was also very useful. I still have about 4 shelves worth of stuff to go to Goodwill, but that's better than it was. Goodbye stuff! What a wonderful feeling. And then I ran out of packing tape and make a futile attempt to buy more.

This not sleeping thing is getting a bit ridiculous. I would like some sleep please! LAME.

As a follow-up to my freecycle post, I've now had the original two takers back out, and the next two that I picked (based on grammar - oh, like you wouldn't do the same thing) be EXTRAORDINARILY complicated. Next time (and there will be a next time; I'm just collecting all the remaining stuff) I'm giving so many qualifications that it'll take a determined person just to get to the end of the email.

I've just started watching The Wire season 4. Love! My favourite moment so far was ( totally awesome. )

I took a brief look through the Fringe play listings yesterday (Fringe! So excited! Also: TJ). So far the themes seem to be opera and hockey. But not together. It's right after I move, so I think I won't be seeing as many things this year, but I'm sure there'll be room for a few things. I WILL MAKE ROOM.

I'm sure I would have many more exciting things to say, but [see first point].

I got 15 minutes extra sleep this morning. It was bliss.

So, yes, I'm all moved. It was painless, other than the realization at midnight on Saturday, with the kitchen still unpacked, that I was out of boxes. I ended up unpacking some of the softer stuff and moving it in garbage bags instead.

But the movers were fabulous - I highly recommend El Cheapo movers, folks - quick, friendly, and not too whiny about all the stairs. The whole thing was done in 3 hours, and without any hassle. My friend C. came to the old place and helped me with last minute stuff, then we cabbed it over to the new place after the movers headed off with the truck, and she very nicely went out to buy me a broom and mop (and replacement battery for the smoke detector, which was beeping and obnoxious).

And then after the movers left we cleaned and unpacked (starting with the spices and tea, because they have their very own special shelves), and then starfishchick, sanity_clause and sarcasma came over, and by the time we headed out for dinner at 8 that night the place was entirely habitable, and very nearly fully unpacked.

The important stuff was at least - all the books, cds and dvds were on their shelves, the kitchen cupboards were full, the clothes were hung up, the bed was made, and the electronics were wired. What else could I want? I have the rocking-est friends.

And then yesterday I had a paid moving day, so I unpacked some more, went to the library, bought groceries, got the internet hooked up, cooked in my new kitchen, and generally felt like I'd always lived there. Life is good. (Pictures to come!)

Joy!

I have an actual apartment, for real! Not that anyone bothered to call and tell me that the application had gone through fine. *grumble*

Still! Apartment!

Sadly, now I have no excuse not to call the movers.

Man, one day away from LJ and my brain gets stuffed full with things I want to say.

1. I wasn't around at all yesterday! Did you miss me terribly? I'm pretty sure that I noticed it far more than anyone else did. :D

I stayed away from LJ, IM and personal emails while at work yesterday, to see how much of a difference that made in my ability to get work done. Answer: not as much as I might have thought. I just found plenty of other things to distract myself with, although I was able to focus a little better without the multiple conversations in my brain. And then this morning I started working on a project and...forgot to check my flist. Crazy.

2. Happy birthday to idella, who is sweet and wonderful and deserves all sorts of exciting things this year.

Oh! And happy birthday pauliatchy, too. January babies everywhere.

3. I still don't know for sure about the apartment. I had a form that my landlord needed to fill out, but he never returned my calls, so I just slid it under his door. I hope he got it. I guess if it's not back under my door tonight I'll have to call him again. Sigh.

I just want to know for sure I have the apartment, so I can try to finagle getting to move in on the Saturday before, so I can find a moving company. I don't like leaving things so up in the air.

Which reminds me, has anyone (mostly Toronto people, but maybe all of Canada) had good or bad experiences with particular moving companies? I've never had to hire one before, so I don't really know who to go with.

4. I realized that the reason I can't get myself back to the gym is that I'm afraid of running into my trainer and having to defend my absence. I am a big baby.

5. ( LOST in the cut )

6. insidian made the brilliant icon. Isn't she clever?

7. I am going ice skating tomorrow. I predict massive bruising.

8. So, what's going on with you lot?

Happiest of happy birthdays to goblinshark and wonderlanded! I hope they are/were fabulous.

I would like to say that the very first clue I answered in the crossword puzzle I was doing last night was "MLB Garciaparra". I blame the fact that I know this at all on insidian and starfishchick. But look! Baseball can be used for good! Who knew?

( Great Apartment Hunt update - now with cut tags to prevent boredom! )


So, who wants to come distract me from my work? I have a bottle of wine at my desk. *tempts*

Ok, so I didn't need to put aside my entire lunch hour to call around for apartments - it only takes about 30 seconds to discover that something is right out of my price range.

Places called: 5
No answer: 1
Would require a second job: 2
Appointments made to look tonight: 2
Apartments that are much, much farther off the subway line than originally thought: 1
Appointments that I'm going to actually keep: 1

Damn. I guess this means that I need to go make a few more phone calls. God, I hate this.

It's been decided -- we didn't find anyone to sublet, so vestra is packing up all her stuff and putting it into storage, before heading back to her cruise gig, and we're giving notice at the end of the month.

Which means I have to move. Blech. I mean, I'm not exactly sad to be leaving this place -- it's cute, and it's been very good to us, but the new management sucks and doesn't do anything around the building, so it's getting a little nasty. Plus there's the whole 'takes forever to get anywhere' thing, aka 'Why the hell aren't we on a subway line? Waiting for the bus sucks the very life out of me.'

But moving is a pain. Literally, in many cases. This time, though, I'm not making anyone help me move (not that they would, after the disaster that was last time -- I still feel guilty about that). I'm going to suck it up and hire movers, even though the thought freaks me out. I'm not nearly grown-up enough to deal with this. If only my parents didn't live on the other side of the country.

First, though, I have to find a new place to live. And I don't know - by myself, or try to find a roommate? I think I'd like to live by myself, but rents are so high here that I'm not sure I can afford it, especially not in the areas that I want to live (meaning, closer to downtown and on a subway line). But the thought of moving in with someone I don't know is kind of frightening. What if we hate each other? I know one person who's looking for a flatmate, but he really needs someone right now, plus his place is even farther away than mine, although on the other side of the city. And there's one other person who may be needing a roommate for February, but she lives in a very scary neighbourhood. Yes, I'm picky. So?

ANGST.

I guess I need to figure out how much I can really afford, and then start looking around, seeing what's out there. I'm pretty sure that if I can bring myself to live with strangers I could find a place fairly easily, so I'll look around for a one bedroom first. Preferably somewhere that's not hours away from sarcasma's or starfishchick's, and then maybe people will come over more. :) Also, people who have been to my apartment, I am getting rid of the Free Couch of Suckitude. That bitch is not making the move with me, no way. So you might actually be comfortable when you come over (once I buy a new couch, that is, because until then we're all sitting on the floor).

Dude, between Christmas, going home, all the theatre that's happening right now that I want to see, buying a new couch and moving, I'm going to be enjoying quite the credit card debt. Whee?

(Meanwhile, I went for a walk at lunch, and now I'm eating orzo lentil soup that I made last night from genarti's recipe. It's very tasty, although the orzo sucked up most of the liquid, so I should probably just call it stew at this point. And one of my co-workers has a CD I need on her desk, but she absolutely insists it's not there. I'm waiting for her to go for lunch so I can steal it.)