B6

No, I am not announcing my next move in Battleship, hoping my salvo causes your cruiser to erupt in flames.

B6 would be the apartment I am moving into either next Thursday or Friday. Although I’d been accepted, I was waiting for a ground-level one to open up, and hit the bonanza; not only is it right next to the manager’s office (which usually means people are better behaved), but it’s almost directly adjacent to the pool, the laundry center, and the rec room. 

It will be so very nice to have a space that is mine.

It will also be nice not to have to carry baskets of laundry very far. It’s the simple things that make life the most wonderful.

The caveat to my acceptance is that due to my inconsistent income, I am considered "high-risk". As such, they accepted me providing I pay a triple deposit, which is neither uncommon nor unexpected.  Thank goodness I have a healthy-sized tax return coming my way ($563! Yay!) which will prevent my savings from being neatly cleft in two. If you consider my tax return as being in the bank, I’m essentially moving out with $4,000 to my name.

The irony is that despite my low-paying part-time job and the ups and downs of my contract work, that’s more money than I had when I left to come out here in the first place.

I’ve never been terribly materialistic, but there’s a certain amount of pride in reaching this point, despite the obstacles I’ve faced. Not only did I overshoot my estimated move-out amount, I blew it away, with a combination of smart spending, planning, and research. Let’s hope that it serves me well in the months ahead.

I spent much of the day walking around trying to prepare for my move, but unfortunately there’s no place for me to actually put boxes of belongings until I get the bigger pieces out of here.  I could stack a bunch of containers in each room, but then wouldn’t actually be able to move everything out. Arrgh. Not for the first time, I wish I had the ability to shrink things down to the size of a charm.

I’m looking forward to decorating.  I don’t own a camera, but perhaps I’ll take some pictures on my phone and share them once I get situated. I don’t have much, but what I have, I adore. I want to hang my artwork on the wall and put photos of friends on display and put strange magnets on my refrigerator and dance lightly through the tiny, cramped rooms; I want to fill it with scents and images and mementos and sounds.

Why? Because it is mine, and what is yours should be cherished.

"So be it. Evoke the forms. Where you’ve nothing else construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them."
–Cormac McCarthy, "The Road"

I believe I shall, Mr. McCarthy.

I shall indeed.