The Neighbors who Said Goodbye

I somehow manage to get to know my neighbors only on a very superficial level. We smile, we chitchat in the elevator or parking garage. Sometimes I find out the names of their pets. The funny thing is I never seem to learn their names. I suppose I should start introducing myself earlier on during neighborly interactions. Because after a certain point it seems silly to shake hands and introduce myself! I've been talking to them every evening for two months!

Anyway, despite not knowing them very well, two of my neighbors were very sweet when they said goodbye. Little Old Lady saw me in the elevator one day and asked, "That's not a moving dolly, is it?"

"Yep, it is," I said.

"Oh, are you moving in the area?"

"No, Los Angeles."

"Wow! Well, good luck. It's been wonderful having you as a neighbor."

Aww. She's nice.

I also got to know Homer's Mom. One day I heard a lady talking to her dog, and I thought I heard her say Homer.

"Is your dog's name Homer?" I asked.

"Yeah, it is."

"Cool. So is my cat's!"

After that, every time I saw her, she was with Homer, and since I had no clue what her name was, I always started our conversations by greeting her dog. "Hi, Homer!"

The day Salvation Army came to the house and took the furniture away, she and Homer walked by. I saw them again later and she asked, "Moving?"

"Yep, down to L.A.," I said.

"Wow, that's cool. I used to live in Southern California."

We chatted for a bit. She wished me good luck, which I thought was cool. She always seemed like a nice person.

Moving with Bobbi

Bobbi came over Sunday morning to help me move. I cannot tell you what a huge help she was! I definitely couldn't have done it on my own. I thanked her a bunch, and she said, "Well, it's always more fun with more people. Plus, how sad would that have been for you to move all your stuff all alone?? I don't want you to be sad! This way, we can have fun with it."

And fun, we had!

When we were moving stuff, Bobbi made me laugh a lot. One thing she said when we were feeling particularly successful was, "I may have a wussy dog, but we are not wussy women!"

Another time, we were wheeling the mattress to the truck on a furniture dolly. You know how those things kind of get out of control and don't always go where you want them to? Well, that was happening and every time it went off course, Bobbi said, "Wheee!" Then, she turned to me and said very seriously, "You know, I think it's DRUNK!" which cracked me right the hell up. Oh my god! I laughed about that for a good long time and said, "By golly, I think you're right!"

At first, I thought I'd need furniture covers. When that turned out to be quite a hassle, I gave up. Then we needed to leave the couch in the truck in order to go get the mattress and boxspring. Bobbi asked if it was okay to leave the tailgate down. "Go ahead," I said. "At this point, if anything's stolen, it's just one less thing to deal with!"

Heh. As Bobbi pointed out, moving really tests your loyalty to your stuff!

I'm so grateful Bobbi could help me. We hugged before she had to leave that afternoon and she got all teary-eyed. Bobbi is so sweet! I immediately felt guilty, because I was not teary that day. In fact, I didn't get teary saying goodbye to any of my human friends. I cried my little eyes out over saying goodbye to Loki, but no one else. Don't take it personally, everyone else! Somehow, it's just different with the Loki-dog! He's the only one that doesn't understand the words, "I'm moving."

The U-Haul Story
I rented a pickup truck from U-Haul! I've never driven a pickup before, so it was a weird and fun, new experience. At first I drove super carefully (read: Granny-slow). Once I felt like I got the hang of it, I drove that thing around like a pro. I even envisioned having a pickup of my own someday. That is, until I filled the tank. They make you sign a form that says you understand the tank is full when they give it to you, and promise to return it full. Of course, I didn't check. Half a tank of gas? I didn't think we could have used that much, but I went ahead and filled her up, watching the numbers go up.. and up, and up. FORTY-TWO DOLLARS! For half a tank! No pickup trucks for me, thanks though.

Even though that didn't make sense, I didn't think too much of it until I returned the car. The dude gave me a slip that said I had Truck B (let's just say), and that it was in good condition. Then he took it away and parked it with alllll the other pickup trucks, and I took my form inside.

Turns out, I wasn't in the computer. "In fact, it says here that Truck B was returned hours ago. I don't know what truck you had," the girl behind the counter told me. After much searching and trying to figure things out, the girl said, "Well, you're not in the computer and someone screwed up the paperwork, so... You're not responsible for the vehicle at all. Have a nice day!"

"Uh, so... Was anything charged to my card?"

"Not that I know of. Have a great day!"

All right! So I got out of there having only paid forty-two dollars for gas. What a weird situation!! All we could come up with was that the trucks weren't being entered in the computer correctly, and that whatever truck I had clearly had not been serviced and had not had its tank filled before it was given to me. Weird. At least it was only $42.

The Packing Up The Car in the Middle of the Night (Practically) story
The plan was this: Give Loki a potty break, go to Misti's house to feed her cats and spend the night, get up at 4:30am, drive home, pack up the car, and be on the road by 6am. Joe and I talked on the phone Sunday afternoon and he said, "Do you have to feed Misti's cats tomorrow?"

"No, just tonight."

"Then... maybe you could come down tonight?"

"Oh my god, I could!!"

I immediately started making arrangements to do so. I was tired from moving furniture all day, but so excited about the prospect of seeing Joe so soon! I went to Bobbi's house to give Loki a potty break (and surprisingly did not cry at all - I was so happy to see him again!), went to Misti's house to feed her cats, and came home. I began packing up the car and... it took FOR.EV.ER. Much longer than I expected. The worst part was the computer monitors. I put one in the trunk and tried different positions for it in there, but nothing worked. It wasn't stable. I'm not even sure how I got it in there, and it was a bitch to get it out! I was sweating all over by the time I got it in the front seat. Where it also did not fit! Finally I arranged both monitors in the backseat and decided the cats would need to ride up front. I packed and packed and around 11pm, right after I'd finished my dinner from Burger King, I realized I wasn't going anywhere that night. Not even back to Misti's house to sleep somewhere comfy, because that would mean driving a half hour and all I wanted to do was sleep. I laid out the comforter and some pillows and turned out the light. The cats immediately went tearing around the apartment and scared the bejeebers out of me. I turned the light back on and flipped on another light so that I could sleep with some faint light that night. I got up at 4:30, showered, packed up some more stuff and was on the road by 6:00am. I'm so glad I didn't stick to my original plan or I wouldn't have left until late Monday night!!! It all worked out really well, actually. And the air mattress felt like a little slice of heaven after sleeping on my floor!

The woman who said something that made me think, "Yeah, that's why I'm moving away from the Bay Area."

While making trips to the car, I got into the elevator with two women. I was sweaty and panting. Feeling self conscious, especially because one of them was staring at me, I said, "Packing." (breath) "Moving."

"You're moving?" the non-staring woman asked.

"Yes."

"Where to?"

"Los Angeles."

"WHY?"

"School."

"Oh, then you're forgiven. I mean, people from the north aren't allowed to move south."

Right, lady. This is why I'm getting out of here. Because I cannot TELL you the number of Bay Area folks who had a similar reaction when I tell them I'm moving to L.A. "L.A.? Ew. WHY?" As if Los Angeles is just so beneath them.

I've never heard anyone in L.A. say stuff like that about any place else. Because people in L.A. have more important things to worry about than judging other cities. Clearly it's a nice enough place for the other 12 million people who live here, and it's fine for me too. So, shut up, weird lady in the elevator, and just let me pack in peace!

By the way, I also saw Homer's Mom in the elevator one last time, when I was bringing home my Burger King dinner. She wished me well and told me good luck and said, "Have fun in L.A.!"

And that's why I like her better.

The Going to Kinko's and El Pollo Loco while Super Spacey story

It's exactly what it sounds like. I was super spacey from lack of sleep. In retrospect, that's not an interesting story at all! So, nevermind. Sorry.

And let's not forget...

The Story of How I Scared the Hell Out of Everyone in the House

Joe and I took a nap yesterday evening. When Nicky (our roommate who owns this house, but just moved into it yesterday) came home, I woke up slightly. I knew it was her, and even though the house was pitch black, I imagined it couldn't be very late. I stretched a little in my sleepy state and my leg instantly went into the worst charlie horse in the world!!! I tried not to scream or cry, and in doing so, I half held my breath, as I attempted to groggily sit up and get to a standing position to stop the cramp. It was a major struggle as the pain was paralyzing. "SHIT!" I cried out in pain/frustration (mostly pain).

"Oh my god!" Nicky said in the dark, putting her stuff down and heading towards a lamp. "You scared me!"

"Sorry... FUCK!" I yelled, adding, "Sorry," again, that time for my language. Then I stood up, and the cramp stopped, though my leg was still painful (and was sore all the next day).

I can only imagine what Nicky thought when she walked into a completely dark, quiet house only to suddenly hear someone yell, "SHIT!"

Poor Joe thought I was going to wake everyone. He thought Nicky had been home and asleep, because he also thought it was the middle of the night. So he was very worried about my shouting!

The whole thing was kind of funny, after the fact, though!

And Lastly,

Walking in L.A.

So, shortly after I scared everyone, Nicky asked me if I'd like to go on a walk with her. Would I ever!! She knows the area much better than I, so she led us in a large circle around the neighborhood, up a huge hill, past a park, through residential neighborhoods, and back around to the house. The view at the top of the hill was incredible! I loved seeing all the lights of the city, sparkling in the night air, watching the planes fly into LAX. It was amazing!

We walked for an hour, exchanging all kinds of stories about exercising, jobs, friends, and more. Afterwards, I felt that familiar feeling - tired, slightly sore, and completely, utterly happy and relaxed. We'd walked for an hour, which I think must have been around 3 miles. I will clock it next time we go. Anyway, I can't tell you how much more at home I felt after that. Walking has become so much a part of my routine and my life that all I needed to find here was a nice trail and a walking partner, and I felt right at ease. I'm really glad about that.