‘Ello there!
I apologize in advance for all the text here, but I didn’t really take any pictures over the last few days, and I’m too lazy to hunt any appropriate ones down on the internet. I just feel like rambling. So, here is my ramble.
I have officially moved! Hurrah, and also yippee! My days of being a bag lady and rotating through my friends’ houses are over, and I could not be more excited.
I am loving my new pad, especially the area I am in. I have never lived so close to so many exciting things, and I feel giddy and a little overwhelmed. I grew up in the boonies, and for most of my life my family had to drive for 10 minutes to get to the closest store. We had to drive for 10 minutes to pick up the mail! Even during college when I lived in the city, I didn’t really live IN the CITY.
And recently I lived in the suburbs, and true, there were things within walking distance, and downtown wasn’t far, but for some reason I still pretty much drove everywhere.
But oh man, I see a LOT of walking in my future. There is a grocery store, a Tim Hortons, a Starbucks, a Subway (and an actual subway station), AND my gym chain, all on the end of my street. It takes me about three minutes to walk to any of those things. The liquor store and a ton of pubs with pretty decent patios are close by as well, so this summer should be a good time. There’s a bunch of other fun stuff too, but I haven’t had time to really check it out yet.
I spent almost the entire day moving on Saturday, and then spent Sunday and yesterday in Stratford (hometown of Justin Bieber, what!) for work meetings. Fun times, but basically equals no organization. My stuff is still everywhere, in a very disorganized way. But, I would rather have my stuff everywhere in my own apartment than spread around literally everywhere: my parents’ house, my friends’ houses, my car, my own house (which closes tomorrow!), and even my office.
It also needs to be said that the people in my building are possibly the nicest and most friendly people in the world. After my moving buddies (thank you, friends!) left on Saturday, I still had a bunch of stuff to bring up from my car. I made about six trips in the elevator, carrying so much stuff I looked like a packhorse, and nearly every person I saw offered to help me.
One young European couple was totally having a passionate make-out fest while we were waiting for the elevator, and the guy stopped mid make-out, turned to me, and asked me if I needed help carrying anything. And it was not even because I was staring them down like a big creepy stalker, he was genuinely offering.
Another man sprinted ahead of me to every door on the way to the parking garage, just so that he could open it for me. And I mean sprinted. And I wasn’t even carrying anything. I liked it.
As excited as I am though, sometimes a little feeling of worry will creep up on me. I have never lived completely on my own before, so when little issues come up I’m all “Ahh, I have to deal with this by myself!” and I have a minor moment of panic. It usually subsides quickly though. I feel like I am fairly independent, and I have learned that you can hang pretty much anything with thumb tacks (and hey, I did build my own tree fort).
Sometimes I also get the feeling like I am moving backwards in my life, as much as I hate to admit this. Usually you do the apartment in the city thing, and then you buy a house in the suburbs when you start to settle down. But I am selling my house, and going back to renting. And I am not settling down. I am just getting started!
I was one of the first of my close friends to take the house-buying leap, and now most of them are all buying houses and getting married, and I am doing the opposite.
I am good with where I’m at, but I am bringing this up because I feel like owning your own home is a sign of success, and renting has more of a…I don’t know. Almost a negative connotation? Like you say “I bought a house!” all proudly, compared to “Oh, I’m just renting…” like you are stupidly throwing your money away.
I am going to try not to do that. I want to be proud of my apartment. I couldn’t afford to buy a house where I am currently renting, but living there right now is perfect for me. I am not just renting. I am exactly where I want to be right now, and I am proud of it. And I am excited.
And that concludes my rant.
Also just a note, my blogging will probably be sporadic this week as I have kind of a lot going on and I don’t have the internet yet.
