"i always carry morphine, valium and imodium..."

two weeks into living in the mountains and things finally seem to be settling down. i got most of my crap unpacked (well, whittled down to two boxes) and seem to getting the hang of everyday life down. even oscar has adjusted himself pretty well in his new surroundings. 

to say the very least, its strange up here. its strange and different. i can compare the feeling to almost being of the same taste as an abduction: taking a step back from the situation, i am completely in a different place than i was two weeks ago. 

its fucking dark up here. i have never seen so many stars in the sky at one time. i have never had to deal with deer shit in the driveway. people around me are dying left and right* and it takes me 40 minutes to go to the god damn grocery store. we cant buy ice cream in fear that it will melt in the trunk of the car.

needless to say, life is just different.

i did start going back to work- in another state. now before you go making assumptions, it is only 20 miles away in mass. so regardless of my bitching, it is not that far. whats interesting about this place is the true mountain/ townie people that some into the store. its not the season to be in great barrington right now and all of the odd, creepy, crazy people come out and buy paper and ink. but the drive through the berkshires is going to be fantastic once this rain goes away.

since moving in, i have also bought a new car. its cute. its fast. its a manual. i am super stoked to be zipping around it and thank god i enjoy driving because i have been made into a taxi service for my mom. 

take today for example. 

all we had to do today was a dr. appointment, macy's and the home depot. we ended up driving the equivalent of connecticut and mass combined up and down the eastern board of ny. we went to two different macys. we were gone for eight hours. i drove over 150 miles. we went to the home depot to get paint mixed while i called the cashier the 'asshole behind me' while he carried our paint (he didnt hear me- according to my mom, he was too busy staring at my tits an trying to get my attention.) i even went into the old opera house and walked around in the oldest theater in ny (there will be pics soon.)

tomorrow on the agenda: working out (fucking awesome...) the grocery store (40 minutes away- shit) and painting the bathroom (ugh- i cant even reach half of it.) 

heres to hoping that i somehow dont get lost in albany again during any part of the day. it could totally happen.

* within the first week, twice we woke up to the police in the front yard, scarring the crap out of my mother, because the elderly neighbors passed in the middle of the night.

life is a changin'

shew... man have i've been busy! things on my end have drastically changed- so much so that i am exhausted and can barely type this out... so, soon- there will be a new post. :)

either you come get me or i am cutting it off...

top 5 things i learned when moving by yourself:

5. slush is your shoes worst enemy.

 

its half liquid and half solid. the shit just plain sucks. the more you step in it, the less solid it gets. it seeps into your shoes, absorbed by your socks and the stays wet until you take everything off. don't bother moving it- it flows like water and will go wherever it wants.

4. pack your vehicle nice and tight.

if you have a long journey ahead of you, the last thing that you want to hear is a rattling coming form somewhere inside your car. it's too full to look for the source and you end up having to suck it up and pray that the radio goes loud enough to mask the sound. it's like having a cricket in your house that you can not find.

3. purge, purge, purge

i had entirely too much shit. i ended up using 30 garbage bags to remove crap from my apartment that i didnt need anymore. not to mention, i drove to the donation drop-off 4 times to donate items. all crap that i did not need. plus, after packing one box, i was sick and tired of packing. it made my life easier in so many ways.

2. splurge and rent a fucking uhaul*.

life would have been so much easier if i had followed this simple rule.

*obviously only works if there are either two of you or if you aren't afraid to strap your car to the truck and tow it behind the uhaul. 

be careful of strong winds:

1. do not strap your items to the roof of your car, regardless if you have a roof rack.

i bet you can guess what happened. no, i don't want to talk about it. yes, i almost cried. lesson learned. hindsight is always 20/20.

*****

what can i say? i have to learn lessons the hard way. but after the whole bed fiasco, the trip turned out to be pretty nice. oscar didn't mind the trip at all:

and of course, i got to see some pretty sights:

and i fell in love with this song:

yeasayer: rome