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June 18, 2007

The Long-Short-Long-Short-Long-Short Moving Plan

The C@L equivalent of moving from W 83rd Street to W 80th Street

You'd think after a month of travel and a declaration of abandonment in re: my (now former) apartment that I'd make more of an effort to spend time in C@L. Not so much. Since returning my jaunt around the globe, I spent a weekend in Central Washington, five days in New York (little bit of a detour to the Meetings), and a weekend in Portland. On my lone weekend in town, I moved.

(Not exactly a mellow and relaxing way to kick of the summer. Oh wait; I forgot; summer doesn't start until July. It was 52 degrees and raining this morning. I guess I couldn't have picked a better time of year for all of this!)

This move actually fit quite snugly into what has now become a familiar migratory pattern for yours truly. That is, it was the short move that followed the long move. A brief history thereof:

July 1998: move from Philly to Austin, TX. Roommate/ partner-in-crime and I say yes to the first apartment we see. Decorate apartment with oversized novelty penguins and purchase Nintendo chairs for optimal gaming experience. Learn to play racquetball. (Long.)

March 1999: move a few exits down the Mo-Pac into a glorified frathouse with three friends. House comes complete with swimming pool, pool table, Hot-Wheels-sized cockroaches and laughable $375 monthly rent. (Short.)

October 1999: move from Austin to New York. Long-ass drives and cross-country movers are involved. Settle comfortably into Upper Left Side of Manhattan. Apartment best described as "slender"; rent triples. Begin eating take-out/ delivery food six days a week. (Long.)

October 2001: move a whopping three blocks downtown into glorified frathouse with two friends. Absence of natural light is balanced by presence of both washer/ dryer and dishwaher (W/D; D/W) in unit. Neighbors remain fairly chill with amount of shouting emanating from said apartment; landlords make hobby of sending threatening letters and bickering over trivial rent increases ("it's the principality"). Apartment survives 2003 blackout, Eagles Super Bowl loss. (Short.)

August 2005: following a brief interregnum at other communal Upper Left Side apartment, send sum of worldly possessions to Upper Left Side of America. See 14 apartments before settling on a winner. Live by myself for the first time since my sophomore year of college. Cook most nights; enjoy gorgeous view and comfortable amount of living space. Purchase Nintendo chair for optimal gaming experience. (Long.)

June 2007: curse heavens and decide to vacate bedbug-ridden apartment for good. Pack possessions into storage and move a whopping four blocks up the street into glorified frathouse with two friends. Plant ass on couch and commence shouting at television. Settle comfortably back into roommate lifestyle. (Short.)

Yeah, so that's pretty much how it all works. When I move, it's either 1,500+ miles or three blocks. Go big or go home.

As for the move itself, it was remarkably non-horrific. I am lucky enough to have friends who, even at our increasingly advanced age, were patient/ generous enough to volunteer to sherpa boxes about and twirl random furniture through doorways. I think it was a relatively easy move, but it still took most of the day and involved multiple phases (move a bunch of my stuff into storage, abuse Costo return policy, move into new home). Apart from having to deal with the crank-addicted charm squad at U-Haul (Lake Placid comma get it!), it was actually pretty painless.

And now here I am. This is my first post from the new digs, but certainly not my last. It's a great place, and I feel pretty fortunate to have landed here -- this all could have been a lot more complicated/ awful. As for speculation in re: the likely distance of my next move, well, no need to be daft about it.

Posted by thatkid at June 18, 2007 9:54 PM under ThatKid

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Posted by: micah at June 19, 2007 8:01 AM

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