my moral standing is lying down

It's been a LONG--- holy shit, it's been a year! Since I last updated.

My life's completely different from when I was in LA, and pretty different even from a year ago, having been back for only about a month at the time. I've now been working at the NY headquarters for almost a year, as a data auditor for compliance purposes, and it's definitely not what I'd imagined. It's also not anywhere near as interesting as the research I'd been doing for them in LA, so that's a whole can of worms that I'm not really ready to open just yet.

I've also been living with Rich for a year now, and that's been pretty great. Not having lived with a partner before, I had no idea what it could or would be like, and so I've discovered that sometimes it's wonderful and other times it's frustrating and challenging. It's been great, though.

OMG-- I wish I'd been more consistent in updating LJ over the past year, so that I could have chronicled what it's been like living in this Bushwick apartment. It's been one thing after another and I'm SO fed up with being here. First the fridge kept breaking and it took months to get the landlord to finally replace it with a new one instead of trying to repair it (and half the time it was actually Rich repairing it)! Then we had toilet tank problems, hot water issues, frozen/burst pipes, and most recently no heat! It's been a crazy winter, I know, but the landlord must wait til everything's on the verge of broken (or IS broken) before fixing it. I've absolutely had it up to here with it! Luckily we're now in a month-to-month situation, so I've been looking for another place when possible. At this point we're looking for a place to ourselves, so it's much more difficult to find an affordable place in some of the neighborhoods we'd prefer for social and daily-commute reasons.

For a few months we had an awesome roommate, Daniel, who's 23 and SO MUCH FUN. We all got along really well and I totally count myself lucky to have him as a friend! We still get together every so often for drinks or brunch, etc. Our current roomie, while very nice and reliable with the rent... well, he just isn't a guy I can relate much to. On top of that, his schedule is completely random (not the typical 9-5 office job), so it doesn't offer many opportunities for us to bond over anything. He let us know recently that he'd been thinking of moving come September, but since his girlfriend's roommate might be moving out in June, that will likely change.

To be honest, I'm pretty glad about that. If Rich and I can find a place of our own for June, that would be ideal.

Hopefully I'll be back on here a bit more consistently; I miss having my LJ community to come home to! <3

Spencer was the boy at the drums with the gorgeous smile who could lay out a joke so dry it wasn't funny until Ryan laughed.

This description from Anywhere You Let It Go by skoosiepants has been stuck in my mind since I read it earlier this week; I just can't stop thinking about it. Anyway, if you haven't read any of her fic (which you probably have since it's like four years old by now), just go and read it all. Because it's all insanely quirky and amazing. And I now know more about fanon!MCR and fanon!Cobra Starship than I ever thought I would. Everyone in bandom is clearly nuts. =D

In other news, I have been a hermit this whole week, have barely talked to anyone, and it's sort of freaking me out but I can't seem to do a whole lot to fix it. =/

ETA: Oh yeah, Liz and Juliet found an apartment in Woodside, right off the 7 train, so even though it's not suuuuper easy to get to, they're going to be pretty close and it will all be theoretically awesome! Technically, there IS a bus, at least, that goes pretty closely between our places, so there's a plus.

So in case you missed the memo, Judy and I are moving once again. This time, without Maryann as she ditched us to go live with A BOY. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT, YO?

Anyway, we'll be moving to Astoria. A little closer to the city, and a little more expensive. That's usually how it goes.

Last weekend of June (6/26-27). I know I asked before, but if anyone is free that weekend and would like to help us move, you get paid in pizza! And maybe, if you're good... cupcakes. Jury's still out on that one, though. ^_~

Saturday will probably be two trips loading and unloading. We'll need the most help that day. Sunday we'll be picking up our new (used) couch! From some guy in Manhattan! W00t! So we'll need a helping hand or two for that as well, but not as many. And we may end up making a trip to Ikea on Sunday, so if you're interested in taking the trip there, you're welcome to come with!

I'm getting so excited despite the fact that I'm still not done packing.

You know what's awesome though? Someone contacted me about the lot of manga I put up on Craigslist and tomorrow at 6pm, in front of Grand Central Station, I will receive a whole $15, and the unwanted manga will be GONE GONE GONE. (ETA: Hopefully this person is not a serial killer.)

Randomly, I wish RayK were helping me move. I think he'd be fun to move with. *pets plotbunny* So glad you showed up, plotbunny! I was beginning to fear for Midsummer Santa!

So! This kind of snuck up on us because we weren't really sure whether we'd try to stay here or not, and we didn't really know what Mark, our roommate of 3 months, would be doing... but thedreamerworld and I have found a 2-bedroom in Astoria.

Mark wants to live with 2 of his friends and so he'd definitely be moving out if we decided to stay here. But then Judy and I wouldn't be able to afford this apartment and it had taken us 3 months to find another roommate with Maryann still paying most of her share of the rent even though she'd already moved out. Considering how difficult it might be to find a third roommate for a long-term lease, Judy and I opted to look for 2-bedroom apartments closer to Manhattan.

My priorities were decent sized bedrooms, good closet space, not a tiny living room, and preferably near the R/V subway line (if near the N/W line then also within a 20-minute walk of the R/V line because the N/W line is elevated and in the winter I'd rather have access to the underground line too). Judy wanted it to be within a 5-minute walk from a supermarket, and hopefully near a bustling neighborhood/shopping area.

Well, after only our 3rd day looking (only our 3rd apartment too), we found the perfect apartment. It's equidistant between two of the stations on the R/V line and within a 15-minute walk to the N/W line. It's 3 blocks from a supermarket and busy shopping area. It's got decent sized bedrooms (even though they're smaller than what we've got now, respectively); both with bigger-than-usual closets (though also both smaller than what we've got now) -- and TWO bathrooms (which is kinda weird and superfluous but whatever, I'm not really going to complain).

I'm really shocked we managed to find something that's pretty much exactly what we were looking for, and SO QUICKLY.

You know what's ridiculously funny, though? WE ARE LITERALLY THREE BLOCKS DOWN, ON THE SAME STREET as Maryann!!!

The downside: broker fee. Which, whatever; that's the price of doing business. The long-term downside is significantly higher rent for smaller bedroom space. We're paying for location. I'm absolutely aware of that fact and don't resent it because it's part of what I want. We could try to find a place farther away from the train, like Maryann and AJ, and have a slightly lower rent. But being closer to the train (and closer to the city) is a priority for me, and that's what it's worth.

This does mean, though, that I'm going to have to really cut back on frivolous spending. No eating out, bringing lunch to work, rarely going out for drinks, etc. There's no way I'm going to cut out Rangers games at MSG, but I'm definitely going to stick to a friend's 400 seats because I absolutely cannot afford anything else. I may also have to push back the Berlin trip to the fall and cancel the Vancouver trip altogether for this year. Which is disappointing, but I'm absolutely committed to going to Berlin, especially considering the contributions I received for my birthday toward that trip!!!

I'm not going to discuss game 4 because I was super depressed after the Hawks lost and the night was only saved because Maryann, Cathy, Jethro, Liz and I hung out talking for another hour. =D

ETA: OH YEAH! If you're interested in helping me move on the last weekend of June, there's a free meal in it for ya, just like last time. =D

It isn't exactly all set up yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, it's been so humid lately, that it's uncomfortable at times. =(

And oh man, the money that was spent that I definitely DO NOT have....

Ah well, it's all worth it anyway. =)

Thanks to Juliet, Ben, Jerry, Sean, AJ, and Liz for helping move stuff over and set up the furniture! I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I went back Sunday for the bed slats for my bed, so I actually have a place to sleep that's NOT the floor. Each room is slowly coming along. And yes, we'll definitely do a housewarming party at some point -- though it will probably be after Otakon, as busy as July is going to be for us.




( random mental note )

So this Saturday Liz flies back into JFK at 3pm! YAYE! I missed her SOOOO much! It's only been a month (less than 30 days, even), but I've certainly felt her absence. ;_;

Later on Saturday evening will be IZZARD!!! At Radio City Music Hall. I am SO EXCITED for this! I can hardly contain myself~~!! John, Juliet, Judy, Will, Raquel, Maryann, Angelica, Liz, my mom and me.

Unfortunately, several of us will be getting up early on Sunday morning to go pick up a Budget truck to move Judy's stuff from her place to the new place -- including TWO COUCHES! So if anyone's available to help us move stuff, that would be greatly appreciated. Judy is not allowed to help move furniture because of her wrist. Juliet will be helping us, but I'm remembering now that she fractured her hand earlier this year and I'm wondering how that will affect things. I know Liz can't help move heavy stuff either because of her torn ACL and knee surgery.

Jeeeeeez, people! Stop breaking yourselves! This is why we can't have nice things!

Judy (and Winnie) will be living in my basement with me and Maryann for the week after. During which time, Maryann and I will continue to pack our stuff. But it's a short week -- July 4th is a Friday and I've reserved a Uhaul cargo van for that day to move our stuff to the new place and hopefully pick up some furniture at Ikea as well since we pretty much know what we want.

I'd prefer to go to someone's 4th of July party or hang out, but I think it's smarter to move everything as soon as possible so that we have the full weekend to set up the house and get settled in as much as we can.

So yeah, if you're available either Sunday 6/29 or Friday 7/4 to come help, we'd appreciate it. Even if it's just a couple hours' worth! =D WE WILL FEEEED YOU!!!!

But that seems to be just the tip of the iceberg for the past month. My whole family was sick while we were moving our crap from our apartment to our new house. It was a pain in the butt, let me tell you! I tried to write in this LJ several times, but something always happened to prevent my writings from being published! The first time, I got kicked off AOL, so the window closed -- along with several paragraphs I had already written. I was so pissed that I just couldn't bring myself to re-write it or anything, so I turned off the computer. The second time was when we finally had the computer set up in the house and I was typing in Internet Explorer, so if AOL kicked me offline, I'd still be able to save what I wrote. That's when I accidentally brushed the restart button, so I lost it anyway!

In any case, I was sick at the beginning of the move, but seemed to get better. My parents and sister, though, got worse. I was feeling great.... then I got sick. It hit me a few days ago; I was dead tired and even fell asleep for an hour or two during the middle of the day -- that's how I know I'm sick, 'cause I never fall asleep during the middle of the day unless I'm sick. And now I'm all stuffed-up, runny-nosed, coughing up lungs every few minutes. It's yucky.

Not to mention, I lost the earring I had in the cartilage of my left ear for a few months, so it took me a few days to get to an earring store (Claire's) to buy another one. Angelica put that one in, and she said to tighten it when I got home 'cause it was a little loose. But I forgot to 'cause I wasn't feeling well (oh, did I mention that my wisdom teeth are cutting again, which gives me a massive headache, and the right side of my lower gum is swollen?), so I woke up the next morning and it was gone again! ::sweatdrop:: So then I get all mad at myself 'cause I'm spending a fortune on stupid earrings. Not even pairs of earrings, but single ones! So I decided the next day I'd have to go buy another one and tighten it this time. But then -- lucky me -- I found the one that I'd lost the second time, and put it in my ear and pushed it down a little so it wouldn't fall out.

But that wasn't such a good thing, I guess, because it started hurting when I leaned on it in a certain position, so I had to go get a different one anyway. But by this time I had decided to get an earring like Angelica's, where the whole hoop goes through the hole and the ball is what connects the two ends of the hoop. So we went to the village on Monday and I got one (after much protest 'cause I'm a scaredy-cat when it comes to pain, although I do have a high pain tolerance... I make no sense, but I guess that's nothing new). So the ball that I got was a black one. But I meant to get a red one. I was just so worried about the pain of having my hole stretched (please no hentai comments!) that I completely forgot about wanting a red ball and just asked for what I already had, which was a black one.

The reason I wanted a red one was because of a dream I had had earlier in the week about being in the village and wanting to get my ears pierced with a hoop with a red ball, but wondering if Angelica would be mad if I went and got my ears pierced without her, so I ended up not getting them pierced. It felt so real. LOL. When I saw her the next day I asked her if she'd have minded, and she said no, so that was kinda like a go-ahead, I guess.

So I got the black ball instead of the red one. It's okay, I guess. I'll try to see if I can get a red ball without the hoop. ::shrugs:: But about an hour before I got the new hoop put in the cartilage of my ear (which is now throbbing, but not enough to really bother), I got a second hole in each of my earlobes. Little gold stars with white sparkly fake-diamond things in the middle. I don't normally wear gold 'cause I like silver much better, but they were stars and I really like stars, so it's okay. It's only for about 2 months, anyway. I think I waited for 3 months before changing my cartilage piercing, so 2 months should be fine for the lobe piercings (which don't bother me at all, actually, except for the inital burning sensation which only lasted 5 minutes anyway).

But that's not all!!!

The day after I got really sick (which was last Tuesday, I believe, 'cause Angelica and I were supposed to hang out Wednesday, but I still wasn't feeling well enough to really go out), I actually felt a bit better. So it was Wednesday when I sprained my ankle. ::sweatdrop:: I'm not normally this much of a klutz. (Shutup, Angelica.) Yes, I do tend to sprain one of my ankles, on average, once a year, but all this stuff doesn't normally happen all at the same time! Oddly enough, this ankle sprain isn't so bad. I've been able to walk on it almost as if I hadn't sprained it, but it's still a bit sore in certain positions.

Yesterday, after going to the village to do my ear-care package, (Oh, btw, the cartilage hole-stretching didn't hurt at all when the guy did it, but it's been throbbing in the background since a few hours after and all of today), we went to Burlington Coat Factory to buy me a coat. After an hour or so of intense deliberation which included me trying on 2 different long wool coats several times (one gray, one black, slightly different styles), I decided I'd hold onto the gray one and go look to see if they had anything else I'd like. Angelica wasn't quite happy with the gray one, so she oh-so-subtly led me over to some faux sherling jackets. (Did I mention that she really likes faux sherling and has an intense hatred for long wool coats that she hides only half as well as she thinks she does?)

So there was only one that I could possibly have considered because it was this navyish/blackish/grayish color and all the others were tan (eewwww) or green (eeewwwww). Those are sooo not my colors. Even if they were, I just couldn't wear anything that light or bright. I'd go crazy. (Crazier?) Anyway, the navy/black/gray faux sherling just happened to be my size. Lucky me 'cause there was only one of them. Apparently Angelica tried it on, but it was a bit too small for her. (Baka. Were we going coat-shopping for her or me, I'd like to know!) But anyway, I ended up getting it. It feels a lot warmer than the wool would be. But I had just gotten used to long coats 'cause I had been borrowing my sister's long wool coat this past winter.... so now I have to get used to a jacket again. It's nice though, so I forgive Angelica for being a sneak.

So today I hung out with Angelica the whole day. It was nice. I got some money that was waiting for me at the post office, so I didn't even use the $50 that was in my wallet. Maybe I should have, though. 'Cause I lost my wallet somewhere in the library on 40th Street and 5th Avenue between 3:30 pm and 6:00 pm, but didn't realize it until 7:20 pm. Did I mention that they close at 7, so I couldn't go back? Hidoi, ne?

So I'm going back tomorrow morning. Hopefully some kind person turned it in. (I'm not counting on it, though. After all, this is New York.)

I feel like I should be reading that children's book that everyone seemed to have read to them in 1st grade, Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Unfortunately, I don't own a copy.

Gah! It's practically one week left until Otakon!!! Jeez... I dunno if I can take the stress. In any case... boy, have I been busy lately. It seems every person & their kid brother wants copies from my distro site or to trade for something or other. Not that I blame them, of course. I mean, that's what the site's for anyway... it just seemed like it all happened within a one-week time span and I was rushing to get things copied for him, her, and the next one. o.O*

Of course, a few of them were my regulars and so I have no problem with those.... it's actually quite fun to get regulars! I feel like I'm sharing stuff with them & we get to gossip afterwards, LOL. And sometimes, like just recently, for instance... someone ordered the first 3 volumes of Kodomo no Omocha. Well, that's one of my (many) tapes that I haven't had time to see... so, since I had to copy it, I decided to sit down and watch it.... and now I'm hooked! Although I'm sure a lot of people would be insulted by my saying this, I find it to be kind of like a younger version of Kare Kano. By no means are they exactly the same... in fact there are many differences! But they are similar in many ways and the characterization of the main and certain secondary characters are similar to each other. And, I have to admit, I absolutely LOVE school stories! The only one I was disappointed in (of those I've seen so far) is To Heart. That was very disappointing... it was too episodic to be really satisfying. ::sigh:

Tonikaku... besides the copying & trading I've been doing, I've also been trying to raise (and save) money for Otakon... you'll be glad to know that I accomplished my goal. Not that I had a real number goal in mind, you understand, but I *did* end up saving several hundred dollars to throw away... uh, I mean spend!... at Otakon. I'm very proud of myself. Not the least of which was due to the very kind woman who bought my Ini-D dj at an exorbitant amount. Then again, Ini-D Ryousuke X Keisuke is kind of HTF, so I'm not surprised she paid so much. Not that I'd pay so much, but hey, if she's satisfied with what she paid for, then all the better for both of us!

I'm skipping topics like a stone skips on water. (That was a REALLY bad simile, but it's late you'll have to excuse me.) In any case... I'm very excited about Otakon. Even besides the fun & festivities (& the cel tables!) I'll get to meet so many of the people I've been talking to online for the past year!

And Sharon -- sweetie that she is -- has made a present of a certain 2x1 dj that I'd been drooling over! I'm *dying* for that dj NOW! I ran downstairs the other day and right into the car saying, "Mommy! Can we go to Otakon now, pleeeeeeease?" It's sad how certain things can bring on a bad case of regression.

And about the move! We won't be moving til the middle of September, so I don't have to worry about getting everything packed up double-time and ready to go by the end of August. That was really putting the pressure on. I mean, when you live in a place for 20 years without moving, you tend to have a pile of garbage that, when you look it over, you decide you just can't bear to part with! LOL. Even when it's a medium-sized 2-bedroom apartment that you've been living in. Does anyone really understand the amount of junk that piles up in a place for 20 years?! It's really amazing. I brought down 15 garbage bags the other day, full of school notes from 7th grade through 12th grade! (I haven't yet achieved enough distance to say goodbye to my notes from the first 2 years of college... not to mention some of my things from Kindergarten and 1st grade... I don't think you could pay me to part with some of that stuff!) I guess I'm a pack rat, what do you think?

Sheesh... this is what happens when you play DDR for a few hours straight and then go online to check your mail. Ramblings... about nothing and everything. It's pathetic. Oh well.

Things I will do before I leave for Otakon:
-- copy the rest of the tapes for which I'm distributing/trading/etc.
-- work a little (need more money, LOL... oh! and a job interview on Monday morning!)
-- play a little (DDR, here I come)
-- see some friends from junior high (supposedly to go bowling... ::shudder::)
-- complete my cosplay costume! (riiiight)
-- re-dye my hair just before we leave (it's fading a little)
-- update my distro site! (I have to let everyone know the distro won't be open while I'm away)
-- watch the rest of Kenshin (only about 8 episodes left!)
-- watch more Kodocha!

Okay! So that's my TO DO list! Let's see exactly how much of it I can accomplish!

Oyasumi nasai! (Not that I'm going to go to sleep, you understand...)

P.S. Duo's back as my default pic! I missed him! ::sniff:: Mana will come out every so often, but I think Duo got a little annoyed with me for taking him down for so long. He's so demanding!