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Puttering isn't the right word, but it's the first word that comes to mind.
I made a rather indifferent lunch of rice, tofu, green peppers, mushrooms
and onions. Eh.
Didn't really get all that much done, to be honest. I was to meet Justin
at 2:00 PM, to help him go pick up a truck for his move. Big lifting day
for many of us.
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Right
as I'm walking up Marshfield towards Justin's apartment, I see Alex heading
the opposite way. Talk about synchronicity. We knock, but there's no answer.
So, like the two good Indiana boys that we are... we naturally take to
a bit of curb squatting and chat. Within a few minutes, Justin shows up
from a late lunch and squats with us a while. The entire time, I'm smiling
like an idiot because I'm sitting next to my friends, the sun is out and
the day is good. After a few more minutes of sitting, we head inside and
turn to the bitter business of transporting furniture.
Once
inside, we realize there's not all that much for us to do. We pick up
the truck at 3 PM, so there's a bit of waiting around to be had. Justin,
ever cautious, tries to call U-Haul and checks on his reservation.
I
didn't realize how much I liked this picture until I opened it up in Photoshop.
This is Justin, on hold with the bastages at U-Haul. Only at home, hours
later, did I see the wonderful photograph (by Stu)
in the background. So Justin calls - and they tell him that, if the truck
arrives on time, he'll have it at 3.
We
kill some time by cleaning out his back room, taking a few knickknacks
and whatnot out to the dumpster. We find an old jumprope, and Alex, Justin
and I have a few turns on it. We're all in an enclosed space and it's
probably not the smartest thing to do - as Alex ends up twisting his ankle
some. Three rolls around, and Justin and I head out.
At the U-Haul, they tell us that "our truck" has not arrived
yet, and that we'll have to wait. So... we chat about work a bit, hang
out. The next thing you know, it's closing on 4 PM and we're still truckless.
At this point, Justin and I are getting frustrated and impatient. I end
up recalling a
thread on WH about U-Haul, as well as my friend Heather's hellacious
experience. Finally, around 4 (after almost an hour of waiting), they
give us a truck. Justin had ordered a 17 footer, but they give us a dinky
ass 10 footer. Justin decides the hell with it, and takes it -
better started than never.
So...
back at Justin's. When we arrive, Stu,
Rob and Gretchen
have arrived, and are hanging out with Alex. We pack the truck up, and
head out. Before we leave (Stu is riding his motorcycle, Rob and Gretchen
go in his minivan, and Alex and Justin go in the U-Haul), Justin asks
me to ride his bike over. Now... I haven't ridden a bike in years. Years.
But I get on, wobble a bit, and make it over to his new apartment no problem.
The seat is a bit high for me, but I make do. No pics, unfortunately,
but I'm sure I was pretty funny looking, trying to stop at stoplights
and half-jump half-stagger off the bike to stop. :)
So...
one load down, we return to Justin's old apartment. At this point, Alex's
ankle is causing him a great deal of pain. He ends up going back to Stu's
place, where he orders Thai food for dinner. Since he can't really walk
- he holds down the fort and waits for everyone to arrive.
That'd
be Rob (left)
and Stu. When all's
moved in and dumped into the apartment, we all sit on the porch a bit
and gather ourselves. We then head over to Stu's place, which is a bit
cleaner and actually has places for us to sit. :)
Justin
- looking dapper right outside his apartment.
When
we arrive at Stu's, Justin and I head out for a beer run.
Alex
is laid up with his gimp foot.
When
we get back, a bag of ice, two bottles of Oat Stout, a pint of tequila,
a case of St. Pauli's Girl and a bottle of Gatorade later... the food
is ready. I scarf down food like it's my friggin' job, and enter into
that hazy nap zone for a brief while. The talk turns to music,
and I spend most of my time listening.
Surprisingly,
I don't own many CD's. A handful actually. And my knowledge of music is
woefully inadequate. Alex, Stu, Justin and Rob are all discussing who
the greatest artists of the 20th Century are, and are throwing out names:
Arlo Guthrie, Ira Gershwin, Dylan... I realize that most people's CD collection
dwarfs mine, hands down. I think I may actually own something like 10,
maybe 15 CD's all told.
Back
in school, I would listen to the same CD's over and over and over again,
when I was writing. I had this routine where I would wake up, shower,
put on coffee, do pushups, do situps, sit down, throw in a Shudder to
Think CD, and write. Did this every day for I don't know how long. So
I wonder if it's repetition, habit, some compulsive obsessive thing in
me? Or if it's simply the fact that I never latched onto music like almost
everyone else in the world did.
Deep
down, I feel that everyone, all of us, input the exact same amount
into our brains. Some know more math, some know more biology, some know
more stories, some know more family history. We all take in the same amount
of information and store the exact same amount of data - the only variance
is our focus, what we choose to remember and know. Well... most people
I know have devoted a good amount of brain space to music. So, when I
realize I have this big vacant nothingness in terms of music... I ask
myself: What information is taking the place of that? Where else have
I been focusing my energies and attention?
I'm
still trying to figure that puzzle out.
After
a bit, I say my good-byes. I'm pretty tired, and ready for sleep. I walk
out, do the waves, and head to my car.
Along
the way, I come across this apartment on Augusta:
When
I arrive home, I realize my next door neighbors are throwing one hell
of a party. They have a live band in the backyard (and it's a gorgeous
house, with an amazing backyard btw)... and it's loud as hell. I mean,
in my bedroom, it sounds like the guitarist is right outside the window,
standing on my balcony. It wouldn't be so bad if the music was good, but
this shit is loud and crappy.
But
- sometime around 11PM, it got really quiet. At first, I was fairly pissed
off at the prospect of having to deal with the noise and possibly sleeping
on the couch, away from the din. But they seem to be incredibly considerate,
and the noise stopped immediately at 11. :) Let's hear it for nice neighbors!
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Heather
left me a message today, and I called her back when I got home. She asked
if I'd like to go with her to her friend Patrick's cookout tomorrow, though
she wasn't sure on the time.
For
me, I was planning to spend tomorrow working on that Flash project for
Ben, and maybe making Chinese Dumplings (my mom talked me through the
recipe a few years ago, and it takes about 2+ hours to make enough). I
haven't made any in ages, and I can eat a ton of 'em. So I thought
that maybe tomorrow would be a day to take it easy, relax at home, get
some work done, and have me some dumplings.
Well..
I'm torn. I guess I'm going to see where I am workwise when Heather calls.
It would be incredibly fun to hang out with her again, but I'm still torn
right now on what I want to do.
Poor
Heather - her back is hurting her again today. Wish there was something
I could do to make her feel better. Short of coming up with a vial of
Codeine, I'm not sure if there's anything I could do.
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