Signed the lease yesterday: the place is mine. I have less than a month until I will be, for the first time in my life, a resident of a place other than Maryland. I won’t, of course, be a citizen of said location until I drag my lazy self to the DC DMV and get a new driver’s license …

… why a driver’s license when I’m planning on selling my car? Because at some point in my life I might wish to buy a car, and I’d rather not have to retake a driver’s test …

… anyway, so move in day is June 14th. I’ve decided to rent a cargo van and do the best I can to get as much stuff out of my apartment in one day as I can, especially the big stuff: bookshelves, chests, futon, couch, etcetra. I’ll still have two weeks to move the smaller stuff either into the new place, or into storage.

I can’t wait to see the view from the apartment’s roof deck.

… they tend not to view that as a compliment. Go figure.

That was a little later on Wednesday, after I’d looked at a few places, including one I went back to Thursday to leave a deposit check and fill out an application form (which was incomplete, which led to phone calls and fun on Friday, but everything was in on time). I expect to know Monday whether it’s mine or not, but I think it’s more a formality now more than anything else.

It’s a nice place, just past a block north of the Woodley Park Metro stop, but equally convenient to the Cleveland Park Metro. Judging from Wikipedia’s pages on those neighborhoods, I will be a resident of Cleveland Park. The building itself has a vague “wedge of cheese with a notch” shape, with this apartment forming a rough “L” at the western cut. DC doesn’t have quite as nice of a neighborhood information page as Live Baltimore (which is to say “nowhere near”), but here’s some info on Woodley Park, and Cleveland Park.

It’s a studio apartment: the living room windows face roughly north and overlook the National Zoo. There’s a fairly decent sized walk-in closet, and the main living space — which, in a studio, is living room + dining room + bedroom — is decently sized. I saw the apartment last week, and it’s still occupied: they fit a queen sized bed, two 4×4 Ikea Expedit units, an entertainment center, and a table into the space: my futon, couch, 2×4 and 4×4 Expedit, and two other Ikea shelving units (the names for which escape me) should fit quite nicely. Also accessible from this space is a walk-in closet: it looks decently sized, although it was packed full of clothes (one of the current occupants is a huge Boston Red Sox fan: stacks of shirts, and hats).

Here’s the really cool thing about this apartment — I mean … besides the view, and besides the location — it has a foyer. A studio with a foyer? Awesome! I mean, it isn’t a huge space, but it’s enough for a small bookshelf or two, and space to hang a poster, and maybe a coat rack … or a sword rack. From this space is accessible a full bathroom and a full kitchen.

The kitchen is actually smaller than the one I have now, and it has the narrowest oven I’ve ever seen: it looks like an easy bake! The apartment also has a dishwasher (yay!) and room for a kitchen cart: someplace to store to the toaster, the microwave, and the George with a butcher-board top for preparing grilled cheese sandwhiches. There’s space past all the appliances — with an east facing window — for a small table (I actually hope I can fit the dining room table I have now: it’s an old and much loved family heirloom).

(Did I mention the apartment building has a roof deck?)

Yes, the apartment is expensive. I had sticker shock: quite a bit of it, actually. But, when you take into account that I’m spending at least $800 a month on my car* — payment, insurance, gas — and plan on selling my car once I’m completely out of my Timonium apartment, I’ll actually be saving money: and enjoying a healthier lifestyle, both for myself and for the environment: Hoorah, walking! Hoorah, mass transit!

Now, here’s what sucks: I’m stuck in my Timonium lease until Monday, June 30th. The latest that my hopefully-new landlords can keep this apartment for me is Sunday, June 15th: not only Father’s Day, but also the day a friend of mine from waaaay back is tying the knot in Annapolis. What this means is not only that I’ll be paying two rents for two weeks, but that I’m also going to have a quick move-in on the 14th: just enough stuff to make the place liveable for that first week (I’ll be alternating between apartments, staying in DC on the nights I work at the p/t job and driving back to Baltimore the nights I don’t), then trying to get all of my moving done the following weekend. I’m really really really not looking forward to bringing the cats down: they hate the cages and will meow constantly for the whole trip. And not just “meow, meow”, but these really long, drawn out “Why are you torturing us?” meows. Hey: it’ll be worth it.

I have a pretty good idea of what I’m going to be taking with me, what’ll be going with my sister to Colorado, what’ll be stored in the basement of my parents’ house, and what I’m going to need to sell … or give away. If you’re looking for bookcases, wall shelves, folding tables, computer monitors, televisions, handguns**, kitchenware, or fans and lamps, keep your eyes on this blog: first chance for all of my “need to be rid of” stuff will be here.

*And I noticed that gas yesterday was about .05 cents higher than it was Thursday.

**Done legally through a licensed gun shop.

My cell phone didn’t die — it still works, erm, well, not in my apartment — but the screen is blank now. Anyone have

a.) advice on how to persuade AT&T to let me out of my contract without charging me an arm and a leg?

b.) an old cell phone lying around that I can borrow until the end of my contract? All I gotsa do is pop my sim card in …

Got two of something? Fingers? Hands? Arms? Legs? Feet? Eyes? Genitals? Keep ‘em crossed for about eighteen hours, ‘cuz I’m hoping for a view of the Zoo.

UPDATE: Keep ‘em crossed … still waiting to hear yay or nay …

Because, really, it is. Thank goodness Natty Boh is so cheap.

Actually, I hate coffee. I think it smells like shit. I think it tastes like shit.

That said …

Generally, my ass is draggin’ on Tuesdays. Get home late from Borders, I’m lucky to get six hours of sleep. Then I’m up early and at work. Today and last Tuesday I put in long days: eleven hours both. Last Tuesday, I was nearly dead at my desk until the afternoon, when I got a second wind. Today? I decided “fuck it” and poured myself a cup of coffee.

It smelled like shit. It tasted like shit. (Okay, it tasted what I imagine shit to taste like: bitter and nasty). But these were worthy trade-offs, because I was awake all day, and finished two projects.

Sweet.

Of course, my problem now is: will I be able to fall asleep at 9:30? Or have I cursed myself to being awake until two a.m.? ‘Cuz that would suck.

… of the DC Metro.

Why why why would anyone knit lingerie? On that same track, why would anyone write a book about how to knit lingerie? And who would want to read it?

Yeah, so for some reason I thought the Orioles were playing the Blue Rays on Thursday. Just goes to show how my brain is wired, I suppose …

… anyway. So I was at the game on Thursday, along with just about all of my new coworkers, treat of our employer: bought us tickets, and gave us spending money. Yay, cheap beer! Boo, for no Boh on the concession stands on the upper level. Plus, we got paid to be there, too. Cool! I know I had a much better time once I decided to take the plunge and start drinking cheap beer: Heineken, Miller, Budweiser. Beer out of plastic bottles? Weird!

This was my first ball game since I went to see the Red Sox with my dad last summer. My next game will be May 31st: the cousins are comin’ down from Connecticut, and we’re all going to the park. The Red Sox are again playing.

While I wore my 2004 Red Sox championship shirt to the game on Thursday, I think my dad would disown me if I wore a Sox shirt to an O’s v Sox game, so I’ll be investing in an O’s-logo shirt, and maybe a Nationals’ ball cap.

In case you care about these things, after completing some paper work relating to my position in the back offices at my part-time job, I got back to the front of the store around 6:30ish just in time to say “Have a good night!” to James Carville, who was far too busy talking on his cell phone to reply to me.

My feet hurt. No, that’s not the word. Ache? Scream?

My buddy Tim has recently moved to the Baltimore area, so today, I took him on a tour of the National Mall in DC. We wanted to meet our buddy Nick, but apparently he overslept. Like, waaaaay overslept. His loss: your loss, Nick!

We took the Metro from Grosvenor to Federal Triangle with the intention of lunching at the Post Office Pavilion. It’s supposed to open at twelve. I suppose it’s run by someone without a watch, because they didn’t open until about a quarter after. While we were hungry — and one of the dining establishment purports to sell gourmet hot dogs — the metal detectors kind of discouraged us (to eat? are you kidding me?) so we ended up eating at a place called Harriet’s on 11th Street. Not too bad, but a bit pricey: $4.25 for a mug of Yuengling, I’d rather the mug didn’t look like a kid’s cup.

Stomachs satisfied, we walked south to the mall, then bore west around the Washington Monument and along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial. From the Lincoln Memorial, we walked around the Tidal Pool, visiting the FDR and Jefferson Memorials before heading back to the Mall and heading east on Independence Avenue, went into the Air & Space Museum. Saw some exhibits, tracked down the USS Enterprise (both the starship, and the awesome 10-years in the making model of the aircraft carrier on the second level), then headed out just as it started to drizzle. We made a beeline for the Archives Metro, where we had an uneventful trip to Gallery Place, where we hit traffic from the game (heard people talking about the Wizards, but saw a lot of people in Cubs & Nationals gear, so who knows). Sadly, this was my mistake: I accidentally led us to the platform for the Glenmont bound train, and we missed the first train to Shady Grove. By the time we got back over, a completely empty with-the-lights-turned-off train pulled into the station, turned on its lights, and then we were urged in like sardines in a tin can. Holy crap.

Actually, by the time we got to Woodley Park, the train had emptied a bit. This was our stop: there’s a nice little Chinese place on the second floor of a building almost directly across Connecticut from the stop. Tim had tofu, I had General Tso’s. After, we walked north along Connecticut to the Cleveland Park stop. Beautiful area, and I made note of some apartments in the area, building on Thursday, when, enroute to a happy hour in Arlington, I stopped through and got information from some places. We had considered stopping through into the National Zoo briefly, but the weather discouraged us. We would’ve been back a lot sooner to Grosvenor, but I made another boo-boo on the Metro and we wound up taking the train back to Woodley Park.

This, as it happens, turned out to be a good thing: the Chinese food? Tasted good, but my stomach started cramping, and thank goodness there’s a customer restroom at Grosvenor (you gotta ask to be let into the back area), and I’m not going to explain much farther except to say I’m really really really glad that Metro exists.

Did I mention my feet hurt? Because, yeah.

Man, you gotta buy a lot of liquor and beer to have boxes for moving …

I realized today that my first day at my new job was March 24th, and my last day delivering pizzas was the previous Saturday, which makes today the one month anniversary of the last time I had to deliver a fuckin’ pizza.

WOOHOO!!

Charissa came over tonight to pick up what amounted to the vast majority of my VHS collection, including my Highlander: The Series video sets. I’m very happy I was able to find a home for these tapes, as the alternative was the dumpster. In any case, this also provides the opportunity to guilt trip Charissa into beers at every happy hour from now until the end of time, as well as providing me the opportunity to snap some photos of her in front of Hogwarts, which, by my calculations — and as a complete side note — has about six weeks of life left to it.

Anyway:

I’ve never quite believed Charissa when she talks about how dorky she is … until she started playing with the Hungarian Horntail and a Gryffindor mini-fig.

5:30am: Out the door
6:30am: In to work
12ish: eat a quick lunch at my desk (eh … maybe)
3pm: out of work
3:20pm: arrive at Metro (enroute, stop at grocery store for stamps and find mailbox)
3:50: arrive downtown
3:55: walk into bar. Dinner. (And beeeeer!)
4:30: at part time job and ready to work.
9: Adios, p/t gig!
9:40ish (depending on how long I gotta wait for a train): back at my car
10:40: HOME! (And sleeeeeeeeeeeep)
5am: BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
(Repeat).

Yeah, but I get 33% off books now, so be jealous. Be very jealous.