Moved!

It's finally done; I've moved out. It took two days to physically get all of the furniture out of the apartment, and then it took about four days to unpack it all into my current living situation. And I can't fit it all in, so I am looking at putting some of it in mini-storage, depending on the cost. I really hate moving, and from a purely physical standpoint, this move was harder to do than all my previous ones. Clearly, I am way more out of shape than I thought. I need to start going back to the gym so when I move next, I won't feel like I am going to pass out.

After about a week's break, I've started back on my artwork again. Having the scanner unpacked helps. I've got plans for upgrading my overall art supplies, but that will have to wait until I start earning my own cash. I am avoiding thinking about school for the time being. Part of me wishes things has turned out differently, but the other part of me is glad to be rid of that particular stressor. There's still some stress about the whole thing. Fortunately, it is not quite like it was before.

Packing Up

If all goes according to plans, this should be my last week here before I move back in with my folks. Yes, I have become a cliche, but I take solace in that it should give me some ability to earn a few bucks before striking out on my own again. I've also been thinking about how I should approach a permanent career in the arts somehow. I've invested in a handful of sketchbooks, pens, and drawing boards. For a mid term goal, I would like to get a good computer rig (*photoshop software, decent digital camera, and a desktop PC or MAC) put together to do some of the cleanup, coloring, and other various illustration tasks.

I am still adjusting to the major changes going on in my life. I spent the past few days at my parent's place trying to get things prepared for my arrival. I also did some initial training so I would know how to do invoicing and billing. There is a lot to learn, and I will need some help still, but I think I should be able to do it without too much trouble. However, the stress of the past couple of days has been a little overwhelming. I am still trying to cope with the adjustment, but I think I should do okay as long as I remember not to overdo everything by trying to get it all done at once.

Moving

Wednesday, I visited the disability services office, the financial aid office, and the career center. All of these things were in preparation for my upcoming move. At this point, I have packed up most of the apartment but I still have to sort through all of the things in the kitchen. I have a grand total of fourteen file boxes packed at this point. And the sad thing is that this is the bulk of my material possessions. Six more file sized boxes should take care of all of the small stuff. And, there is still a lot of things to throw out. I am sure there is some food stuffs in the cupboards that are least two years old.

Of course, since this is the end of spring term, I am not the only one moving. Right now, there is a moving van (not mine) parked in front of my building. I am starting to worry that I may not be able to rent my own truck when I need one if demand happens to be too high. If I can't get moving truck, then I am going to throw out more furniture than I planned on. I don't have that much anyway.

Throwing out furniture and household goods is nothing unusual for students. What was unusual was that I saw a couple people rummaging through the outside trash today. At first, I wondered if they might have accidently thrown out something that they really needed, but then I realized that they were probably homeless. They came up with a few pots and pans. I sure hope that they plan on selling them for scrap or something rather than using them for food.

I am going move my first load of boxes tomorrow. I am also going to change my address with the post office, make an appointment for "checking out" with the housing office, and try to be hopeful about all these changes in the next handful of days.

Some Days

Ritz Quacker

I've been packing for the last couple of days, and I have about four boxes loaded and ready to go. I should be all moved by the end of the month. I sorted through all of my clothes and books in order to determine which ones I could do without. The old clothing, the stuff that doesn't fit anymore, I dropped off at the goodwill today. Ihe books, I sold to a couple different bookstores downtown. Normally, when I sell books, I don't usually make anything more than twenty bucks because I am only getting rid of four or five at time. However, today, I got rid of about sixty altogether and got more money for them than I would have expected. Not to worry though, I still have a ton of books I kept, so nobody would even notice that I unloaded a few.

I also went back to campus today to clean out my office. I said goodbye to my officemate after I gave him some bookends, a desk lamp (which is broken), and some old text books I didn't need. I've never spoken to the guy more than just a few times, so it wasn't too awkward to say goodbye. I didn't feel any pressures to explain my future plans to him other than to say that this was my last term and I was looking forward to the summer. However, I did bump into the guy who I shared the office with during my first year. Every time I see him, I think about how he could be Jack Black's brother. They both look alike, sound the same, and act alike to some degree. I deflected questions about what I was going to be doing in the future by asking him about his dissertation and commenting on how busy he was going be. He laughed, and I wished him luck.

The last thing that I did today was go to the career center. I told the receptionist that I was interested in taking the strong interest survey. They arranged for me to meet with a career counselor, some short man with a receding hairline who was dressed "business casual." Since I knew what I wanted, we didn't talk about too much, except to say that in addition to that particular survey, they required students to fill out a myers-briggs test as well. He said when I finished both tests, we would discuss the results during a future appointment. I didn't really think much about the whole thing because, frankly, I was hot and tired. Part of me is also looking forward to putting this whole school thing behind me. Metaphorically, I've expended a lot heat and lost a lot of energy in the process.

Tomorrow, I am going to packing up the living room and cleaning out the kitchen to the best of my ability. I also need do the laundry. The picture of the duck, whose name by the way is "Ritz Quacker," (no, I am not making that up) was from a walk I took the other day downtown. I needed to get out of the house, so I bought a cold coffee drink and tried to think about all of the other things I need to do before I leave town. Some days are better than others.