receiving visitors to my levée.

I actually got a good night's sleep last night, from something like 10PM to noon with an interlude at 3AM where my mother apparently decided to put on water for tea and then take the dog for a walk. The harmonica-like whistle of the Chantal kettle had been going off for like five minutes when she came back in, and I had just dragged myself out of bed to take care of it. I said something rude and managed to go back to sleep. Had weird weird dreams, like having to sit through a high school production of Les Misérables and meeting Jack Nicholson and finding him attractive. (I don't - at all. But in the dream I was like, "Yeah, I can see it.")

Got up and was surprised - fortunately AFTER the shower - by a stupid realtor showing up because our stupid agency told them that even though there was no answer it was OK to come in, we must not be home. The truth was that my mother just didn't hear the phone when they called at 10AM. And you still have to show the house while the sale is pending because the financing could always fall through. In this case it's highly unlikely - the guy doesn't need any financing - but we're not supposed to know that. So I received people I don't know in my blue dragon-covered kimono and purple turbie twist headwrap. (I can't really decide whether this is worse than seeing people you do know, or not. I think mainly as long as I'm naked and the house is pretty much already sold anyway, I don't care what ppl I don't know and don't care about think. You can drive yourself crazy doing that, caring about the opinions of every person you come across.)

While packing (zines) last night I found a whole cache of zines I bought and didn't read. They have been sitting nicely in a plastic box under my desk. This is kind of embarrassing, because some were by friends. (This is also the order where I got all the Sex Worker Zines - at least 3 about phone sex and one about exotic dancing.) So yay I have zines to read. I also have a gift certificate to use, as soon as Pander opens again.

HA HA HA

i can't believe nobody caught this:

in my last entry,
I think mainly as long as I'm naked and the house is pretty much already sold anyway, I don't care what ppl I don't know and don't care about think.

should have read
"...as long as I'm NOT naked..."

big, big difference. one involves a kimono and reduced levels of embarrassment; the other involves strangers seeing me in my Supergirl underwear or, even worse, NOTHING AT ALL. (eek!)

zines are packed. i need to fill the rest of the box. confusing: with what? i have about six inches of space at the top and it can't be anything heavy, but I don't really want to use packing peanuts in this box, so I'm thinking maybe a couple of sweaters or flannel pajamas or something.

advice on moving companies

I just posted this over on the Pander boards, but I thought that I should post it here, too.

I have to move very quickly - we will have a week between "having enough money to move" and "having to be out of the house." The original moving plan was to rent a truck and have a relative drive it up while my mother and I each drove a car. Because of the level of speed and lack of planning time, though, it looks like we're going to have to hire a moving company. Neither of us can physically handle doing the entire move ourselves.

I know all about how to hire a moving company (get estimates from several, make sure the estimates are binding not-to-exceed, etc) and what to look for (licensed and insured, uses agent labor only, etc). I also know that what you get from a moving company depends largely on where you're moving from and the branch that you're hiring. What I don't know about is - which moving companies have you guys used and liked? Used and hated? I'm primarily interested in long-distance state-to-state moves. (I've heard good things about Two Guys and A Van, but they don't go out of state; likewise, U-Pack has great ratings but is not available around here.) I know that a lot of our satisfaction will just depend on how good the local branch office is, but still, I'd really like to hear from people I know, and I'd like to hear if anyone has any sterling recommendations.

I've looked this up on epinions.com, where almost all moving companies available to us have really poor reviews - Allied and Bekins so poor that we won't even consider them. Suddath/United has mostly decent reviews with a few really bad ones, and Mayflower and North American are super-mixed, about half great and half terrible. There are also two possible local companies that don't have epinions reviews: Paul Arpin and All My Sons. However, I'm assuming that people who feel compelled to post a review on epinions are mostly people who got burnt, and that happy customers are less likely to have anything to say. I've also noticed that a lot of negative reviews came from military people who had no choice about who would be moving them (and, presumably, the movers are likely to be more careless about a government contract that they're not likely to lose even if ppl are dissastified).

lemonade

"It's like I always say - if life hands you lemons, you blow those lemons to bits with your laser cannons!"

Oh, I'm so glad The Brak Show is back on Adult Swim. Somehow the episode tonight - "Brak Street", the one with the rap contest - was one I'd never seen before. Such giggly goodness. :)

(And as far as my last post - NOBODY has any comments about moving companies? *sigh*...)