scallops and bows

Late Monday night (or Tuesday morning), around 1:45; I can't sleep yet, but will soon.

Today was tolerable. Deep disappointment came in the form of the realtor that CJ put us in touch with telling us that she'd need a few days to scare up rentals to show to us and that it would be difficult because neither of us have jobs. Apparently it is preferable to have a low-paying job than to have $65K in the bank. I told my mom that I thought she should defuse the issue by offering to pay 6 months' rent upfront. We may also talk to a couple of other realtors just to have more possibilities.

Anyway, we went to the storage compartment we're renting, where I was so horrified by the general... storageness of it all... that I could only laugh, loudly, hysterically. The two compartments together (one of which is stacked nearly to the ceiling with boxes, and the other of which is almost all furniture, not stacked up at all) hold about the amount that the living room in the house in Florida would have held, if walking through it wasn't a concern. It isn't the volume that got to me, it's the haphazardness of the piling.

Then for a drive, where the more urban the surroundings were, the more panicked and tense the momster got. This was almost entertaining because I am usually the person who flips out on car trips (I don't trust other drivers and don't like being trapped in an enclosed area that is hurtling through space; this is only an issue if someone else is driving). We drove down High St from Worthington to the Short North (which is only comprehensible to people who live here - let's say it's a main drag and we left it just as it started to really feel "urban", by which I mean "shops, restaurants, fronts on the street, no grass, etc). We then took a brief tour of Grandview, which met with approval as a possible rental location (as long as we could get a full house, and not a duplex).

Afterwards, a disappointing dinner at Johnny Rockets, which I'd never been to before, and a spot of shopping for necessaries, specifically some antibacterial goop at Bath and Body Works. Ended up taking advantage of the buy-3-get-1-free sale and buying some new shower gel. See, I've been on the road for more than two weeks now, living out of suitcases. I learned a while back that if you are on the road for a long period of time, and you have only one kind of nicely-scented body wash with you, you will totally hate it by the time you get settled into a suitcase-free situation (for this reason, I no longer have any tolerance for anything that is ostensibly "melon-scented"). Bar soap is usually too harsh on my skin. Furthermore, I forgot to pack anything to scrub with, and have been using washcloths, which seem woefully inadequate to one who came of age in the era of mesh pouffy bath thingies. Since I've been on the road, I've been using either my BlueQ Smart Cookie "Fruits and Flowers" bubble bath as shower soap, or shampoo on a washcloth. The shampoo thing seems least offensive, since I use Garnier Fructis (which smells good) and it isn't overpowering because I already smell it in my hair. Nonetheless, it was nice to inject some variety, so we got the "red currant and thyme tea" body wash and lotion, and two scrubby pouffy thingies. (yes, that is the scientific name, I've decided.)

After that, a fruitless stop at barnes and noble (looking for local event magazines, the free kind that are usually in the vestibule; instead left with the new InStyle fashion book, which is really really great and takes the "What Not To Wear" concept to a new, complete-with-charts-and-graphics level, a couple of maps, and a dog-training book recommended by Spanky's girlfriend The Dog Lady). Then back to the hotel, sitting around, watching TV, reading, showering, sitting around, reading, writing up a livejournal entry, and, I hope, to sleep. Though maybe I'll put in a little more time on Quicksilver before giving up for the night.

Oh, yeah, my legs are so tired and achy from the faire (yesterday) that I could barely walk in my normal shoes. I put on the Cali-shoes (another scientific name), which have a curve under the toe area of the footbed - they were fantastic! they worked with my weight to produce a natural rolling motion, and my legs barely hurt at all. Plus, the adorability factor (with the ribbons and bows and scallops and ankle-lacing and so forth) is very high. Now that I am walking flat-footed and shoeless again, my calves have returned to being stiff and achy, and I can hardly walk across the room! oh well, tomorrow will be better.

postmistress

It's late Wednesday night, or Thusday morning, if you prefer. Around 1:20 AM. I've just turned off the TV.

First of all, I mailed a bunch of boxes today. so if you are kevininatutu, zaxox, or vignoche, you will definitely be receiving a package or two from me in the next few days. Last night I stayed up watching Identity and writing letters, so many pages that my fingers were sore all day today from where I gripped the pen. It's an aluminum pen/pencil/stylus thing that I normally use to do puzzles; I'm used to writing with gel ink pens but misplaced them and had to use a ballpoint. OWIE. Ballpoints just require too much pressure. By the time i finished the last letter (to Alissa, whose house burned down a few weeks ago and who I don't think reads this, but I have some things to send her shortly), my hand was so cramped that I couldn't hold anything. How the internet has corrupted me! i used to be a painfully slow typist who could write out 25 pages by hand in a few hours with no serious problems. Now it's the opposite.

Last couple of days have been quite dull. Haven't found a place yet. Haven't heard back from the realtor yet, and CJ's mom is now going to Get Involved and prod the realtor a bit (since CJ's mom is the minister of the realtor's church). Will also be calling other realtors tomorrow (later today), see if anyone can get us in a house by the weekend. We've already spent over $1000 staying in this stupid hotel. (& the momster is actually being pretty stingy with cash. though, i have gotten some necessary things: my charcoal-colored 80%wool 20%cashmere winter coat is being picked up tomorrow evening, and I got lovely gloves, leather with 100% cashmere lining, on sale at wilson's leather last night. But the thing is, I won't have any cash of my own until I can sell things on ebay, which won't be until after we have a house, or until I have a job, which ditto - I can't apply places if I have no address to put on the application!) But if I don't have to pay for it, I am scamming on the cashmere whenever possible. Eventually I will want cashmere underwear, you know. (Not REALLY.)

CJ and the niecelet came over to my hotel tonight, and momster met niecelet for the first time. They took to each other quite well and it was pretty entertaining to watch them together. We all "watched" Finding Nemo (really just on in the background). Then, after our guests left, arwen_isobel (who was holding up to the situation pretty well) had a big accident, not her fault, and I got to spend a good while cleaning it up. =/

Today i finally got one of the local alternative papers, which I've been hunting for a couple of days. Found a house listed in it which would be perfect for us, if it's still available and as nice as it sounds on paper; also found some choirs for which I can audition. I'll make those calls in the morning.

Got unexpectedly roped into looking at an apartment today. Nice loft apartment, maybe a bit small, but what nixed it was that it's on the 3rd floor! That's hard for me because of my screwed-up feet, but that wasn't so much an issue as "Oh dear, we have a piano that we don't want to subject to the stairs." I got so freaking adrenalized from climbing all those stairs and being unhappy about the unexpected stop that I had a panic attack on the way out. (Panic attacks ARE adrenaline - that has nowhere else to go.) If I had been happy about it I might have felt exhilarated and shuddery, or maybe i still would have been panicky, I dunno.

When I can post a few times each day, I don't have so much to say; when I have internet access, I have interesting links now and then. But just now I have only a few days' worth of events to stick into each post, so the posts are bound to be long and banal. Sorry about that. I can't wait to get settled into a new place & get a job so that I can infuse more constructive banality back into my LJ again.

Want to go to Retro Night at Skully's tomorrow/to-night, but have nothing to wear - all the cool stuff is in storage, with the exception of the now-too-big-for-me uberindustrialskirt. Boo. Well, it's a long drive from the hotel anyway, and I wouldn't know where to park.

oops!

I am wasting - wasting, I tell you - fifty cents to dial out from my hotel again just to note that my last two entries were chronologically reversed. I posted them in the right order, but I suppose "postmistress" got there first.

For those wondering, it is my 56K modem outlet that is screwed up; I don't use ethernet (tho I might configure this machine to use the hotel's ethernet, if I can figure out HOW). Right now I am getting online by jamming the cord into the computer and holding it there with my version of brute force, which is more like, um, china-doll force, since there is little "brute" in me. But it doesn't last long and I can't do it often, which is why I have been writing posts offline and posting a few at a time every couple of days. After I find a place, and have unpacked my computer stuff and can burn a cd from this computer, this one will go in for repair, but I can't do without it until then.

I'm going to go read Baudolino or Quicksilver until I fall asleep.

Keep your fingers crossed for me to find a nice house to rent before the end of the week!

Also - insult to injury, (save)Karyn has a BOOK out. (Damn it, I'm a writer and I'm in debt. Donnez-moi un bookdeal, s'il vous plait.)

Finally - forgot to mention today's trip to Petsmart! Did not get "Husher muzzle" we wanted (which is this elastic mouthpiece that makes it physically tiring for a dog to bark), but did get the fabulous Buster Puzzle Cube (kind of like an uberKong), and SPRAYABLE LIVER-FLAVORED GOO (like CheezWhiz!) that's actually put out by Kong!!! It's true! Buying weird crap for my dog is one of the joys in my life.