"There'll Be A Knock On Your Back Door"

Well, tomorrow's the day of the Big Move. Well, Day 1 of the Big Move (hey, allow me this one use of gratuitous capitols. It doesn't happen often). We should be able to completely clear out my stuff from this apartment tomorrow, assuming I can get the rest of it packed up tonight (considering I've run out of boxes, this could pose a problem).

Went into DC today on a field trip with the school. We went to DC Central Kitchen, which is a community kitchen that provides food for those in need in the DC metro area. It was a fantastic opportunity for the students to do some community service at a time of the year when a lot of people need help. Unfortunately, I got to spend the entire field trip sitting with the bus. We didn't have a real parking spot, so someone had to be there in case the bus needed to be moved. Since I was the one who'd driven the damn thing, I volunteered to stay with it. Not the most exciting way to spend the day, but it beats a swift kick in the pants (of course, most things do).

It's strange to think that I'm moving out tomorrow. I'd kinda settled into this apartment, even if it always felt like I was just visiting Wendy and Tim. Wonder how long it'll take me to get used to living in the new place and with my fiancee...

~chuck

Song of the Moment: My Morning Jacket, "Strangulation"

"The Folk Singers Sit On Their Front Porch"

One of the upshots of having listened to the old-school Yeti stuff earlier today is that now I really just want to sit and play Yeti songs all night long instead of packing. Thus far, I've managed to resist the keening urge to pick up the Martin and just strum out a dozen of our songs. I've packed lots of boxes. The closet is mostly packed. All of the CDs are packed. I'm working on the last of the books and the stuff in the desk, which is something of a beast. I fear to see what resides under the bed.

But I've been good. I've been packing. I should be able to finish whatever I don't get packed tomorrow.

Granted, I've been wasting time sitting here typing this. Dammit.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Ben Folds, "The Ascent of Stan"

"Hear It In These Lines"

So, although my car heater was fixed Saturday, it's still at the shop. See, the car developed a nasty coolant leak (though "leak" is a rather small term to describe the torrential flood of coolant that exited the underside of my car with amazing rapidity on Sunday afternoon). I took it back to the service station Sunday afternoon and left it there so they could work on it Monday. Unfortunately, issues with their equipment meant they didn't have a chance to work on it until today. The car is ready now, but I haven't been able to go pick it up quite yet.

On the positive side, though, Michelle's father was kind enough to loan me his van until my car is fixed and back in my possession. So I've been cruisin' in the Plymouth Voyager van since Sunday. Lemme tell ya, I'm ready to be back in my car.

One positive aspect to the whole I'm having to drive a freakin' mini-van thing is that I've had the opportunity to listen to an old tape I found in the bottom of my pit of a closet last night. It's the tape Clif and I recorded back in the summer of 2002 of the original Cross-Eyed Yeti tunes. It's interesting listening to the songs we'd picked out to record back then (a lot of them ended up on the CD we made the summer of 2003 in Norman), hearing how the songs had changed (man, some of those have been sped up from their original recording version) and what songs we've stopped playing (I can't remember the last time we did "I Dig Chicks"). We actually had some good stuff (I really wish we'd do a proper recording of "Folk Singer's Blues," 'cause that song actually kicks a significant amount of ass) that is just sitting in the "vault," as it were. The Clyde and I really just need to get together and record some of this stuff properly somewhere (there's a place down in Fredericksburg I still want to try out at some point).

The first half of that cassette was the original "album," about 14 songs (including the two "bonus" tracks, "Country Joe" and the "Hummingbird Version" of "Lord, Take Me Home WHere I Belong"). The second half was a "show" we played at the Mammoth Hot Springs employee pub that summer with mom and dad in attendance. The live show was pretty interesting (we could tear up when we wanted to), though dear God, what were we thinking letting Clif sing? And where did I get it in my head that I could sing the Beatles' "All My Loving?" Ah well. Many of the original tunes had an energy and a fire that impresses me. I also rather liked the poor sound quality on the tape. It had an old-fashioned, homemade feel to that I really dig. Worked especially well on "Folk Singer's Blues." My biggest complaint about the CD we made is that it sounds too cold, too sterile and small. There really is something to be said for recording with analog equipment, I guess.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Cross-Eyed Yeti, "Folk Singer's Blues"

"Sonny, Move Out To The Country"

Today, I spent over $1100 on furniture. For this rather large expenditure of money, Michelle and I have a sofa and love seat (worth at least $1500-$2000 on their own), a dresser, a kitchen table, six chairs for said table, three really nice bookcases, and some odds and ends. Ikea, it turns out, is your friend. Overall, we ended up spending about $1600 on furniture and necessities (vacuum cleaner, dish drainer, cleaning supplies, etc.) for the new apartment, which is pretty damn good when you think about how expensive it can be to totally outfit an entire apartment.

Friday is the big moving day. Michelle and I decided it makes more sense to get all my stuff moved on that day, since it can all be moved by the two of us, and then move all the stuff at her place (everything that she and her sister have) on Saturday. It's more efficient that way, really. So we'll spend Friday moving all my stuff, putting together all that modular furniture we bought at Ikea, and basically getting everything started. Saturday will be the heavy, bulky stuff (entertainment center, couches, etc.) and all of Michelle and Allison's stuff. Seems like a good plan.

Admittedly, the plan relies rather heavily on me having everything packed by Friday morning. We'll see how that goes.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: The Beatles, "The Long and Winding Road"

"On Certain Sundays In November"

I find it hard to believe it's already November. Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away. Christmas and the New Year are just around the corner. My final semester here at OU is only two and half months away from beginning. It's hard to imagine I've already been here almost a year and a half.

Each day marks the longest I've remained in one place since I started college. Oh, sure, I kept the same dorm room for three years at Ozarks. Even had the same roommate(s), Chris and JP. But we always had to move out for Christmas (though we could leave our stuff there) and completely in the Summer, stuff and all, only to haul it all back up three flights of stairs in August again (and that was always hell, let me tell you). When I started attending OU, I lived at home because I hadn't had time to look for an apartment in Norman. I'd been in Yellowstone all summer and only found out I was attending OU my last day in the park; when would I have had time to apartment hunt? But the last week of September, I found the apartment at Parkview. They let me move in, and I started living there full time the first week of October. I'm still there, having lived in the same place through the summer for once. That's a little odd to me, but comforting, too. It's nice having a single place to always come back to, someplace a bit more permanent than a dormroom.

Don't get me wrong--after three years, that room in McLean Hall was starting to feel like home. We always had the same room, I always had the same bedroom in our room (it was a little modified suite--a common room and two little bedrooms). There was continuity there. We'd hang up the same posters again, though each year there were new additions (I still remember when Chris got the Army of Darkness movie poster. That was one of my favorites). When I left Ozarks, it felt like I was leaving home. Especially since the home I was returning to never did feel like a real home. See, my parents moved over Christmas my Junior year at Ozarks, and the house we moved in to lacked a bedroom for yours truly. I sleep in the study when I go back to Shawnee. It's called my room, but there's always a part of me that feels it's not home anymore. Instead, it's where my parents live. Not to mention the fact that the longest I've actually stayed there since we moved has been about a month. The summer between Junior and Senior year was spent on the road with my dad every week, so I was only home for the weekends. The next summer was spent at Yellowstone, and we left only a week after school got out. So the longest I ever stayed at home was when I came back from Yellowstone and lived there for part of August and September.

So I guess I'm developing an attachment to my apartment, despite its rather ghetto-esque appearance and general feel. The toilet doesn't work well, there's no central air, the heater sounds arthritic, the floors are ancient linoleum that I can't keep clean unless I'm willing to sweep and mop every other day (which I'm not), and I can hear the train every time it goes by or the football game whenever we're having one. Despite all these things, the place kinda feels like home. It fits around me like a second, clunky skin of mortar and concrete and aging building materials. It's not the prettiest or most comfortable place in the world, but it's a place to call my own, a space for me, and I'm content with that.

All of which means I really do not want to move come May. But I'll kinda have to, or in late July/early August at the latest. Why? Because it's on to the next school. May seems like the most likely time to move because that's when my lease ends, and I don't want to have to sign a new one just to stay there a couple of months. But at the same time, I have nowhere to store all the stuff I've accumulated there, no place to put it at home. I'm a bit torn as to what to do, to be honest. But I guess that'll all be taken care of as it comes up. No point trying to burn bridges I haven't crossed yet. No, that sort of behavior is only suitable for bridges that've been crossed, because that means then I can't go backwards.

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Rhett Miller, "This is what I do"